<p>I was thinking of either doing Econ $ accounting or straight Econ at ucsb. I want to work in international business or policy for trade. I don't know how useful the accounting would be in these areas, and I have no intentions of becoming a CPA or anything, however I'd like to keep my open. Anywho if anyone could give me some advice it'd be much appreciated.</p>
<p>Economics and Accounting Double major. Or if you’re just trying to keep your options open and have no intentions of actually getting a CPA, then do an Economics/Math double major.</p>
<p>Well, I was a Business Economics major (the major that was replaced by Economics and Accounting) at UCSB last year, so I’m familiar with a good portion of the Econ department’s course offerings - I’ll see if I can tell you something worthwhile.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t know how relevant the specifics of what you study - whether as part of the plain Econ major or the Econ and Accounting major - would help with a career in international business or trade policy. My first thought is that the Econ and Accounting major would help you get an understanding of market principles and help you more thoroughly understand how to read and analyze financial statements (while the plain Econ major is pretty light on Accounting topics). But when it comes to learning about the areas that you mentioned, I don’t recall hearing about Econ department classes that specifically require you to look into the text of trade laws, for example. (I once read/wrote about the WTO’s TRIPS for a Political Science class about International Political Economy, but I also found that many Poli Sci majors had a weird “understanding” of economics.)</p>
<p>As it concerns actually finishing either major, the Econ major has 11 upper-division classes and the Econ and Accounting major has 13 upper-division classes. The Econ and Accounting major requires a bit more planning to get through in a timely manner, since many of the courses require each other as prerequisites. On the other hand, the plain Econ major doesn’t really have such a set course sequence, and is a bit easier to combine with another major (if you decide that another discipline fits into your career aims). </p>
<p>I guess the weakness of Econ department offerings in general is that most of them aren’t that practical, with the exception of the Accounting courses (if you’re looking to work in that field). There are some academic programs that might provide more of a business angle to either major that might be worth looking into for you:
[Technology</a> Management Program, UCSB](<a href=“http://www.tmp.ucsb.edu/academics/undergraduate.html]Technology”>http://www.tmp.ucsb.edu/academics/undergraduate.html)
[Great</a> new program and a way to earn units for the CPA! UCSB Economics Career Connection](<a href=“http://ucsbecon.com/2012/03/15/great-new-program-and-a-way-to-earn-units-for-the-cpa/]Great”>Great new program and a way to earn units for the CPA! – Career Connection)</p>
<p>I’m sorry if this wasn’t too helpful - I’m not much of a career counselor, but I always did like talking to people about the Econ major when I was at UCSB.</p>