Colorado Technical University

Is a Business Administration major the same as a Computer Information Systems major?

I ask this because I've been looking into taking courses for a Computer Systems Information major, but my local community college seems to classify it as Business Administration. The classes they have for it seem right though, they are... Accounting, Macroeconomics, Statistics, Calculus, Intro to Computers/Information Systems, Intro to Computer Software, and so on... Im a bit confused, can someone help me out here!?

Public Comments

1. There may be a lot of overlap between these two majors, and in some cases one may be a "subset" of the other. The key is understanding what careers each is designed to prepare you for. In general, a degree in business administration prepares you to work in a generalist/management role within a broad range of businesses. A degree in computer information systems (variations include management information systems, or perhaps information technology) prepares you to set up/troubleshoot/manage computer systems (servers, networks, data systems, etc.) within a business environment. In some cases, schools have a degree in business administration, with a "concentration" in management informatiton systems. The idea behind all of this is that if you work in a business in a generalist role, you will need to know something about how the computers operate. If you work in a CIS role, you will need to know something about how organizations operate. In either case their is overlap, but the difference is in the focus. Instead of focusing on what the associate degree offerings are at your local community college, you may want to figure out where you would consider transferring to for a bachelor's degree, and seeing what courses are required for that school/program. Unfortunately, an associate's degree does not command the same kind of earning power as a bachelor's will -- it's worth it to spend the additional time. Hopefully that's helpful! Good luck.