<p>Would a major in Computer Science, ceterus paribis, have an advantage over an Econ major in top MBA admissions since so many people major in Econ?</p>
<p>Wow, I had to google “ceterus paribis” to know what you were talking about. Pretty cool term. </p>
<p>I have major regrets not majoring (haha!) in CS. CS is just so damn cool and opens up a lot of doors for you. I would suggest major in CS and minor in Econ, especially if you’re interested in entrepreneurship. (I think less so if you want to be a banker/consultant.)</p>
<p>Actually, I would say that if you want to be a banker, I would absolutely recommend CS over economics, assuming that you actually have some CS talent. {If you’re going to earn poor grades in CS, then you’re better off majoring in economics instead.} A CS degree opens the door to financial engineering positions that are unavailable to most students who lack strong quantitative backgrounds, which includes most econ majors who take the less quantitatively intensive versions of coursework. </p>
<p>Bear in mind that the most efficient pathway towards a finance career is not to obtain an MBA at all, but rather to obtain a 1-year Master’s in Finance or Financial Engineering/Computational Finance from a name-brand school such as MIT, Princeton, Chicago, Berkeley, Stanford, and the like. However, those programs require a strong quant background. </p>
<p>Furthermore, if you decide that you don’t want to be a quant, you also have available the ‘regular’ finance positions as well. The upshot is that CS gives you more options than does an econ major.</p>
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<p>The truth is, the major by itself provides you with little if any advantage in MBA admissions. Far more important is what you do with the major. If you leverage your major into a position that provides you with excellent work experience, then you will enjoy a strong advantage over other applicants who did not. But if you don’t do that, then your major effectively becomes meaningless.</p>