Earning a bachelor’s degree is the smart way to gain an advantage in the job market or improve chances for promotion, but choosing a major can be overwhelming. If that decision is difficult, consider that not choosing a specialized field of study may be the better choice.
A Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in University Studies (also known as a general studies degree) enables students to customize a multidisciplinary education that includes STEM subjects, business courses, the arts and humanities, healthcare and more.
In fact, today’s employers place a premium on that kind of far-reaching undergraduate experience. The Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) surveyed executives and hiring managers and found they “overwhelmingly endorse broad learning and cross-cutting skills as the best preparation for long-term career success.”
University Studies Graduates Are Ready to Step Into a Variety of Fields
Students can customize the online B.S. in University Studies program from Lamar University, so it is ideally suited for students who have not settled on their career paths but want to earn a degree to be competitive. Moreover, DegreeCouncil.org, a resource center for online education, notes that “many graduates of a general studies program go on to pursue advanced degrees in other concentrations.”
The primary advantage of a multidisciplinary degree is that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) report that employers value job prospects’ critical-thinking and communication skills more than their college majors.
The BLS lists these positions and spaces among those that university studies graduates are prepared to step into:
- Education, training and library occupations: This includes roles like museum archivist and curator, library media specialist and teacher aide and assistant. Candidates for entry into those professions — such as archivists, for instance — need analytical, computer, customer service, organizational and technical skills, according to Zippia career experts. The university studies program allows students to delve into many of those subjects.
- Management: This includes brand and risk managers and facility and property managers. Social media is “changing the way brands interact with their customers,” Vlad Calus writes in Planable, a marketing content provider. “It’s essential you start looking to brand managers at least for inspiration for crafting the vision of business and stick to it with both hands.”
- Sales: This includes advertising and insurance sales, modeling and travel agents. “Sales makes the world go ’round,” Lydia Varga writes in Forbes, adding, “… as long as you have people’s best interests at heart (with an eye for growing your business), you already have the making of a great salesperson.”
- Business and finance: This includes accounting and auditing, human resources and meeting and convention planning. More than the narrow technical training of a major-specific degree, findings from a 2021 report by the AAC&U “point to how much fostering mind-sets — like work ethic and persistence — matter for workplace success.”
- Office and administrative support: This includes desktop publishers (DTPs), emergency response dispatchers and bank tellers. “Nowadays, the role and expertise of DTP professionals have radically extended. Not only is desktop publishing used in education, marketing, and web design, but it also brings many benefits to the translation and localization industry, the marketing sector, and even the business domain,” according to devabit, an online technology solutions provider.
Prepare for Success With a Degree in University Studies
Students who customize their undergraduate experience can gain a broad knowledge base that employers value and the flexibility to choose from various career paths. For instance, students in Lamar University’s online B.S. in University Studies program can choose from courses such as:
- Space Exploration
- Studies in Media
- Learning and Cognition
- Criminology
- Child & Adolescent Psychology
According to NACE, courses like these build the skills and mindset that lead to proficiency in “critical thinking/problem solving, teamwork/collaboration, professionalism/work ethic, and oral/written communications” — all aptitudes employers value.
Learn more about Lamar University’s online B.S. in University Studies program.
