<p>I think I've decided to go into business (math is ok but not fun, creatvity and writing are great) I like to be around technology and people, so I was thinking maybe IT managment or E-commerce.
My fav. picks for schools are Rice and U. Chicago and Vandy, but they only have economics. Some of my other schools are U. virginia, Southern Methodist U, and Notre Dame, all of which have the MIS and actual business degrees.
is getting an econ. degree going to hurt me for business school or in getting a career out of college? Is it easier to branch out to other business sectors such as government and the like with econ?
I'm trying to figure this out and need some help. thanks guys.</p>
<p>I'm visiting Rice this weekend, maybe they have some ideas on it. any input? thanks</p>
<p>Economics is a much more flexible degree than business. You can easily get a government job if you studied some policy analysis, and you're getting an advantage to some business job such as the ones related to technology or finance (due to the nature of an economics major).</p>
<p>Economics won't hurt your chance on a b-school and could even boost your chance (higher GMAT scores, b-school want diverse student body).</p>
<p>However, economics is very mathematical (!!) compared to business, so you might want to re-valuate your options.</p>
<p>how in the world would econ give an advantage in technology or finance? And how does econ correlate to a higher GMAT? And very is a technical term, undergrad econ programs will be just a tad more mathematical than a finance major.</p>
<p>Econ majors have one of the highest GMAT scores compared to business major according to this chart:</p>
<p>It can easily be explained from the mathematical and analytical thinking nature of the sub(look at how math, engineering, philosophy does).</p>
<p>Perhaps the economics major in your school aren't very mathematical, but if you look around, such as some of the top schools, you'll see what a standard economics major should learn. </p>
<p>Also, a tad more is not a more technical term than very, and I was comparing econ to biz overall, not finance (which you probably mean financial economics, not business finance).</p>
<p>no i was specifically talking about a business degree in finance. And yes i have seen the econ work from top schools and the variance between schools is minimal. </p>
<p>However, i take back my statement about the GMAT</p>
<p>The elite business schools generally don't want business majors. The professors at Harvard believe that Harvard should teach students about Business, not Rice or Vanderbilt or Notre Dame.</p>
<p>But I only know what I hear from others...</p>
<p>So are you saying it's better to major in econ. or related subject and not business and then go to grad. school? i'm not sure I get your point.
I do plan on going to grad school though after any college i go to.</p>
<p>it is hard to get into grad school with a business major.</p>
<p>you're not allowed to do grad school on, say, economics or financial engineering (as well as many others which requires some form of undergradute courses), with an undergraduate business degree alone. No graduate degree will ever requires an undergradute business degree.</p>
<p>the only bet you have for grad school is master or phd in business, but even for those degrees, b-schools look for diverse applicants in other fields such as humanity, social science and engineering.</p>
<p>ABC - I think that you consider that not all business degrees are created equal. </p>
<p>Wharton students have great prospects for graduates school in a number of fields. To say "the only bet you have for grad school is master of phd in business" is completely untrue. And you can definitely go into grad school in Economics or financial engineering with just a business degree.</p>
<p>Just looking at our class of 2005 grads who responded to the career services survey - there are people getting their JD, MB in Biotechnology, MFA in Film, MD/PhD in Genetics, MSc in Latin American Politics, and PhDs in Economics, Finance, and Marketing among others.</p>
<p>If you can get itno a highly elite school--Ivy or very close--it won't matter much. After that a good Top 15 ug business program will yield a very good job if you do well at all. You can still go to a top MBA school too if you need too.</p>
<p>W<em>T</em>F* philosophy?!</p>
<p>If you plan on getting an MBA do econ. Also, if you do econ, your school matters a lot. For example, Uchicago Econ beats vandy econ.</p>
<p>"And you can definitely go into grad school in Economics or financial engineering with just a business degree."</p>
<p>This statement strikes me as misleading. I was under the impression that these types of graduate programs require a significant quantative background ie. linear algebra, etc. You would probably have to take additional math classes to supplement your business degree or engineering/physics to be accepted.</p>
<p>Only 1 or 2 more classes, which is not very much at all.</p>
<p>If your doing your research in Econometrics you should have a year worth of Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics, but you don't need that to get into the program, you can take those classes your first year into the Ph.D program. </p>
<p>All you really need to into the program is freshman econ sequence, and a year of calculus. The higher math you can take when you are already in the program. We had some econ grad students in my Mathematical Statistics course too the last two quarters.</p>
<p>Freshman econ and a calculus course <em>might</em> get you into a very mediocre graduate econ program at an essentially unknown university. And even for that I have my doubts. </p>
<p>Don't kid yourself. Lots of math and some higher level economics isn't just for the econometricians; It's required at all decent economics departments. </p>
<p>To any business major planning to switch to economics in grad school, I would recommend choosing electives very wisely. Because the econ majors you'll be competing with for spots in grad programs will already have six or seven math courses besides calculus under their belts, not to mention plenty of demonstrated ability in economic theory far beyond the material covered in introductory courses.</p>
<p>6 or 7 math courses? Very doubtfulll, I have seen top rated econ program requirements before, none of them require that much math to get in. Example, Stanford requires 2 semesters of calculus, 1 semester of linear algebra, 1 semester of calculus probability, and 1 semester of mathematical statistics.</p>
<p>Just 3 classes beyond calculus.</p>
<p>I do think it is a good idea for someone who wants to go to grad school in econ to considure double majoring in statistics. </p>
<p>Funny enough a Stat major with a econ minor is probably better prep for Econ grad school than a Econ major is.</p>
<p>"To any business major planning to switch to economics in grad school, I would recommend choosing electives very wisely."</p>
<p>Yes, obviously. The point is that top business programs ALLOW for the flexibility to pursue your business studies in addition to other interests. So take more math or more econ if you are interested - but you don't need to get the full degree to apply to graduate programs.</p>
<p>And VT - the Statistics department at Penn is housed in Wharton, not the Arts & Sciences school - so of course I appreciate that comment.</p>