<p>Is this a hard major, I have taken classes and found them cool and interesting but at times a little boring. I will be transferring into the college as a third year and wanted to get other peoples opinions on the major.</p>
<p>“I will be transferring into the college as a third year and wanted to get other peoples opinions on the major.”</p>
<p>Are you saying that you have already been accepted as a transfer student for fall '09???
Or is this just a hypothetical…</p>
<p>guaranteed acceptance with VCCS. I’m trying to decided between JMU Finance and UVA Econ.</p>
<p>i’m in pretty much the same position as you royal. i’m interested in finance, econ, etc and am looking at uva econ with financial econ conentration versus jmu quantitative finance.</p>
<p>for two reasons i’m going with uva econ: (1) uva has a better learning environment (in my opinion). it’s significantly tougher to get into and it shows in the student bodys’ priorities (school) and work ethic. jmu tends to be more of a party school. (2) uva has a great econ program and since i’m interested in both econ and finance, it really comes down to which program is more reputable and challenging. and i actually talked with my boss and she said that while it really depends on tons of other factors, a degree from uva carries with it a reputation that jmu doesn’t really have (she’s hired people out of both uva and jmu)…</p>
<p>I have a very High GPA(4.0) and would like to keep it high. This is my fear I go to UVA for econ and get a low GPA and cant get into a good MBA program(which means more in the long run).</p>
<p>we obviously have different priorities. going to a less-competitive school just to stand out doesn’t really make sense to me. besides, you have to consider the differences between the learning environments at uva vs jmu. the differences aren’t huge, but i feel like they’re there. i only speak from limited experience though: friends at both schools and only a few visits to each over the past couple of years.</p>
<p>Are you applying to McIntire? If so, they don’t have guaranteed admissions. I believe it’s only for Arts and Sciences and Engineering. I may be wrong though.</p>
<p>*Oh, economics is a college of arts and sciences major, right? So did you apply for both schools?</p>
<p>Econ isn’t in McIntire, and SEAS isn’t part of the agreement yet</p>
<p>Yeah, realized that econ is not McIntire after I posted. School of Engineering is a part of it. Sorry, forget how to link things through text on here: <a href=“http://myfuture.vccs.edu/Portals/0/ContentAreas/Transfer/uva-engineering.pdf[/url]”>http://myfuture.vccs.edu/Portals/0/ContentAreas/Transfer/uva-engineering.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>op, are you sure that your GPA will transfer over?</p>
<p>i know in most cases, only credits, not gpa transfer over. i might be wrong however but better safe than sorry</p>
<p>A couple points:</p>
<p>-Economics is not a tremendously hard major compared to math, electrical engineering, physics, etc, but it’s still more challenging than most and certain “concentrations” can be fairly difficult. You need four electives (after this year) to complete the major, and among those four you can take very, very rigorous courses or very easy ones.</p>
<p>-Don’t obsess about keeping a 4.0. What do you hope to do after graduating? If you’re hard-working and talented, you should be able to get a high enough GPA anyway.</p>
<p>-Choose UVa. Job recruiting here is superior to what you’d experience as a finance major at JMU.</p>
<p>^great reasons. thanks, cav302…</p>
<p>BTW, feel free to ask me any questions about the economics major, opportunities to study finance as an economics major or opportunities to pursue finance after graduation. I just finished up a <em>fantastic</em> course in the economics department today on behavioral finance and there are several other great finance courses in the economics department. More than enough, imo, to complete the major and satiate one’s interest in the material (at least at the undergraduate level).</p>
<p>cav302- Good points regarding UVA econ > JMU finance.</p>
<p>What in the consensus for UVA econ (financial econ track) V. W&M finance?</p>
<p>I have always leaned more towards the finance degree, but the financial econ concentration at UVA has begun to make me have second thoughts…
Also… will I be able to take additional classes (space permitting of course) at McIntire while in this program?</p>
<p>I have already been accepted at W&M, so of course this question may become irrelevant in a matter of days depending on the transfer decisions at UVA. ;)</p>
<p>I don’t think there is a consensus for that, givemeliberty. Job recruiting at UVa, particularly for Wall Street type jobs, seems to be better than at W&M, although I don’t think financial job recruiting will recover anywhere to the same levels as a few years ago for quite a while, if ever.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry too much about “concentrations”, although it doesn’t hurt to formally declare one. Whether or not you declare the financial economics concentration, you can still take a number of great courses in the economics (and even math departments) that would tremendously further your knowledge of finance. Check out the COD for courses in the econ dept that you could take, such as Financial Market Theory, Behavioral Finance, Empirical Finance, Econometrics and others. Aside from those, taking math classes through calc 3, differential equations, linear algebra, mathematical probability and mathematical statistics, among others, is also a good idea.</p>
<p>Currently it is not possible to take courses in McIntire.</p>
<p>As of right now I am not sure what I want to do after school in terms of a job, but something in Finance. I do know I want to get my MBA. Recruitment isnt very good right now and thats why I am not sure what I want to do. From looking at rankings of Econ PhD programs (Undergrad usually falls close?) UVA is ranking in the 30s, and with JMUs B school at 44 there isnt much difference in terms of rankings, so how will recruiters look at that?</p>
<p>hey cav >> i’m really interested in finance and am probably gonna end up majoring in econ. do econ majors – those that do well – get recruited by many companies? and what sorts of companies? and what sorts of opportunities in finance post-graduation were you referring to?</p>
<p>i was looking at uva’s school of continuing and professional studies for taking some classes in finance/accounting, but i’d be interested in hearing what sort of stuff you’re planning on doing and what other opportunities are out there.</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>I am an econ and comm double major, currently in my 2nd year. I have only 3 classes to complete the econ major. Here are several points I want to make:
- Classes are harder at UVa than at community colleges. People are generally more hard working so you’ll face a lot more competition. And GPA from CC will not affect the GPA at UVA. It’s like you start again with a blank piece of paper; you only get the credits.
- Graduate ranking has little to do with undergraduate quality. The teaching quality is fantastic at UVA.
- You will probably be disappointed if you want to learn real world, applicable finance and you are only an econ major. Business and economics are two quite different disciplines.
- However you’ll still be in a much better position than those folks in JMU finance program, if you do reasonably well in classes. I know a high school friend who is a econ major at JMU and he obviously doesn’t know what he’s doing. Recruiting and graduate school placement are much better here than VT and JMU.
- two accounting classes are available for all students.</p>
<p>From looking at rankings of Econ PhD programs (Undergrad usually falls close?) UVA is ranking in the 30’s, and with JMU’s B school at 44 there isn’t much difference in terms of rankings, so how will recruiters look at that?</p>
<p>You are comparing apples and oranges.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you end up deciding to pursue an MBA at all, it likely wouldn’t happen for 3-6 years after graduating.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What would possess you to even try to make this kind of comparison? I’m not even sure where to start. Look, at the undergraduate level, the prestige of the overall university is what matters most, not departmental prestige. Graduate rankings are very nuanced and heavily depend on research areas. JMU’s business school is ranked 44th. Yes. UVa’s undergraduate and graduate business programs are ranked much higher, as is the undergraduate program overall. But rankings don’t mean much compared to actual place, which is substantially better at UVa across the board. Recruiters don’t simply look at departmental rankings of dissimilar programs and decide to make some sort of comparison. Recruiters in entire industries don’t go to JMU and in others the coverage isn’t nearly as wide as at UVa. There just is no comparison. I’m not sure how much I should drone on - I feel like I’m explaining the world to you…no offense.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Taking those classes when? You can take introductory accounting and business courses as a student at UVa (financial accounting, managerial accounting and ‘making business work’). In addition, you can take a number of great finance courses as an economics major. What do you mean what am I doing? I’m a 4th year economics major getting ready to graduate. I’ve taken a lot of courses in the math and economics courses, but didn’t take any finance courses until this year - financial market theory and behavioral finance. Both are EXCELLENT and the professor who teaches them should serve as a model for other undergraduate professors.</p>