<p>I've been stressing out about college lately (even though I'm only a junior in high school) and am going back and forth between Economics and Finance. I love Economics and would love to study it but I've heard so many stories about the fact that no one employs people with economics degrees and they'd rather finance degrees. But then I go back to the fact that a finance degree would most likely mean a career in financial analysis and that would mean me taking those analysis exams (which I would dread taking). </p>
<p>My dream job is to be an economist working for the Bureau of Economic Analysis which requires a degree in Economics, but then I go back to the fact that there aren't many other job opportunities for people with degrees in economics but there are for people in finance bla bla bla ad infinitum.</p>
<p>Could anyone give a suggestion on which I should major in? And yes, I've thought about a dual degree but it's pretty expensive to go through another year of college plus getting a masters degree. If I get really good financial aid or merit scholarships, I'll consider it.</p>
<p>Also, I’d like to join Omicron Delta Epsilon (which is an honors society for econ majors or people who are taking a lot of econ classes) so that’s a plus for an econ major</p>
<p>There are so many options for finance… banking, trading, equity research, risk management, asset management, credit risk analysis, corporate finance, and many others.</p>
<p>Not that nobody likes econ degree, it’s just undergrad econ is too liberal arts and too general. You either do a math degree to back it up or you have to be really good with a specific area of economics.</p>
<p>What’s your purpose? I’d rather do a join major (Mathematics and Economics) than Finance. If anyone doesn’t think so, please explain why it’s not a lot “better”.</p>
<p>Anyone who says you can’t get a job with an economics degree has no clue what they’re talking about. Not every job in “business” consists of filling out balance sheets 24/7. Most research, data analyst, etc. positions are filled with economics majors, some math/marketing/CS majors, relatively few finance/accounting majors.</p>
<p>I majored in economics after taking accounting classes and realizing I’d rather (honestly) be homeless than do that every day. The emphasis on statistics and data analysis and market research turned out to be much better for me. I’m a good technical writer, I’m good at translating tedious information into intuitive visual patterns, I’m good at things that quantitative economics is much more relevant to than step-by-step finance/accounting lectures are.</p>
<p>Finance and accounting and other quantitative business degrees are great IF you actually want to do the stuff you’re learning for a living, but I seem to meet so many people who think you’re going to walk into the big interview, lay your finance/accounting degree on the table and blow the guys shirt off with your “practical skills” even though they do not enjoy or have any desire to work as an accountant or financial analyst. It puzzles me.</p>
<p>In case that came across as me saying “anyone who majors in finance/accounting must become a financial analyst/accountant”, that wasn’t my intention. Both are versatile degrees.</p>
<p>However, the big advantage of those degrees is that you always have those jobs as a fallback option. You said you “dread” a career in financial analysis, so you just forfeited the big safety net a finance degree offers and gave the green light to specializing in economics.</p>
<p>Thank you for your productive post. What course did you like the most in your program, unless you liked all of them, discoinferno? Do you have a B.S. or B.A., or does that matter at all anyway?</p>
<p>My son is currently applying to colleges, interested in Econ/stats and finance. Some schools this falls in the school of business, others Arts and Sciences. Do your homework. There are programs in Business Economics. Some schools are set up much better for quantitative Economics, offering a BS, allowing for higher math courses, etc. </p>
<p>As the above post states there are many, many opportunities for Econ majors. Look carefully at the program to make sure it includes the elements, or allows flexibility for, courses to make you competitive when looking for jobs. It’s not just the degree, but specific coursework.</p>