business school - majors, minors, dual, combined ?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Florida
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<p>We have been looking at the UF Business School website. There are so many options.
What would be a good minor with Econ - Math? Is it ok to have more than one minor? What would be advisable with Econ besides Math?
Is it better to do a dual degree program with Econ/Info Systems or a combined program BS/MS program in Finance?
It appears the first 7 or 8 tracking courses are the same for Econ/ Finance /Information Systems. All three of course are closely linked. But do all three have similar/good job prospects? And is UF regarded equally highly in all 3 areas?</p>

<p>My son will be coming in with 40 plus credits(Dual enrollment, AP, CLEP) - he will have almost all Gen Ed done and also a couple of Calc and a couple of Econ courses done, so he can jump right in to start his major. So it would be nice to know if he should go the dual major route or the combined program route. Or is it too early and should he just wait to see what interests him?
Any advice or info about the Business school would be great. Thanks a lot.</p>

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<p>I just switched into Information Systems with a minor in Real Estate. I really love the Business COllege. My advisor is Amazing. She answers all of my emails promptly and easily accessible. The core classes for majors in Business are all the same. As long as your son hasn’t completed more than half of his major courses he can switch at anytime. Because he is so far ahead, I recommend internship hunting ASAP when he gets to UF. It’s a requirement to graduate and getting it out of the way is great especially if he is unsure about a major. You can complete around 8 credits or more being away for a semester. Economics can go with anything. I would minor in something that is career related. Example: Your son could get a minor in Accounting… Also… BS/MS are available for most majors not just finance. Info Systems has a combined program. What additional questions do you have?</p>

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<p>this an exciting thread for me.</p>

<p>rather than go in depth about all possibles combinations of majors, minors, and combined degree programs indiscriminately, i’ll say this: the majors/pathways you’re asking for are very different. the fact that you know math is a match for econ suggests to me that you guys have some notion of what kind of work your son will want to do. in order to really give you a great idea of what would open up the most opportunities for your son, it would be useful to hear what he thinks he might want to do after he graduates.</p>

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<p>Thank you so much ufgator and aforautum. I love that enthusiasm and excitement in your posts. Will talk to my son and discuss some more about what he might want to do and post again. As far as I know he finds Economics very interesting and seemed to think the business school was a better match than the liberal arts school for him. And he thought surely Math could only help. I dont know if has figured much beyond that. At some point he does want to start his own non-profit in micro finance and i know he is interested in banking and finance and investment banking. He is trying to find an internship in a bank this summer. Thank you again for your thoughtful and detailed input.</p>

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<p>Thank you for the advice! I find this also helpful. I plan on majoring in finance next year with a minor in german. I want to study abroad a semester in Germany and also do the austrian program where you take classes for 5 weeks then receive a local internship. I want to one day work for the federal reserve</p>

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<p>@moninflorida: if he’s interested in finance, he should be a finance major with a minor in accounting, information systems, or entrepreneurial. the majority of the roles he would fill under the general ‘bank’ and ‘finance’ umbrella are not very technical, and if he’s interested in more of a management or leadership role, a formal mathematical background may not be worth the pain.</p>

<p>if he’s interested in investment banking, business econ has done well. unless he is interested in more technical roles in investment banking, however, a math background might again not be worth giving up other opportities. if he’s genuinely interested in IB, he should look into and begin preparing for the MSF program ASAP. its very competitive, and its graduates do alright. I would strongly recommend trying to email the coordinator for that program about whether a math minor is worth it.</p>

<p>information systems don’t sound like the right path for him, unless there is something else he had in mind.</p>

<p>the main difference between finance and economics is the technical background on actual financial work. you can, for instance, major in economics and never take a finance or accounting class, and have no idea what a balance sheet looks like or how a business is run. If you do take those classes as an econ major (ie, you major in econ through the business college), you will have some exposure, which is alright if thats what you want to do. but if you’re set on getting a more technical (not in an engineering sense so much) role in a bank, finance is outright the better major. fiance is a more knowledge intensive and career specific major. economics is a much more theoretical and generalized major whose purpose is to instill a way of thinking that just happens to be useful in finanance rather than a knowledge base about finance.</p>

<p>on the role of math: if he was interested in graduate school in econ, math would be beyond essential. this doesn’t sound like the case. graduate school for finance doesn’t expect as much of a math background. <em>however</em>, if he’s interested in work that involves programming or algorithms, the math background would be useful. there are technical roles that exist in IB and finance where that happens. but the vast majority of finance majors don’t go down that route.</p>

<p>@Nc7777: If you want to work for the federal reserve, ace all of your econ courses, minor in stats or maybe math, and learn at least a little bit of programming. most of the work done by the federal reserve is statistical analysis, and getting a job there means that you’ll be doing grunt work data processing and acting as a wall for researchers higher up to bounce ideas off of. you’re of course welcome to minor in german for interest, but don’t think of it as a replacement for some other minor that would be more useful for what goals you have in mind. you can do both.</p>