Is Finance & Economics Double Major Repetitive?

<p>I’m really interested in studying Economics, and I also heard that Finance is the best major in CSOM. Is double majoring in Finance and Economics repetitive? A student told me that it’s good to diversify and have different majors such as Finance and Accounting.</p>

<p>Economics, Finance or Accounting. </p>

<p>Economics and Finance are tangential subjects. A useful analogy might be that Economists work in the research lab while Finance types are the engineers who bring the results to market. This is of course and over-simplification but it gets to the basic differences. Economists are more theoretical and research oriented whereas Financiers take those research results and use them as the basis for their business decisions. The old joke goes that an Economist will tell you what will happen and when it will happen but never both. A Financier will tell you what will happen, when it will happen, charged you twice as much and be wrong half the time. An Accountant will be there to tally up the wreckage. </p>

<p>As for the differences between a Finance-Accounting double or a Finance-Econ double I wouldn’t characterize either as diversified. Having an accounting degree will certainly give you more job interview options. Finance majors are unlikely to be interviewed for accounting jobs whereas accountants might get a look for Finance jobs. That said, once you start down a certain career path it gets harder and harder to shift as you get more experience. Personally, as someone with a Finance background, I can’t imagine being an accountant; as far as I’m concerned a career in accounting is what Purgatory must be like. It’s an important function, you can make a nice living at it, but it’s just not for me.</p>

<p>True diversification comes from being proficient in a number of truly disparate subjects. A Finance-Accounting major will have to choose which side of the aisle to work. Conversely, a Finance-Mandarin or Hindi language major is going to have many interesting job opportunities over the course of his/her career.</p>