I have never met a business person that explained to me why they can’t shake my hands. But the example I gave is an actual real life story and not made up. This Indian coworker complained to me. How do you know in business whether or nor this does not affect you? Like I wrote, he was not hired. The Indian coworker didn’t mentioned to the VP that he didn’t shake her hands but she was not endorsing him either. She offered her hands to him. Her culture is very close to his culture. I believe he was Bangladeshi, she was Indian.
I’m sorry that you think it’s necessary to be political correct about it. A firm handshake is common norm in USA.
Islamic finance is quite complicated and getting a job in it in the US is very rare. I don’t want to work in the Islamic world, I want to work in finance. @CaliCash
I was thinking of just not telling him about my major and just tell him something like “oh i’m studying biology” but what if I have a econ textbook lying around the house? That’ll just blow up in my face. @Marian
Double majoring would be very difficult because as I stated before, i need to complete everything within four years and I only have 3 years (6 semesters) left. Plus, my dad just doesn’t want to fathom me ever considering majoring in econ. @thumper1
That seems like a good idea, but I know how it’ll play out with my dad. He’ll think I’m getting these “Christians” involved (and by “Christians” he means Non-Muslims) and those “Christians” don’t understand the Muslim ways so he’ll conclude that they’re trying to get me to drop my religion and become one of them. He’s very territorial. @Cameron121
I would do that, and technically I am since I’m registered for econ and science classes next semester. However, I don’t think it’s a good road to go down because I might not be able to complete both econ and pre-med in four years. Also, there’s no point in doing pre-med if it’s going to kill my GPA with classes like Orgo and Physics and if I don’t even get into a US med school. @naviance
Can’t do a finance minor because that doesn’t exist in CAS, but I can do a cross-school business minor at Stern. I don’t think sociology is for me though. Like I said, i want to major in something that’ll teach me skills highly desired in the workforce nowadays, like finance and compsci, but both are very difficult majors.
Unless you want to go into engineering or comp science, which are highly vocational majors, or become a professor, the skills learned in college that are desired and/or are relevant in the workplace are critical thinking skills, communication skills and writing skills. Many majors can help you to accomplish this, and if you want to go into business, there are many avenues to get there. Unless you want to be a quant jock at an investment bank, you don’t need a finance degree. As a matter of fact, not much that you learn as an Econ major will really be applicable to most business careers, other than intro Micro/Macro. It’s more of learning a critical way of thinking about and solving problems that is the benefit. In many entry-level business situations (non-technical), employers want bright people who can communicate effectively and that can adapt and learn quickly. Other than technical professions like programming and engineering, the vast majority of what people do at work is not taught to them in college, but learned on the job by applying the soft skills developed in college and beyond.
There is NO SUCH MAJOR as premed. You can major in anything…music, art, history,engineering, economics, math…ANYTHING.
If you plan to apply to medical school your major doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have taken the required courses for medical medical school applicants. Find out what those courses are…and make sure you take them all IF you plan to apply to medical school.
If not, take the science courses…along with your finance courses…and so what if you don’t complete all for a double major? Complete your primary major…and be done with it.
Here is what happened to my kid…she double majored…she had all of her courses complete for her engineering major by graduation…but she had one core course remaining towards her second major (which was in the college of arts and sciences). She graduated, but completed that one remaining course for her double major during the summer online. And poof…she received her diploma with both majors listed on it.
And yes…she had to pay extra to take the online summer course.
In her case, she absolutely wanted that second major…because she did not want to pursue engineering. But really, she could have graduated with one major completed in June…no problem.
If you major in finance or work in the finance world, you WILL be dealing with interest. This seems like it is on a direct collision course with your dad and your family’s religion. I’d try the cross-school business major and see what other aspects of business appeal to you if you can do that.
Don’t listen to the one that says engineering is a vocational major, if you want to major in it. Those comments came from people who failed critical thinking skill and also engineering school. I don’t think an engineering graduate from MIT lacks critical thinking or even graduate from Yale engineering school. Nonsense stuff that keeps repeating on CC.
OP, our situations are not analogous, but I was raised in a modestly observant Jewish family and I had come to the conclusion that a) I didn’t believe what was needed to live their way of life; and b) had no interest in keeping kosher or fasting or sending my kids to Hebrew Day School, etc. I just waited until I left for college and stopped doing those things. To this day, my mother is disappointed at one level with how I raised my kids. Despite following my mother’s approach, my kids have turned into great young adults who have been successful academically – both averaged 3.9+ in undergrad in hard majors, graduated summa cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa, and are averaging 4.0 in grad school plus one works a serious job and has been President of Hillel and the other started a tech company, raised seed capital and ran it for a year before turning it over to an adult. She’s very proud of them, but is still disapproving of my choices. If my experience is close enough, you are probably going to have to deal with parental (or at least paternal) disapproval no matter what you do (and my parents are much more liberal in their thinking than yours). You just have to decide when you can manage that, and it will probably be after you finish undergraduate school and no longer need their financial support (in terms of living).
I like applied math/stats plus coding. The math is not as hard as pure math but probably strong enough for finance. Lots of flexibility if you want to go into a public health or medical research-related area; or marketing or pretty much anything. Data Science may have the highest gap between demand and supply at the moment. See http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-04/help-wanted-black-belts-in-data.
What other avenues can I take to work in the finance world? I’m thinking of consulting or investment banking. My main concern is to get hired right away after graduation, so I’m really focusing on finance and the skills I can gain to make myself a better candidate when it comes time to apply for jobs. @intparent
I don’t mind working with interest, I just need him to believe that I’m not. @shawbridge
Where can I learn data science? There isn’t an applied mathematics major at CAS, but there is pure math. Statistics as only offered at Stern. Would I need to go to grad school (MBA/PhD program) to learn data science? @HRSMom
Well the goal is to do as many things as I can to make myself a better applicant comes time to apply for jobs, and I’ll mainly be applying for jobs in finance. Would employers in the finance world even take an internship or a job at an NGO seriously?
Tell him you would like to work in a hospital, but do not want to be exposed to men’s bodies, and therefore you would prefer to work in the ____ (whatever) department at the hospital (i.e., the front office to assist people in paying their bills). Then transfer to Stern, or major in math/statistics (somewhat close to economics, would likely get the same types of interviews). Tell him that degree is necessary to help people pay their bills at the hospital and avoid paying interest.
Under the circumstances, med school would seem to be a terrible carreer path for you. It would mean many more years of needing financial support form your parents, and therefore, many more years of being subjected to your father’s controlling influence.
Maybe you could go to the Economics department at NYU tell them your problem and ask them if there is a female faculty member (or a Muslim faculty member or a Muslim female faculty member) who can reassure your father about the appropriateness of the major.
But I agree with the posters who say you should be very careful to hedge your bets. Find an acceptable major, graduate, find a job and pay your way in the future. If that is the plan… computer science is a great option.
NYU is a huge school with a well-connected alumni network. Many alumni are in New York. OP, do you think you could connect with career services and/or the alumni association and find a Muslim NYU economics major who has graduated and either works in corporate or works in a non-corporate environment? The one who works in corporate might be able to explain to your father that social mores have changed a lot and that most corporate environments are not the way that he expects them to be. Or it may be more helpful for a former economics major who does NOT work in business to explain that there are many paths you can take after majoring in economics.
It’s also not true that math and applied math are not useful majors - they are both very useful - but…economics and math are very different. Yes, you do use some principles from math/applied math in economics, but they are quite different fields. Besides, CAS at NYU doesn’t have an applied math major; they have a math major. OP, you’d have to do some investigation to see the ratio of applied to pure math in this department. My husband was a math major at Columbia and was very unhappy because it was almost all pure math. He switched to statistics and was much happier. A quick glance at NYU’s undergrad course offerings make it look like it’s a mix, and you might be able to take some classes in other departments that satisfy degree requirements.
NYU also has a joint major in computer science and economics. Would your dad be happier about that? You can say that you are interested in the CS side of things but you are just learning the economics as a skill to help get your foot in the door at businesses in the tech world.
Polytechnic has a major in business and technology management - not sure if your dad would be happier with that.
@drgoogle did I say anything about engineers lacking critical thinking skills? By vocational major I meant that it’s a course of study where you actually learn applicable skills during undergrad for what you need in a job later. In many non-scientific business disciplines, that is typically not the case. You don’t need an MBA in Marketing to be successful in marketing, but you do need UG or grad experience to work in most engineering jobs. That was the point I was trying to make to the OP.
OP, while it would be better to be coming out of Stern to get into consulting or I-banking, both fields are primarily looking for the best and the brightest, and your major doesn’t really matter as much. You just need to graduate from a top school (check) and have a top GPA (up to you over the next 3 yrs). That said, so that I do not lead you astray here, you should check with career services and see whether your target types of companies recruit at CAS as well as Stern. If not, you may want to seriously consider a switch, as Stern is one of the top UG business schools and will probably provide you with many different opportunities in business if you do well.
In Stern, you could also explore a major in operations, marketing or management instead of finance to try and deflect the whole interest thing, but I’m guessing none of that would really appease your father too much. Those majors may even be more desirable for consulting, but again, they are really looking for smart people so find a major where you can do well (preferably something you enjoy).
The critical skill comment follows the vocational comment. But honest, you don’t need a degree to be an engineer either. One of my ex-bosses was music major who ended up working in engineering.
@SilverStein100, NYU had a data science masters, but this requires a heavy dose of math, statistics and programming/CS as prerequisites. See http://datascience.nyu.edu/academics/. While there are schools that offer an undergraduate degree in data science (http://101.datascience.community/2013/08/21/undergraduate-programs-in-data-science/), I think if you found the subject interesting, you should study the core components and then you can see if you need/want a graduate degree. Financial firms, among many others, will undoubtedly continue to be hiring folks with these skill sets in two or three years.
I also like the CS and Econ degree that someone found for you.
Tread lightly now as it seems likely to me that you will encounter further difficulties in coming to an agreement with your father in the future.
That means, find a compromise. Many of the posters above have suggested majors that would be similar to but not economics, and you will be able to pursue your goals, as you believe them to be currently. The good thing about having an undergraduate degree in many of the areas mentioned is that you will develop critical thinking skills useful in any career you chose, inciuding finance.
How you use those skills to further your goals is what counts. You will also need to consider what sorts of internships or intermediate jobs and research, while you are still in school, will help you to further those goals.
Do go to career services or find an academic advisor who can help you define your path and connect you with the support you need. Is there a Muslim student association or women’s group at school where you can find support amongst peers? NYU is a large and diverse school so you should be able to find likeminded persons from a similar background or set of circumstances with whom you can commune.
Also, I was wondering if your mother has input here, as you have only mentioned brother and father.
Is getting help from your mom or any other relatives possible? You had the right idea by getting help from your brother since you said your dad respects your brother. That is the key in my opinion. Find and seek out people your dad will listen to and then team up on him and wear him down. Lying is an option but probably a last resort. It is better, I think, to gather information about career options with an econ degree and then steadfastly stick to your guns (so to speak).
Ultimately, your dad wants you to be happy and successful and it seems to me Islamic women and entering the workforce WW so it might be time to educate your dad about that. But there has to be friends of your dad, or your mom, or someone besides your brother who can help you. You might also indicate to your dad what will happen if you can’t major in what you want … go on strike :-). He will cave in.