Economics vs Finance Major

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Florida
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<p>I haven't gotten back my admissions results from UF yet, but I am 99% sure I will get in come February. I am having trouble between deciding to get a BA in Economics (with math minor) or BS in Finance.</p>

<p>My goal after college is to become a financial advisor, investment banker, financial officer, or anything related. I also want to get an MBA from the best school possible. I am also very interested in doing personal investing in the stock market; furthermore, I want to pick the major that will help me with this.</p>

<p>I am going to UF purely to save money for future costs of education and so I have more money to invest early.</p>

<p>My reasons for each are following:</p>

<p>Economics with math minor
Pros
-I love economics
-Potentially easier to earn a high GPA than in finance
-Economics is versatile and good for anything
-Economics will allow me to minor in math, which looks good on resumes and applications.
-Game theory is always good to know
-Economics has many business applications</p>

<p>Cons
-A math minor may be challenging and hurt my GPA (Diff equations, linear algebra, analytic calculus, and function work is required). But if I do not get the math minor, my value will go down the hole.
-Economics is perhaps not directly related to investing and finance.</p>

<p>Finance
Pros
-Useful degree in investing and many terms
-Directly related the career I want (economics is too; however, less than finance is)
-I like it and it will help me personally with lots of things</p>

<p>Cons
-Technically a business major, which I do not like.
-Might be challenging and GPA will be hard to get
-Finance majors are extremely common</p>

<p>After these thoughts, here are my real questions:</p>

<p>At UF,</p>

<p>~Which is considered and easier major, economics with math minor or finance? Not so I can slack, but so I can help myself get into business school.</p>

<p>~How challenging is a math minor to earn?</p>

<p>~Which would help me land better jobs (before I get the MBA)?</p>

<p>~What is the general impression of each major on campus?</p>

<p>~Is financial accounting harder than the math classes that deal with trig?</p>

<p>~I know finance gets a bad reputation, but how well does the major actually fare overall?</p>

<p>~Which major would top MBA programs look at more favorably?</p>

<p>~Which major will prepare me for the GMAT?</p>

<p>~Which would you do? BA Economics, Math minor or BSBA Finance?</p>

<p>~It seems that historically many famous investors majored in economics, does this mean that it is better?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

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<p>Lastly, is accounting worth the boredom?</p>

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<p>I’m a freshman here and stuck between Economics and Finance.</p>

<p>However, I am currently an Econ major within the business school, no math minor. I originally intended on getting an Econ major within the business school and a math minor because I had a sincere interest in math and thought it would look good. I ended up deciding to drop the math minor because I realized that realistically I couldn’t see myself going to grad school in Economics. The Econ biz major is for students who wants to go out into the financial sector (or law school) after graduating who also have a sincere interest in thee subject. Finance is definitely geared towards what you want to do. </p>

<p>I also have the same aspirations as you; I want to go into investment banking upon graduation. Unfortunately, the school doesn’t let us double major in Econ & Finance. So as of now I am sticking with the Econ major in the business school, no math minor, but may or may not switch to Finance.</p>

<p>I’ll get to your questions later, have to go, but I thought I’d write a quick response to this because it’s a subject I’ve come to know pretty well. </p>

<p>There are few econ majors here at UF btw, many Finance majors. I don’t feel like it’s looked down upon here. UF’s business school is solid, and I think UF finance ranks pretty high. It’s worth looking up. More to come.</p>

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<p>upper level econ major here:</p>

<p>you’re looking to be a finance major. sort answer.</p>

<p>long answer:
The goals you listed are all consistent with what skills you will have upon graduation. as an econ major, you wont know much about investing and investment vehicles. Especially if you’re in the college of liberal arts a sciences; there is no requirements whatsoever that require you to learn anything about investing. Of course, whether you’re getting a BS or a BA isn’t relevant to a math minor. in terms of that, a BA is only useful if you plan on double-majoring in math, which is typically reserved for students interested in graduate school. you can minor in math all you want, no matter what school you’re in–its only a matter of fitting it in your schedule, which shouldn’t be too difficult.</p>

<p>Note: i’ve never heard that not having a math degree makes your value go ‘down the hole’. the vast majority of finance majors don’t have advanced math and do just fine. the odds of you doing research or work that requires advanced math when you only have an MBA or BA aren’t that great. While it does increase value, math is generally recommended for people going for a phd or masters, which are basically applied math degrees.</p>

<p>but it definitely doesn’t hurt.</p>

<p>about the GPA: the differences are negligable; they each have a class or two that are especially hard. the only reason the business college might be harder is because you have to take classes that are boring. the math minor could potentially hurt your GPA, yeah. just work hard and you’ll be fine.</p>

<p>you can take the game theory class as a finance major. it might require some sweet talking, but you can get in most likely.</p>

<p>finance would definitely be a more useful degree; regardless of which degree you get, your first job is still going to require a good amount learning, but you’ll probably be more prepared as a finance major.</p>

<p>answers to your questions:</p>

<p>they’re both moderately difficult degrees. math might make either one harder, but if you can do the work you’ll be fine as i said.</p>

<p>with a finance degree you’re more likely to get a job specific to your interests. thats not a hit on economics degrees though; economics doesn’t exist to study financial markets, finance does. economics majors still get those kinds of jobs, just less frequently. they also want those jobs less.</p>

<p>econ majors are looked on as being a little bit more nerdy, while the finance majors have that hot shot i’m-in-it-for-the-money ****** thing going for them. not really, but if there was an impression, thats what it would be. no one outside of those two departments knows enough about them to really have an opinion, and if they did, it would be very ill-informed. particularly in regards to economics majors; no one really knows what you get an degree in econ for–even most econ majors. additionally, as was mentioned, the econ department is small. very small. there only about 15 faculty added up, and only like 5 classes offered each semester.</p>

<p>i didn’t take financial accounting and have no intention of taking it. no opinion.</p>

<p>what relationship does finance reputation have with how well they fare? the success of students has little relationship with their major, and even less with the popularity of the major.</p>

<p>neither major will prepare you for the gmat. thats something you prepare for on your own.</p>

<p>as a current econ major, i’d take econ math double major over finance major any day.</p>

<p>i doubt that economics majors are generally more effective investors than finance majors. if your observation is true (which is probably isn’t really), it might have to do with the fact that economics is much more fundamental and you’re either more intellectually curious or more able to understand markets and can judge how well they are valued–or are just smarter. there a ton of lurking variables, and i really cant imagine theres a correlation.</p>

<p>also, please do not come here for the money. if your only reason for coming here is so you think that you’ll have a couple thousand extra dollars when your retire, it’ll be a tragedy. go to the school you really want to go to and can reasonably afford to go to.</p>

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<p>Is it possible for an econ major in CLAS to get into the Hough MFS program? If I want to do that program, would being a finance major be a better idea?</p>

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<p>it would probably be a better idea. talk to them specifically about requirements; i doubt anyone here would know specifics.</p>

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<p>Yes. You can get into the MSF program with any major, not just Finance. Major in whatever you want, you’ll get plenty more knowledge of finance in this program.</p>