<p>I've come to the conclusion that there's no way I can transfer to a target school (academic-wise and money-wise), so I'm thinking of settling for my local state school. I want to know if it's possible to make a decent living as a Finance major if one doesn't make it into IB/BB? All I hear is "Don't go into Finance if you're not going to a target school".</p>
<p>You probably won’t be making six figure salary fresh out of school like the kids on wall street do that’s for sure. As others suggested, it’s partially true that breaking into IB/BB/HF is much harder coming from non-target, but it’s certainly not impossible. There are exceptions to every rule, but you gotta work 10 times harder to make happen.</p>
<p>if you’re worried about job security then pair finance with something else like CS, IT, engineering, accounting or economics that way you will be more marketable. For more info about IB and Wall Street finance jobs check out Wallstreetoasis.com</p>
<p>There are tons of non I-banking jobs in finance. Nearly every business needs financial analysts and will pay $40,000-$70,000 starting salary. Finance is the 9th highest paying major, so I would not worry about the size of your salary.</p>
<p>Large corporations hire tons of students from the big state schools all of the time and local business are usually interested in people from local colleges. As long as you are going to a high-ranking state school (top 20) or at least the best in your state you will have many opportunities. At smaller public universities you have a great chance of getting a job as well but the big corporations will not come to you, you will have to go to them.</p>