Dilemma: Economics vs. Statistics

College Majors Business Major
1

<p>Hi I am a student at one of the top 3 public universities undergraduate(Berk.,Mich,UVa)
and I am at great dilemma of deciding either Economics or Statistics as a major.</p>

<p>My ultimately goal is Asset Management but I am also interested in Consulting, Sales & Trading.</p>

<p>I am not interested in becoming a Quant in any of the areas.</p>

<p>If I end up majoring Economics, I will take a lot of quantitative courses for my electives in addition to traditional requirements such as Mathematical Probability, Mathematical Statistics, Linear Algebra, Econometrics, Game Theory and International Finance.
Since Economics major requirement is lenient to fullfill compared to Statistics, I will have freedom to explore a variety of different areas such as finance, accounting and computer science.</p>

<p>If I end up majoring Statistics, I will be taking courses like Multivariate Statistics, Time Series, Stochastic Process and Mathematics of Securities Derivatives but since Statistics major requires a tight course requirement I would not have freedom to choose a lot of variety of classes such as accounting, economics and computer science classes. By majoring in statistics, my courses will be more quantitative than Economics degree but certainly not by a large margin.</p>

<p>I am little concerned about the Econ degree itself since it may not be viewed strong or quantitative enough from getting interviews from certain firms/positions I might be interested in the future. I’ve heard that Propriety trading and Hedge Fund firms only hire Engineering and Math, Stat degrees and none from Economics degree.</p>

<p>So even though my econ degree would have good amount of quantitative courses, I would be at disadvantage compared to Statistics Major when it comes to recruiting verstality and flexibility just because my degree’s name is not Math/Stat/Engineering.</p>

<p>So Is my concern a legitimate or Economics degree with careful planning and right courses can make it marketable and flexible as Statistics degree?</p>

<p>Thank you guys.</p>

2

<p>In your case, I would go with economics. The flexibility of the economics major works in your advantage, especially if you have more than one career interest. You would be fine with either route though, and both are pretty applicable. If you do go economics, I would recommend trying to squeeze in a time series class. I cannot speak directly about prop trading firms and hedge funds, but I’m willing to bet they would hire economics majors from the schools you listed, especially if you can demonstrate you have taken plenty of econometrics/statistics courses. PM me if you have any specific questions, as I majored in both statistics and economics.</p>