<p>Hi, I'm a freshman thinking about going into finance when I graduate. I hear a lot of stories of people saying that you need to major in Econ. At the same time I know people who say that it isn't necessary because you don't really use any of the things that you learn. My question is, which of these statements are true? Also, what are your thoughts on taking econ 51 & 55 in the summer? Is it a lot easier, or about the same difficulty as taking it during the regular school year?</p>
<p>It is not necessary if when you mean finance you're referring to investment banks. I had multiple offers from investment banks without an Econ major. In fact, many of the Summer Analysts I worked with were majoring in History, Polisci, Engineering, Psychology...you name it they were there.</p>
<p>The banks generally just want smart students who performed well in school, hence the great focus on the top-tier universities. </p>
<p>Now, if by finance, you mean working for a hedge fund after Duke, they do prefer computer science, engineering, mathematics, economics, or any type of quantitative major.</p>
<p>However, even if a person does not pursue an Econ degree, I would recommend taking microeconomics, macroeconomics, statistics, and financial/managerial accounting. </p>
<p>In regards to the difficulty of Econ 51 and 55, when I was a freshman in 05, Econ 51 was not hard, but it certainly wasn't a piece of cake. Econ 55 was miserable, because I had it at 8:30 am with a sub-par professor. However, the teacher that taught 55 the semester before was great, and I heard the class was fairly simple. </p>
<p>My understanding now is that Econ 51 has gotten harder and is generally considered a weed-out course. I'd imagine Econ 55 is in the same fashion. However, that applies to the regular school year. I can't offer you much insight to the summer.</p>