<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>I'd like to ask anyone who's reading this to try and help me -
either with advice, or with clear examples. Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>I am a member of Grinnell Class of 2015, and I plan on majoring in economics and doing the 3-2 program with Columbia.</p>
<p>My dream job is something that has a lot of interaction with people, especially negotiating, persuading etc. ; currently, I'm torn.
From all of the career placement tests I did, most of them said that I should be in law, sales, marketing, and business in general.
I would enjoy being a stockbroker the most (that's what I'm leaning towards) - I like risk-taking, selling and the stock market
(which for me is a living, breathing organism). :)</p>
<p>There's option (A) - BA in Econ from Grinnell, and BS from Columbia in Financial Engineering
There's option (B) - BA in Econ from Grinnell double majored with Math and offcampus study in London School of Economics and
There's option (C) - BA in Econ from Grinnell double majored with Pol Sci and offcampus study</p>
<p>Can any of the senior members, anyone with any sort of experience and hindsight give me any advice on this? Which option would you think is the best, supposing I have an equal interest in all three?
Sorry for the wall of text,</p>
<p>Thank you once again in advance,
D.</p>
<p>Your advisor at Grinnell and the Career Development Office will be your best sources of info about this, though you might get good advice here too. I’m a psychologist and my son was a history major, so I can’t give specific advice, but studying a bit of psychology and sociology would probably help with your career goals of a job involving negotiating and persuading. Welcome to the family! Your advisor (prof from first year tutorial) will help you pick your first semester courses. You might alter your path several times along the way.</p>
<p>dakilica, I have looked in vain on the Columbia website for any reference to “Financial Engineering.” Can you post a link? </p>
<p>It seems like econ majors can’t go wrong taking coursework with a strong emphasis in math. A friend who is doing his doctorate in econ says his one regret is not taking more math as an undergrad. </p>
<p>That being said, I have spent the last 30 years practicing law (one of your possible careers) and have managed to do so with little math education. But if you think you may pursue an MBA, that is another case where math will be critical. </p>
<p>The Grinnell study abroad program with the London School of Economics seems like a wonderful opportunity. Certainly lots of name recognition!</p>
<p>As Bethievt suggests, your advisor is a great source of information. If the advisor does not have an opinion, he/she may be able to link you up with an alum who could talk to you about options. </p>
<p>Make sure you check out the Wilson Center programs, which are taught by alums. Son has taken several and has been very happy with them.</p>
<p>The program that dakilica is probably referring to is: [Industrial</a> Engineering and Operations Research | SEAS Bulletin](<a href=“http://bulletin.engineering.columbia.edu/industrial-engineering-and-operations-research]Industrial”>Industrial Engineering and Operations Research | Bulletin | Columbia Engineering). The Financial Engineering major is housed in this dept.</p>
<p>And we agree that a strong quantitative background is essential if you are working in finance or getting a PhD in the area.</p>