Finance vs Economics at Top Schools

College Majors Business Major
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<p>All of the schools on your list are fine, so choose your college based on fit.</p>

<p>For example, U Michigan and U Virginia have very strong UG business schools. I actually think that going to Ross (michigan) and majoring in both finance and accounting will give you better job options, compared to Econ at Penn.</p>

<p>Here are the reasons:</p>

<p>1) At Penn, there are literally hundreds of wanna-be bankers and the competition for those top jobs in high finance is insane. Just talk to some Wharton kids. (I have) They are absolute machines who talk about becoming investment bankers or hedge funders 24/7, and like half of kids at Wharton had some kind of finance experience even before college. </p>

<p>What I am saying is that the caliber of student body at Penn is several notches above that of U Michigan or U Virginia, both in intellect and career ambitions. What that means is that you will likely to get a high GPA (3.6+) at U Michigan or U Virginia much EASIER than at U Penn. Remember, most of courses you take in college are graded on curve, meaning that the kids you take classes with will determine your grades. Also, banks and consulting firms recruit school-wide, so you will be competing against your classmates from your own college for those i-banking or consulting jobs. Would you want to compete against those hardcore Wharton kids for I-banking jobs, or would you rather compete with much less hard-core U Michigan kids?</p>

<p>While there are some very intelligent people at places such as Michigan or Virginia, they’re still state schools and a very large chunk of the student body at such schools aren’t very bright, and I would venture to guess 50-60% of student body at Michigan isn’t even close to the caliber of student body at Penn. </p>

<p>To illustrate what I am saying more concretely, if you have the brains to get into Penn and get 3.3-3.4 GPA in econ, you have the brains to get 3.7-3.8+ GPA at U Michigan Econ. And, if you have 3.3 ish GPA at Penn, you won’t likely to end up with many I-banking or consulting offers, at all. On the other hand, 3.6+ GPA from U Michigan will land you several consulting and banking interviews.</p>

<p>2) Ross (Michigan) and U Virginia (Darden) are both targets for I-banking and consulting. Like I said, since these schools get recruited, it depends on your individual performance and the level of competition you face at your school, to end up with the job you want in finance. </p>

<p>3) Back-up options. If you major Econ at Penn and strike out at consulting and high finance, you won’t have that many back-up options. Meanwhile, if you go Ross or Darden and major in both finance and accounting, in case you don’t get an offer from i-banking firms, you can still get a job in Big4 accounting as a fallback option. This is one of the advantages of attending a business school as an undergraduate vs just majoring in Economics in college.</p>

<p>4) College life. Arguably, going to Michigan or Virginia are much more fun than going to Penn. Girls are much hotter, huge party schools, sick sports, and more fun people to hang out. I’ve found that having a solid social life helps you perform better in every aspect of your life, including academics.</p>

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<p>While going to an Ivy is an advantage, you can still break into IB coming from non-Ivy. As long as your college gets decent recruiting from I-banks, it depends on your individual performance and drive to get the type of job you want. Schools such as UNC, U Virginia, U Michigan, and U of Illinois are some of the schools that aren’t that selective, yet get plenty of recruiting from I-banks.</p>

<p>Also, going to an Ivy in and out of itself doesn’t guarantee anything. I graduated from an Ivy recently, and about half the kids of my class was unemployed at graduation. From my impression, only top quarter of the class at my college got their first-choice jobs. The rest either settled for jobs that weren’t very desirable for them or many others graduated unemployed.</p>

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<p>Going back to your original question. You mentioned UNC, Penn, Virginia, Michigan, Vandy, etc. for Economics. You forgot to mention Princeton? They’re no.1 for Economics in the nation! Princeton is also a private school, with a great grant/scholarship program.</p>

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<p>Heh, I can’t get into Princeton.</p>

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<p>He clearly stated that he was considering economics specifically because Wharton was out of reach. Anyway, suggesting Princeton like anyone can get in is silly. </p>

<p>UChicago is #1, too.</p>

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<p>have you not considered Warrington? They have the number 11 Finance program in the country including ivys, and tuition of 5,000 a year for in state students is a really good value. They even let you get your masters and your bachelors degree in 4 years which is great with Bright Futures, and Hough Graduate school of Business is well regarded. All this with the number one student body in the country, the Gator Nation? Sounds like a wonderful place to me. GO GATORS!!!</p>

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<p>angryelf forgot to mention that it has to be from the Ivy league school; otherwise you won’t get into IB, unless you have some strong connections. Nowadays, the school you go to is more important than your major. There are many examples, and econ is one of them.</p>

<p>Sometimes I wonder what would happen to the degree in economics if Ivy and other top schools did not offer it. </p>

<p>Three words: University of Chicago</p>

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<p>^Two words: top school</p>

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<p>I would definitely not fit in there. Nothing against UChicagoers, but it would not be a good social match for me.</p>

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<p>Honestly, econ degree is pretty useless. I was an econ major from an Ivy, and I know plenty of kids from my school enjoying their wonderful careers at Starbucks, GAP, Peace Corps, substitute teacher at some lousy local school, and Geico working as salesmen.</p>

<p>Only time Econ degree is useful is when you go to a ‘target’ school + have at least 3.5 GPA + interview well –> and land a consulting or finance job. Outside that, it is garbage.</p>

<p>Degrees that will serve you much better for a wider range of career possibilities with a higher chance of getting a good job: Computer Science, Engineering, and Accounting to name a few.</p>

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<p>University of Chicago is good school, no doubt, but it is a terrible place to be for undergrad years. You should go somewhere more fun. Remember, you only get to go to college once. </p>

<p>Besides, getting I-banking out of U chicago is really hard. It is mainly because banks in Chicago have very small analyst classes especially when compared to banks in NYC, and they hire like 3-4 people in each of office in Chicago. Since U Chicago gets OCR mainly from Chicago banks, not too many kids from that school end up with BB offers. Same logic applies to Northwestern. Actually, U Michigan Ross places better than either Northwestern or U Chicago.</p>

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<p>Right, so I’m kind of assuming Penn is a ‘target’ school, or at least a near target school. </p>

<p>I’m pretty set on choosing between finance or econ, none of the other majors really interest me. I don’t think you can call UChicago a “terrible place for undergrad years” - some students really like it. UChicago prides itself on being quirky and unusual, which does not fit me well but may fit others perfectly.</p>

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<p>My son graduated in 08 and couldn’t find a job related to his Econ. major . Today he is a well paid ACCOUNTANT . There are many jobs in this field . He graduated from Tufts with Honors .</p>

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<p>Yes, except you seem to have no clue as to how competitive it is to get an i-banking or consulting job, even out of a school such as UPenn. In case you miss out on finance or consulting as an econ major, there is a very good chance that you will end up in a non-profit gig making like 30k a year, or head to grad school.</p>

<p>I went to an Ivy, majored in Econ, and I’ve known many kids from my school with 3.5+ GPA who didn’t even get a SINGLE first-round interview from any of the I-banks they applied to. Competition for I-banking or top consulting jobs are borderline insane. I know you have a hard time understanding what I am saying since you are still in high school, but you will see what I am saying when you are a junior or senior in college. My advice? Have a back up plan, and get a degree that will help you become marketable across wide range of jobs and employers, not just in finance.</p>

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<p>Did your son have to go to masters of accounting program? I don’t think you can get a job as an accountant just with an Econ degree.</p>

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<p>Thus begins the ‘doing what you want’ vs ‘doing what will get you a job’ debate. I thought that if I did get into Penn, I would be relatively safe job wise. I don’t know if I will be able to pull a 3.5+, but I don’t want to major in something I won’t enjoy and never find out. As you can see here [Career</a> Services, University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/majors/econ.html#con]Career”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/undergrad/majors/econ.html#con) econ students are getting fine jobs. I don’t think I will be swayed to study something I don’t like.</p>

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<p>dfree, if you are not interested in accounting, don’t do it. By all means, major in Econ at a top school or Penn. No one knows whether you will be able to go into Ibanking, it is very competitive field as everyone here knows.However, IBanks do recruit econ majors at Penn, you have complete access to Wharton’s career office and if you do well at Penn, you do have a shot at IB. You never know unless you try.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the advice!</p>

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<p>LazyKid, "Honestly, econ degree is pretty useless. I was an econ major from an Ivy, and I know plenty of kids from my school enjoying their wonderful careers at Starbucks, GAP, Peace Corps, substitute teacher at some lousy local school, and Geico working as salesmen.</p>

<p>Only time Econ degree is useful is when you go to a ‘target’ school + have at least 3.5 GPA + interview well –> and land a consulting or finance job. Outside that, it is garbage."</p>

<p>Exactly. Personally, I have a minor in econ and I don’t really see how econ is useful in the real world. I minored in it because I found it to be more interesting than other non business related subjects. If people coming from the Ivy league schools have problems with finding an employment, can you imagine what people from the lower ranked schools face? The only thing that I don’t understand is: how come various statistics show that econ graduates have a higher starting/mid career salary than all of the business majors, including FINANCE and ACCOUNTING??? I assume that happens because most of the IBs and consulting companies mostly recruit from Ivy league schools, and since most of the do not offer business degrees, they take econ majors instead. Any ideas???</p>

<p>By the way, check out this recent article :</p>

<p>[College</a> graduates score higher-paying jobs - Yahoo! Finance](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/news/college-graduates-score-higher-paying-201300743.html]College”>http://finance.yahoo.com/news/college-graduates-score-higher-paying-201300743.html)</p>

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<p>yes ,my son is currently getting a MA in Acct . Condition of getting his job - a lot of stress !</p>

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<p>You are up for rude awakening if you hold on to such belief. I realize you are still a high school student, as a result you may not have the most clear picture towards what actually goes on in real world.</p>

<p>Check out:</p>

<p>[Princeton</a> University - Career Services - Online Publication](<a href=“http://ocsweb.princeton.edu/pro-flip/Main.php?MagID=1&MagNo=1]Princeton”>http://ocsweb.princeton.edu/pro-flip/Main.php?MagID=1&MagNo=1)</p>

<p>24% of Princeton grads graduated unemployed. 9.7% of Princeton grads are working internships, which aren’t even full time jobs. Among those who got jobs, 16% got jobs in non-profit with average starting salary of 37k a year. And, only 12% of Princeton grads went into ‘financial services’ which include Back Office, Middle Office, and other finance-related random jobs, not just I-banking or Sales/Trading.</p>

<p>The bottom line is that even if you go to a top Ivy such as Harvard or Princeton, if you major in liberal arts major (and Econ is Liberal arts), you risk ending up getting screwed job-wise. It could work out for you nicely, yet there is also a significant downside risk.</p>

<p>Many kids I know from my Ivy undergrad, who majored in liberal arts majors, ended up in sales jobs at horrible companies living by commission pay only, some ended up at places such as Starbucks or GAP, and many others are unemployed. It’s pretty brutal out there, and young people need to see the whole picture in order to best educate themselves on what to expect and what courses of action to take regarding their education endeavors.</p>

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<p>You will need at least 3.5 GPA just to land interviews at Penn, for consulting or I-banking. At OCR, there are tons of kids with 3.7+ GPA all gunning for same top jobs, many from Wharton. Majoring in something you like is wonderful, I am not telling you not to do it, but you need to be aware of the risk and no going to Penn and majoring in Econ won’t make you safe for decent corporate jobs.</p>