<p>So first off, there is no such thing as “hardcore specializing” in a broad based business major like we have. We have concentrations, but you only take a few concentration-specific courses and a lot of business majors do two concentrations. To do “hardcore finance”, you get a graduate degree.</p>
<p>That being said, our finance concentrators are very very competitive in the job market, etc etc. I’m just saying that personally, one of the reasons why I decided to stay in econ instead of going into business was because of how broad it would be compared to my interests. Some people love that, but it’s not my thing.</p>
<p>Second, you need to pick a subject because you like it, NOT because you think it will look good or help you out. The business/CS dual is pretty tough. CS is not a major to goof off in, and a lot of CS majors have to move into other subjects because they were kind of good at computers in high school so they figured they could handle it, and they were very very wrong. </p>
<p>Again, that being said, CS is a really great subject and I’m a firm believer that everyone should take a computer science class before graduation. I took the first programming one (Fundies 1, people call it) and it wasn’t too bad, and people have loved it on my resume since, even though I will never ever ever use the language we learned. But it still shows that I have a decent control over a computer, or at least that what interviewers see. BUT that is way different than being the dual. The dual CS/business kids that I know see themselves as computer science majors FIRST, who want to go into the business side of things maybe. It is not easy.</p>
<p>Third, International Business, Entrepreneurship and Economics are very different subjects. No offense intended towards business majors, but nearly all of my business friends struggled very badly in their required economics courses. So before you get all excited about what “Economics” will look like on a resume (and btw, it’ll be nice and all, but it really really depends on what you want to go into), see how you handle your first two required courses. Entrepreneurship is great… if that’s what you want. If you have zero interest in starting your own business and you want to go off and compete with top finance majors from Harvard at Goldman Sachs, I don’t know if entrepreneurship is really going to boost you up that much. As for International Business, I don’t even know if that’s a minor. I thought it was just a major (and a tough one to get into), but if as a business major you can sort of take some classes it in, sure do it. But again do it because you LIKE it, NOT because you think the word “international” will set you apart a lot.</p>
<p>You shouldn’t worry so much about specializing or taking enough business classes or whatever. Duals take about 75% of each major, but I promise you it’s typically just a few electives that get cut off and you will graduate being just as good as anyone else. But that won’t do you any good if you don’t like the subjects or if you picked something up (like a LOT of people do with an economics minor) because it looks fancy and then struggled in the classes. My micro theory class was full of other majors trying to get an easy A, only to do poorly and make the class average very low. Take a few classes in things you are good at, and if you like it enough then get the minor. Don’t just pick something to boost your resume.</p>
<p>The best way to compete with the top students is to do really really well in your classes. You could graduate with nothing but the business major and a concentration in finance and do amazingly because you focused hard on those classes and got top grades. Or you could really love CS and do a CS/business dual and get good grades because you loved the classes- but this will set you up to be most competitive for a different job after graduation than just finance. Or you could be like me, haven’t taken a single business class and I’m at one of the top consulting firms in the world for co-op because I have good grades and I networked nonstop last semester. You need to love what you are doing or you’ll do poorly in your classes and you’ll be complaining for the next four to five years of your life. And then no one will want to hire you, whether you just took finance courses or if you got two minors.</p>