<p>I'm most likely going to enroll at Emory this fall, and I'm real excited about it. I know I have a little while to make up my mind, but would it be wiser to major in economics through Emory CAS, or get a Bussiness Degree from Goizueta? I want to go into finance after college and eventually earn an MBA. Which major would set me up better in terms of job prospects, salary, and MBA placement? Which program is stronger at Emory? Also, would it be possible to double major across colleges and get both a BBA and an Econ degree within four years? Thanks for the input.</p>
<p>google</p>
<p>^ USNews has Emory’s Econ program ranked 64th, whereas it’s business program is ranked 20th. Businessweek has the business program ranked 7th (per my google search).</p>
<p>So I’m guessing BBS > BA Econ?</p>
<p>I guess, but you could double major in econ. and something else. Okay, you could do that with a BBA if you jump on the coursework in the other major starting freshman year (make it math or something), maybe econ./QSS or math (good performance with quantitative background would make you more competitive for finance and BBA nor econ. will do that alone, no matter how well Emory’s BBA does). For MBAs, work experience matters most…you don’t even have to do a stereotypical business oriented job (you could work in technology or R and D). MBAs have pretty diverse backgrounds. Please keep an open mind and don’t just settle for or limit yourself to the prescribed or most common pathway (which sometimes doesn’t work out the best because it is so common which makes it more competitive). </p>
<p>Congratulations on Emory, Joel. A couple questions…</p>
<p>What are the odds that you will launch into a Masters degree right out of undergrad: 50/50, higher, lower? </p>
<p>What area of finance do you envision yourself in? e.g. investment banking, portfolio man’t, trading, quant work, risk? Is there a certain area that appeals to you more?</p>
<p>Thanks Dunboyne! What I do after the first four years will probably depend on what my major is. If I go he BBA route, I’ll probably start working after graduation. If I go the Econ route, I may go for a higher degree, but my financial situation would have to change between now and graduation for this to be at all viable, since I already plan to take on some debt to get a bachelors. Either way, I’m likely to go into the private sector after four years, but hopefully have an MBA or at least a more advanced degree before I’m thirty.</p>
<p>I’ve always been interested in the financial sector. Private equity and managing funds would probably be the most exciting. I like analysis and optimization; I took AP Macro last year and loved it if that means anything.</p>
<p>Probably a dumb question, but going straight from getting your business undergraduate degree to an MBA program is highly unusual - almost unheard of, right? I ask because my dad did it, but it was a strange situation at a less prestigious school. Is Emory different?</p>
<p>Also, one issue that made my parents a bit uneasy was the fact that your underclassmen years are spent in CAS, and you have to apply to the business program after two years. Another ignorant question, but do you have to reapply to CAS also, and risk a rejection from both colleges, or do you just continue on at CAS and major in someone else if you don’t get into Goizueta? </p>
<p>@joel96: No, if you don’t get into BBA, you just major in something in CAS. And trust me, being in CAS for 2 years is beneficial. You need to explore other potential passions while working on econ. and BBA pre-reqs. It will open your eyes to more opps. that may be relevant to the business world (perhaps your chance of doing a start up or some sort of innovative venture will increase because of the diverse interests in CAS). No need to be sheltered off taking humdrum B-school courses for all 4 years. You may get something more substantial from your CAS courses, while being able to network in the b-school, trust me. Again, keep an open mind. </p>
<p>This one may be a stupid question. Let’s say one applies to the BBA program in ?Feb of sophomore year and gets rejected. Is there any option to apply again a semester or two down the line?</p>
<p>Bernie12: That’s one of the things I like about Emory. They give you a chance to explore a broad range of disciplines while still placing an emphasis on what you like the most.</p>
<p>That’s good news about CAS; my parents will get to breath a sigh of relief. ;)</p>
<p>Also, while I’m on on the Emory forum, how good is Emory at sticking to their financial aid offers for the long-hall? I’ve heard colleges often offer more aid for your first year and then reduce it for the three remaining years. Can this be a problem when it comes to debt load upon graduation?</p>
<p>In regards to going from BBA to MBA right away, you’ll notice that the “top” MBA programs in the U.S. don’t typically take you unless you have plenty of leadership/management experience. There’s obviously a reason for that. So much of the benefit and strength of an MBA program, where you have loads of discussion-based learning, is centered around a student’s work experience (i.e. management). How much can you contribute to the program with 1-3 years of experience, versus someone with 8-15? The payoff in terms of what you will learn in an MBA program largely depends on your colleagues.</p>
<p>The other issue is cost. Big bucks there. Isn’t it far better to have your company pay for that MBA? If you’re hired by a company that you like, and they like you and see potential in you, they might end up paying for that MBA. You might be rewarded when you’re 35 by not having to shell out 100K+. IMO, give yourself a chance to develop enough experience to get accepted to one of the better MBA programs, paid for, or at least partially paid for. Less cost to you and higher salary when you exit. However, if you think you can get into one of the top MBAs when you’re 23, by all means go for it.</p>
<p>Anyway, it sounds like a grad degree is not a great possibility until you’re maybe later 20s. For a grad degree in your 20s, consider an MA or MSc, as per the above argument. Try your level best to save enough money to get that grad degree as soon as you can after undergrad, to add to your marketability. In the meantime, as for what academic path to take in undergrad, BBA or Econ, that’s a tough choice.</p>
<p>Is there a quantitative field that you’re most comfortable with, or that interests you most? (Math, Applied Math, CompSci, Physics?) How comfortable would you be (aptitude-wise) adding it to either the Econ or BBA?</p>
<p>Mine was adjusted proportionally every time tuition/fees increased. Now, I must admit that even these wealth, elite colleges are stingy and will try to find reasons to reduce your aid. For example, they’ll try to adjust if one of your siblings is in college and graduates. If they try to pull something, be aggressive…and they often will accommodate you. </p>
<p>Dunboyne: Interesting. I had looked at the class profiles of some top MBA programs (Chicago, Stanford, Ivies, etc.) out of curiosity before, and if remember correctly the average work experience was somewhere in the 5-10 year range for each of them, at least. The logistics of getting an MBA always struck me as kind of strange. It seems like it would be much more difficult for someone in their thirties to move across the country to go to college, putting their job on hold for the time being. Do most programs offer distance learning or part-time, or do prestigious schools usually just offer regular classes?</p>
<p>I’ve taken AP Statistics and thought it was pretty interesting. I know Emory offers a joint Econ-Math major. How is the program set up? Is meant to prep students for a business and private-sector track?</p>
<p>bernie12: That’s good to know. I’m the oldest in my family, and I’ll be out of college by the time my sis starts, so I should be able to avoid that one. Out of curiosity, how rigid are the folks at financial aid when it comes to their first-year offer? Is the award summary you get online the final, take-it-or-leave-it offer, or can you talk them into throwing in a bit extra. I ask because I got my financial aid summary from Georgia Tech today (I also got into Tech, just FYI), and they offered a really affordable package that would be hard to turn down if Emory isn’t able to come close to it. Will schools try and match others’ financial aid offers if they feel that they risk losing you? It would be nice to have some leverage. ;)</p>
<p>@joel96: You can negotiate. As for econ./math, that’s for anyone interested in both subjects. It’s not necessarily for those going into business. Tons of pre-meds do econ./math. However, I honestly recommend the QSS (quantitative social science) major with econ. You can take some upperlevel maths on your own, but this dept. will show you how to use that knowledge for modeling for example: <a href=“Error 404 | Emory University | Atlanta GA”>Error 404 | Emory University | Atlanta GA;
<p>Also, if you have AP stats. credit… I usually don’t do this, but I would recommend that you actually forfeit it and take “DSci” which is simply a superior course to AP stats. and other stats. at Emory and helps you to actually understand stats. in a real world context of business. The class is actually kind of tough, but it appears worthwhile. </p>
<p>I will not comment of MBAs because I don’t know that much (however, you can imagine that many do indeed pursue them later on after they are somewhat established, hence the popularity of evening and accelerated MBA tracks). Also, it is rather stereotypical for Emory to give better financial aid than Tech. If you get less, then use it as leverage because Emory should have more money to throw around than Tech (in fact, it just does).</p>
<p>If you’re working in finance there’s a good chance you’ll be in the NE or Chicago, so the MBA program you choose would probably be in the general area. They offer Executive MBAs for people who don’t want to quit work, and many students will travel some distance to get to classes on the weekends, usually sponsored by their companies.</p>
<p>I agree with @bernie12 about quant studies. Today’s finance is heavily quantitative, so you can’t go wrong doubling up your Econ major with a quant major like Math or Applied Math. The Econ/Math joint major would be a possibility. However, it looks like it wouldn’t be as comprehensive as doing a Double Major in Econ and Math or Applied Math.</p>
<p>The majority of what you learn in a job is going to be “on-the-job” anyway, so don’t stress out too much about whether Econ will prepare you adequately for business/finance. It will, especially if you add quant studies.</p>
<p>A BBA is viable too if you’re really concerned about obtaining more “practical” knowledge. But again, you’ll end up with better analytical skills by adding a quant major to your BBA, if you can fit it in. It will stand out on your resume. You’ll have to ask current BBA students just how hard it is to add, say, a Math or Applied Math major to a BBA.</p>
<p>Doing a BBA/Econ double major might sound like an obvious choice, but you likely won’t get as much added value to your employment profile as you would with quant work, especially for portfolio man’t.</p>
<p>Don’t rule out simply doing a Minor in a quant field, either with BA Econ or BBA, if you end up over your head by double majoring. </p>
<p>By the way, none of these particular combinations will land you a job more easily than the other, if that’s in the back of your mind. Your employability is much more complicated than that and depends heavily on things like connections, GPA, personality, interview skills, etc. But you still need a plan, obviously. </p>
<p>@Dunboyne: Unfortunately not that many BBA’s would be double majoring or minoring in something quantitative (I know some, I should maybe talk to them tomorrow to provide some more insight tomorrow or something). Some are very strong students (and typically these folks double major with something or are pre-med or something), but most would view that as a risk that they wouldn’t take and some are flat out not good at quantitative oriented things (some really struggled past financial accounting, DSci, and the easy calc. 1 they had to take). Luckily, the OP has already proven some quantitative ability. I feel as if they should consider Econ./QSS or math and perhaps take 4 b-school classes (max. you can take if in ECAS) to get “practical” exposure. The quantitative oriented faculty here tend to look out for students by the way, so it could really help with even landing that first job or internship. Also, I really have hope for this undergrad. QTM thing starting in the fall. They seem really serious about trying to make math applicable and also setting up connections with real opportunities. I would explore that option more heavily than BBA honestly. I feel BBA is more of an overhyped “safe route”. I feel it’s fine if you want the safety (maybe you aren’t that great or something and a “proven” route has inflated security), but it isn’t as intellectually stimulating and is almost too common at Emory. People who plan to major in quantitative fields like physics, math, and that QSS and USE their knowledge (for grad. school, job placement, whatever) are rarer and are well taken care of. </p>
<p>@bernie12: Well, you’re preaching to the choir here trying to convince me to opt for less BBA and more Econ plus Quant. That’s what I would recommend, without even knowing the particulars of Emory. There are more advantages to studying two subjects (Econ and Math / Applied Math) in depth. The deeper knowledge you acquire will be more advantageous down the road. I can’t speak to the QSS program, but it sounds like something to look into Joel96. </p>
<p>The reason I suggest the BBA route as a possibility is because I have the suspicion that Joel96 is drawn more to the Business School model, maybe for exactly the reasons that you alluded to: it’s safe and proven. </p>
<p>So @Joel96, do you feel (in your gut) that the BBA is the more proven route to a good job in finance? Let’s clear that up.</p>
<p>Secondly, do you feel that you could do the work in a Quant major/minor without having your GPA hammered?</p>
<p>That’s great news about financial aid. Even if it’s only a few thousand over the course of all four years, it will still make a pretty sizable difference. What exactly is the etiquette when it comes to negotiating aid? Can you call up the office and hammer it out over the phone, or would it be wiser to schedule a time to sit down with a representative?</p>
<p>Regarding the math, I’ve taken AP Stat, Calculus AB, and I’m currently in BC. I got A’s in the first two, but am having a harder time with BC. I anticipated this though; I really only took Calculus this year for exposure before college, and hadn’t planned on trying to cash it in for AP credit. Given this, I think I have a decent enough background for going for a Quant major or minor, even if it may be more difficult for me then say just majoring in Econ.</p>
<p>My perception of the whole BBA vs. Econ/Math/Quant issue has mostly been that the BBA is a more direct route to the private sector, whereas Econ alone does a better job of setting you up for a civic position. The BBA has always seemed like sort of an abridged double major in Econ and applied Math/Quant, so I’ve thought that one wouldn’t be to different from the other, but I’m not informed enough to make that judgement. As of now my goal would be a BBA over the other options, but again, that’s coming from one with only limited exposure to the actual coursework and real-life applications of the education, so that may change if I get to college and find that one route </p>
<p>Also, a somewhat random question, but Dunboyne briefly touched on the geography of employment in finance. While most of the country’s financial sector is concentrated around Chicago, Boston, NYC, etc., would it be overly difficult trying to find a good paying job in another major city? Obviously New York will have more opportunities then say Cincinnati or St. Louis, but would you be able to find a niche outside of the country’s main financial hubs?</p>
<p>BBA is not quantitative. BBA programs lack rigor, especially in the quantitative area (BBA programs are known to be soft at most schools. Of course Emory’s is harder than most, and students study more than those at other schools, but that’s because we’re selective and students care more about grades and we have more instructors that trust students in face of a challenge. However, vs. the rest of the college, only some courses in the BBA program have rigor, or at least the right kind). They are mainly just known for networking (career center, kegs, case competitions, etc). The seminars “can” be interesting and there are some courses with experiential learning opps, case studies, and there is lots of group work, but sometimes that can be bad. Do not expect a BBA to be quantitative or even rigorous (the only thing making it remotely stressful is its relatively generous grading curve. And if their classes were actually challenging, they would not need that grading curve. Often some courses are so simple, that the curve is used to divert grades downward. Compare this to sciences, maths and more rigorous social science courses where grades are curved upward. I think grades being fixed downward vs. normal scale is more common in the b-school than being adjusted upward. So, that kind of tells you something…). There is a reason that HYP, Chicago and Duke economics students (and those at other schools with quant. majors where they did well) likely do better than BBAs in terms of getting placed. It’s not simply because they are smart (one could argue that several schools now have “smarter” students than Duke, but the econ. program and many of their quantitative programs really shine now, because of the rigor), it’s because the firms are familiar with how rigorous those economics programs are vs. BBA (you know, minus Wharton which has the whole branding thing on its side). The rigor comes from the fact that those econ. curricula are much more quantitative heavy than most (this is also why those from math and computational, and engineering majors fare well. For example, not as many MIT grads go to grad. school, they end up on Wall Street. And these were the STEM majors). I feel like many BBA’s are “settling” (indeed for solid pay) because you aren’t trained to that level. A series of practical experiences (internships, summer jobs) and quantitative training is likely better than the “practical” courses of the BBA programs. </p>
<p>Don’t over-rate/over-hype Business programs in terms of how they will train you: <a href=“The Default Major: Skating Through B-School - The New York Times”>The Default Major: Skating Through B-School - The New York Times;
<p>It has always been known that they are less rigorous than many other programs in an institution no matter how prestigious or popular it is. 70hrs a week for Emory, ND, and Wharton is definitely stretching it. All of the top schools in business only average between 15-20hrs spent on classwork/week (and ND, ranked number 1-3 depending on year, is one of the lowest among the top 10). That amount of time only comes from the competition factor IMHO, not the actual rigor of the program. Many less “competitive” (ones with fairly high grades) depts at Emory have a huge chunk of students doing much more work per week than that simply because the nature of the coursework is conceptually more difficult or is actually more tedious.</p>
<p>It’s kind of like how some Ivy Leagues are inflated (like Cornell and Brown aren’t much different in terms of academic rigor from Emory, however Ivy League mainly carries the more robust “network” factor). </p>
<p>Interesting. Do you think the decline in prestige that BBA programs are experiencing is due more to over-saturation in enrollment (everyone goes to college and figures they’ll major in business), or something broader? I remember reading about how law graduates have seen a drop in salary and employment prospects over the past few years simply because schools nationwide cranked out more lawyers then the market demanded. Because of this, law school enrollment dropped by around 30% from 2011. Perhaps there’s some sort of correction on the horizon for business majors?</p>
<p>Is it possible to double major across colleges, or major and minor across colleges? I think a BBA coupled with a major or minor in Math, Quant, or Math & Econ would be a strong combination, but is it doable if you plan your courses wisely as an underclassman?</p>
<p>@Joel96: They were never that prestigious (they were simply “popular”. You know, like pre-med or something). They always were less rigorous than other UG majors. I don’t think the prestige has declined, I just think the saturation is “exposing” many of the programs or is having their efficacy called into question. Now it’s becoming clear that they aren’t that great (compared to BBAs and some MBA’s, law schools, even ones that don’t rank all that well, are relatively rigorous). At the top ones, the students essentially make the experience great (<a href=“https://blogs.emory.edu/bbanews/”>https://blogs.emory.edu/bbanews/</a> ) and lesser so the program/course work (the coursework in other depts is more likely to match the caliber of the students than the BBA coursework. Even ECAS classes that give high grades may challenge students more, especially on an intellectual engagement front). These are like the selective schools that “harbor” talent and hope they do things on their own, but don’t really use the curriculum to push and enhance the talents of the students (if lucky, the students may receive some “tools”, but that’s about it). They do use various support networks to make sure they have an easy time getting a job and network opps, and exposure (basically they support EC endeavors). And yes, those combos are doable. Again, chemistry majors (Bachelors of Science at that) do econ/math joint majors. If you did a BBA because you’re so desperate to have that, you would likely have to do econ/math joint, or QSS with econ. primary area. And yes, simply use your background or AP credits to get a jump on these freshman year and it will be doable. 20% of BBA’s successfully complete a double major (I’m willing to bet that this is close to how many who actually attempt it), so it’s possible. If you are a “softer” student that will just complete the minimum GERs and pre-reqs required to get into the b-school, then those combos will become very difficult because you’ll have to fit in those reqs. alongside your 5 b-school courses per term, and that’s hard. I would use the ECAS years to knock out and gain exposure to the non-BBA options you choose so as to lessen the stress. </p>