<p>Strengths? Weaknesses?</p>
<p>Debate! ;)</p>
<p>Well for starters they are pretty different subject areas. What exactly do you want to know about them?</p>
<p>Which of the first two is stronger in the business school? How does economics compare to the two in terms of strength of the program? Which has more opportunities for the future/jobs?</p>
<p>I’d say it depends on the type of job you’re looking for, but offhand, finance is going to look less “fluffy” on your resume than “international business”. The finance majors I know (with good grades!) have got great internships lined up for them. Finance gets more into the nitty-gritty of particular formulas and programs you may use in a corporate setting.</p>
<p>Economics is quite different from the majors in the business school - it’s hard to describe exactly what the difference is; my best suggestion is to go onto testudo.umd.edu, click on “class schedule”, pick Fall or Spring semester, and check out the difference between business school finance classes and economics classes - you’ll see the subject matter can be vastly different. </p>
<p>Some downsides to economics is that it’s extremely overcrowded, your classes can be enormous, and the advising can be hit or miss. The business majors I know tend to prefer the class size and advising in their college to the economics department.</p>
<p>An economics major may prepare you more for work in the government or in policy, and set you up more for graduate study in a broader range of fields. You may feel you are answering “bigger” and “more important” questions in your econ classes, than in a finance class.</p>
<p>Economics at MD is a BA, not a BS, which means it’s not as math intensive as some other econ programs as other schools. However, you can certainly take math classes to supplement and upper level econ classes will certainly integrate calculus especially into the coursework (so don’t be fooled by Econ200/201). It may look better on a resume if you have a strong track record in math subjects or even combine it with a math minor.</p>
<p>In the end, I think either degree can be tailored to a job of your preference, and certainly is more employable than English or History. I would think mostly about what kind of things you want to learn about, and what department you’ll be more motivated to get better grades in.</p>