Finance is really my calling, but I can’t afford to go to a target school so my state school (UW Madison) is my only option. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to get anywhere with a degree in finance from Madison. I’ve always wanted to work in investment banking, but the chances of doing that are looking bleak considering I can’t afford the path to get there.
That’s where the other option comes up. Job prospects look a little better with a chemistry degree from Madison, and I have always kind of liked chemistry.
What should I do?
First, are you high school senior?
Have you taken Chemistry before? What was your experience with it compared to finance?
Which homework did you do frist If you took chemistry or finance class? Chemistry or finance?
I’m an upcoming senior, yes. I’ve taken chemistry and enjoyed it. My school doesn’t really have a finance class, so the vast majority of my finance education comes from outside of school. The closest to it that we have is probably AP Macro/Micro economics—I took Micro last year and am taking Macro this year.
I’d rather spend my time doing finance, but if I can’t have a successful career with it then I’ll go with chemistry.
Your chances of a well-paying job upon graduation are likely to be better with a business degree than a chem degree.
This report (which dates from 2014) shows average starting salary for a BS in chemistry at about 40K per year. For PhD, about 60-70K. Chemical engineers did better, with starting annual salary for BS at 65K +
https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/careers/salaries/secure/salaries/new-graduates-2014-revised.pdf
Do you have any real evidence that graduates from UW business school don’t have good prospects in finance? If you’re not keen on your in-state option, how about Minnesota-Twin Cities, which offers reciprocal tuition to Wisconsin residents?
https://carlsonschool.umn.edu
In another thread OP posted his stats. With the posted numbers. OP would qualify for generous scholarships from many state universities & for most state university honors colleges.
If making money if your goal, then a finance degree usually leads to more lucrative career paths than does chemistry.
Consider a double major in two academic disciplines which are of interest to you. Finance & accounting, management, marketing or economics for example. Often a second major in a foreign language can open up opportunities.
-UW Madison is an excellent university
-The “target school” parlance comes from schools at the tippy-top of the investment banking world, who recruit mainly at specific target schools. Firstly, those places do hire people who went to non-targets (although it is definitely easier if you went to a target school). More importantly, there are TONS of other places where you can work in finance aside from those tippy-top places. If you’re actually interested in finance, then you should go ahead and major in finance.
-Although you should be thinking about job opportunities coming from college, college isn’t only about jobs and careers. You should choose to major in something you’re interested in. If you are genuinely interested in chemistry, then sure, double-major or minor or take some classes in it. But if you’re just picking it because of numbers you see getting jobs…don’t pick it for that reason.
On another thread, posters spent a lot of time trying t convince OP UW is a fine option. And affordable. The chances of a finace career are not “bleak” from UW. But if he doesn’t research UW, career options, job sorts and locations, he’s missing a key analysis skill for finance.