Lately there have been many high-level discussions about undergraduate business programs in the United States. From the New York Times to the Economist, everyone seems to have an opinion on how this discipline operates and is viewed by our society.

The economics major is often lauded over business because it teaches the underlying principles crucial to business while strengthening critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Business programs provide similar benefits, but have never had a good rap in academia – probably for a good reason. According to a recent poll included in an Economist article, business majors only spend 11 hours a week studying. That also probably explains why it remains amongst the most popular majors at universities today.

But let’s not turn this into a debate of majors. Besides, everyone knows what the “easy” majors really are and there are quite a few on the list before we get to business. In the US, the general trend is that students don’t study as much as they should anyway. One could argue our generation just does better with less studying.

Perhaps focusing more on leadership and other soft skills later in the curriculum and strengthening the core financial and accounting concepts earlier on might curtail criticism of business programs. Regardless, a sizable amount of blame must be apportioned to universities. Business degrees make colleges money and that sometimes comes at the detriment of other programs as they appeal to a larger market. While not comparable to the rigorousness of the engineering college, the parameters from which people make these comparisons and judgments is not congruent. From presentations to writing business plans for a start-up company and projects to analyzing investments and risk, business curriculum has a different set of criteria then engineering and other programs. Thus, much needs to be considered before writing off business as an “easy” degree.

Northeastern’s College of Business Administration does an excellent job teaching the foundations of economics and finance while building on the interpersonal skills necessary to succeed in business. However, the curriculum could be improved to better equip students in the first two years with more principles before co-op. Fortunately, we are exceptions to the standard because we have co-op to reinforce those concepts while adding knowledge and networks to succeed in the real world. I may be a business major, but I also attend Northeastern.

–Juan Thomas Kimble is a junior finance major.