When Ella Nuzzo stepped on campus in the fall of 2021, she thought she’d study politics. But as her sophomore year approached, she grew scared she wouldn’t secure internships or jobs. Nuzzo resolved to apply to the business school — a guaranteed means to acquire a job.
“I just thought, I’m only going to get a job if I major in business. Because of that, and with all my friends taking that path, I was scared,” Nuzzo, now a senior, recalled.
Nuzzo’s thinking is not uncommon among Wake Forest students.
“In my mind, there’s just a certain connotation that a business degree gives more job security,” said Katy Flanders, a senior business & enterprise management and politics double major, said. “Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know, but in my mind, that’s just how it goes.”
Since the late 1990s, Wake Forest has seen a decrease in the number of students opting to pursue the study of humanities with a significant 86% increase in the number of students pursuing Wake Forest Business degrees. For students like Nuzzo and Flanders, and there are many, pressure takes over — to conform to peers who are also seeking business degrees and to secure a job.
The only option, it seems, is to declare a business major.
“I think it’s super interesting because I thought Wake was supposed to be this liberal arts [institution]. That’s why I came to Wake,” Nuzzo said. “But then I got here, and it [seems] like all the resources go to the business school.”
When students enroll in Wake Forest, a top liberal arts university at its academic core, many expect the broad-based education that requires divisional courses and delayed major declaration. What many don’t expect is the business vacuum that is separate from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Declaring a major at Wake
After deciding she must pursue a business degree, Nuzzo threw herself into the prerequisites: Economics 150 and Accounting 111 in one semester. She remembers taking her first accounting exam and doing so poorly that her professor called her into her office.
“I met with the professor, and she said ‘This is really not for you. You should find something else,’” Nuzzo said.
Nuzzo began searching for what she was passionate about. Coming from a family of English professors, becoming an English major was always in the back of her head. The fear for her future, though, and the fact that most of her friends were pursuing the business track, held her back.
“[People were always asking] ‘what are you going to do with that?,’” Nuzzo remembered.
Business students are motivated by a similar practicality when declaring their majors.
“I wanted to pick a career that would set me up for success,” said Allison O’Brien, a senior finance and economics double major, “I wanted to think practically.”
For business students, declaring a major doesn’t come easy, though. The application
process fuels intense competition as far more students seek admission to the business
school than the 300 spots that are generally available each year. In recent years, the applicant pool has increased. Over the last five years, the applicant pool has ranged from 350 students to 529 students.
“All the [accounting prerequisite] exams are on Thursday nights, everyone’s in Farrell at the same time, so you feel the competition there,” Brady Puckett, a junior Finance major, said. “Everyone’s talking about grades.”
The competition is palpable on campus, not only during these prerequisites but especially during the winter when sophomores learn of their admittance. There’s an idea on campus that if you are not accepted to the business school, there are two options: switch to a related degree program (like economics) so you can still secure a job or transfer universities.
Business students are often motivated by their love of numbers or their desire to secure top internships and jobs. Humanities students are often convinced by professors who recognize their passion for humanities and their aptness for critical thinking and analysis.
“I took my English divisional and my teacher wanted to talk to me at the end of class,” Gwyn Spoerri, a senior English Major, recalled. “He basically told me he didn’t want me to get sucked into the business major or STEM side of this school. I took that as a sign.”
Nuzzo herself, driven away from the business school, avoided the competition and faced her fear. During her sophomore year, she declared an English major with minors in sociology and journalism.
Perceptions of majors
Nuzzo has embraced her English major because she is learning skills that have helped her develop not only into an employable person but also a better human.
“In our classes, we’re talking about complex issues,” Nuzzo said. “We’re really delving into things that I don’t think a lot of the other majors do.”
Hidden behind the mask of reading and writing, humanities majors are learning research skills, oral communication, problem-solving, cultural awareness, adaptability, empathy — the list goes on. But even still, the capabilities of Humanities majors often appear to be unrecognized and underappreciated.
“Even now, I’m pretty sure my friends just think I’m good at spelling and grammar,” Spoerri said.
Perhaps the separation between the college and the business school creates these false perceptions of humanities majors. Students not enrolled in the business degree programs cannot even take a class in the business school.
“You walk into [Farrell] and quickly realize you’re kind of an outsider there,” Nuzzo said.
Return on investment
This separation, these perceptions, are inextricably linked to the belief that a business degree equals a high-paying, secure job and a humanities degree equals a financially unstable one.
“Because college is so expensive, a lot of people don’t want kids going to college and majoring in English,” Nuzzo recalled a professor telling her once.
Wake Forest tuition costs — excluding room and board — have risen by over 72% since 1996, to $62,000, causing students and their families to ensure that a secure job will pay off their enrollment costs.
According to FreOpp, a return on investment calculator, Wake Forest University School of Business graduates will earn between $68,000 and $80,000 after their first year of working. After paying all college expenses, business graduates will still earn a lifetime income of between $1.9 and $3.3 million, meaning that there is a significant return on their investment.
English majors, on the other hand, are estimated to make $38,000 after their first year of working. And according to the calculator, English majors will also recoup their investment, earning less, but still earning at least $685,000 after paying all college expenses. That is to say, the return on investment for English majors is less than half of the low range of the return on investment for business majors.
The Harvard Business Review notes that “employers overwhelmingly endorse broad learning and cross-cutting skills as the best preparation for long-term career success.” In other words, according to a highly influential voice in the business world, employers actually value the skills of a humanities major.
“Yes, [business majors] learn how to punch the numbers,” Nuzzo said, “and that’s great, but they could probably go into one field with that. I think English opens doors to many avenues.”
The liberal arts divisional requirements assist business majors during their recruiting processes.
“I was able to craft a story that made me stand out among all the other applicants that applied to the firms that I applied to,” Puckett said. “I definitely focused on the approach at Wake Forest and how I can think differently for the team and have a unique and diverse mindset.”
Nuzzo, for example, worked in consulting this past summer, a career that many of her business major peers also pursued. The technical skills she felt that she lacked, she learned on the job. She came equipped, though, with the skills harder to teach: critical thinking.
Her fear sophomore year — that she wouldn’t get an internship or a job — was valid, because of the understanding of Wake Forest students: business school leads to jobs. But so do humanities majors. And Nuzzo is living proof of that.
“Now, I love telling people I’m an English major,” she said.
