Best colleges for undergrad finance major?

College Search & Selection
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<p>Hmm... I'm transferring... and (I'm not accepted to any yet) currently attend Ithaca College. The only reason I went there is because of an excellent journalism program and excellent journalism ec-related facilities and opportunties. After deciding to switch majors, I decided I want to transfer. Cornell is a pretty easy transfer for a successful IC student (I'd have to do econ which mean transferring to A&S; I don't have the biology requirement for AEM), but I don't really want to go to Cornell; I kind of want to get away from Ithaca as I don't like the town taht much. Not sure if I'd get into Northwestern (haven't decided whether or not to apply since its app deadline isn't until May 1.</p>

<p>Sorry to the OP if I hijacked the thread.</p>

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<p>Apply to both and see what happens...they are about the same in reputation with recruiters/ grad schools.</p>

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<p>Can someone please tell me the differences between economic and finance majors, the advantages and disadvantages,etc?</p>

<p>And thanks for the book recommendations, LT; I'll try to read some over the summer.</p>

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<p>See the thing is... in my opinion, for an undergraduate education, I'd be much happier at UVA, UNC, WUSTL in my opinion. I'm applying to Penn, NYU, and Michigan also, and who knows which of those 6 schools I'll get into. I don't really want to go to Cornell or major in econ, but at the same time, I don't want to slight the fact that Cornell would probably give me a better chance at the job I want than some of those other schools.</p>

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<p>Wait and see where you get into, if you work hard at thpse those three you can still get into banking. The top firms do recruit at those schools.</p>

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<p>"Can someone please tell me the differences between economic and finance majors, the advantages and disadvantages,etc?" </p>

<p>sorry to repost, but no one answered my question.</p>

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<p>Finance will help once you get the job, but econ majors will likely catch up quickly. If you go to a LAC/ Ivy there is no finance, so you will have to do econ. At the top business schools you will likely have to do finance. Both will get you the job.</p>

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<p>One more note... if you are considering law school... econ is probably better...</p>

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<p>in the sense that economics is easier and simpler to get an A in than finance, economics is better for graduate school</p>

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<p>Thanks for the input.</p>

31

<p>""econ is more theory and math than finance, which is more of a combination of econ and business. "</p>

<p>Really, in what universe? As an econ/finance major, I can assure you that what you just said is absolutely beyond absurd."</p>

<p>how is that absurd...</p>

<p>my cousin who is a econ major told me exactly that, plus similar questions have been asked in ibanking threads- with people responding that economics is more math and forecasting while finance is more of a pragmatic application of economics in business</p>

<p>im not a college student myself but if i have been given the wrong impression, perhaps you could clarify.</p>

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<p>Econ may be more conceptual but that's about it. there's very little math at all involved in micro.macro, or intermediate micro/macro or international economics. at a good finance school, courses such as debt instruments, corporate finance, will be mostly applied mathetmatics and is all quantitiative, something econ is not.</p>

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<p>The quantitative part of econ. is generally downplayed at the undergrad level. Real economics requires a lot more math than you think. Graduate economics is a lot more quantitative than both undergrad econ. and finance.</p>

<p>Most graduate programs in economics give preference to applicants who have taken linear algebra, probability, statistics, multivariable calculus, differential equations, econometrics, and real analysis. </p>

<p>Last time I checked, you don't need those sort of classes to get advanced degrees in finance.</p>

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<p>i'm not going to bother arguing because if you look at the background of virtually every finance graduate/phd student, you'd see how patently wrong you are. finance, by virture of its nature, at every level is inherently more quantiative than economics</p>

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<p>I agree with Slipper too...but I would make one thing clear. If one studies at Cal, Michigan or NYU, one does not have to major in Business to have a shot at the great IBs. In fact, just as many Econ majors at those schools get jobs at top IBs as Business majors.</p>

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<p>An nyu cas econ major will absolutely not have the same job placement as a stern finance/econ major.</p>

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<p>That's probably because NYU is such a huge Finance program. At Michigan and Cal, only 100 students graduate with an undergraduate degree in Finance every year. From Stern, I would say probably close to 400 or so. So it makes sense that Stern places more students into IBs than NYU's cas. But I remember when I graduated in 1996, just as many Econ majors from Michigan had offers from top IBs as Business school majors. I am pretty sure Cal is the same. Of course, there are twice as many Econ majors as their are Finance majors at Michigan and Cal, but then again, many of them have no desire to join IBs.</p>

<p>The point I am making is that students at Cal, Michigan and NYU (and I would add Notre Dame and Georgetown to the list) have access to great IB opportunities.</p>

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<p>true, but at nyu for an econ major to be close to par with a finance major, one would need a 3.8+ and would probbaly have to be enrolled in stern rather than CAS</p>

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<p>That is strange. But you know NYU far better than I do. At Cal and Michigan, the 3.8 students in Econ were usually headed for PhD programs or Law school. It was usually the 3.4 or 3.5 students that would look for jobs in the IB field.</p>

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<p>I thought 3.5 is the IB cutoff, no (unless you are at wharton/mit/mich/stern)?</p>