<p>Ideally, I would want to double major in AEM and Government, but I know that it isn't possible to major across separate schools. I really want a background in both of these areas, though, since I'm interested in investment banking and politics.</p>
<p>I'm not really comfortable transferring out of CAS because I would lose out on a strong liberal arts background which I feel may be valuable in the future should I decide to switch paths. I'm also hearing that Business schools don't like undergraduate business majors, and an AEM major might be somewhat redundant if I wind up getting an MBA later anyway. </p>
<p>My current plan is to just double major in Government and CAS Economics while taking as many AEM cross-listed courses as possible, but I'm worried that I may not learn as much as I need to from AEM if I choose this route. I'm not interested in theoretical economics so much as practical economics. I'm also going to supplement my education with a Dyson Certificate over the summer after freshman year.</p>
<p>Will the education I get from AEM be sufficient this way, or will I be less-qualified compared to full-AEM majors and Whartonites? (Although on the other hand, lots of investment bankers had no finance background in undergraduate at all...)</p>
<p>You can double major in AEM and Gov, but you would need to do so through earning dual degrees. This takes normally 5 years, but most people completing dual degrees do so in 4 years by just taking a few more credits each semester or by having a lot of AP credit to begin with. </p>
<p>If you are interested in business, economics is totally the wrong area of study for your. Economics is very theoretical and only very weakly applies to business. </p>
<p>Also, if you are more set on learning business then doing a single major in Gov and taking many courses in AEM will do the job of learning. However, it won’t do much for you in terms of credentials – you can’t list an AEM major on your resume. So if your focus is on learning, go ahead and do one major in Gov and add on many AEM courses. You won’t learn “better” because you are an AEM major – in fact worse. From not being an AEM major, you get the freedom to take exactly the courses you are interested in and no required courses you may not want to take. </p>
<p>You can also take classes from the business school as well.</p>
<p>It should be fairly painless to fulfill the Govt/Econ/CAS requirements AND take a healthy amount of AEM classes. </p>
<p>Take the Econ Dept’s Financial Economics course which is probably more intense than any course AEM has to offer. Then through AEM, all you should really need to take are a management course and an accounting course. </p>
<p>I’m a believer in being strong on math if you are going to be doing banking. I suggest taking math through Calc III and Linear Algebra. Try to take at least 1 CS course as well. If nothing else, the math will qualify you for a wider variety of grad school programs. </p>
<p>Investment Banking is popular amongst Econ majors so I’m sure your advisor will be able to guide you in which courses to take.</p>
<p>^^
Are you sure a dual degree is possible with AEM? I have the maximum amount of CAS AP credit already so I’m sure I could do it in four, but it looks like it is only for architecture and engineering:</p>
<p>That was the route I was planning on, essentially… But is it really enough? I fear that I won’t be as qualified as full-AEM majors or Whartonites with only supplemental AEM courses. But then again, I may be getting greedy. If it’s really enough knowledge to succeed with, then that should be good enough. Do AEM majors take a lot of fluff classes or something?</p>
<p>Also, I have math anxiety. I avoid it like the plague. My only two options are to either get over my fear somehow or just keep avoiding it. I just don’t feel like I’m good with it; I’m a humanities person.</p>
<p>Undergraduate business degrees are overrated. Any investment bank is going to have you go through their training program anyway. Econ in general is usually more highly prized because that “theoretical” education actually does more to teach you how to think critically. Granted, AEM and Wharton are obviously highly touted programs, so I would definitely put those degrees above the average Econ degree. </p>
<p>The only courses AEM offers that Econ doesn’t that are management, accounting, and business strategy. I’m not sure, but the finance courses are probably structured differently as well. The Econ econometrics courses will be significantly more in-depth than their AEM statistics counterparts. You should have flexibility to take as many AEM courses as you want and your advisor should help you to target courses that are most desirable. Beyond the general advice of taking finance, accounting, and management, I can’t really say much since Investment Banking never interested me. </p>
<p>If you have math anxiety, then don’t take the math. I suggest the math because you’d be more qualified for quantitative positions at banks, and be qualified for more graduate programs. But if you don’t like the quantitative stuff, then don’t do it. You could always take the math/CS classes pass/fail.</p>
<p>Wait, you can take required courses pass/fail? HAHA, problems solved!</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ll just take Calc 1 pass/fail. Heh heh… Not having mutlivariable will probably limit my economics selection somewhat, but I’m sure it’s nothing too bad and there are those non-math-intensive econometrics and game theory classes you suggested.</p>
<p>Most higher level econ classes get pretty quantitative/ challenging. Also, Calc II/III are far, far from the hardest math courses you can take at Cornell. Those courses will help you out along the way in many fields because they are rather fundamental at a college level in my mind. I doubt any courses only have the particular focuses you mentioned too. If you want the degree, you will have to take the required courses without the pass/fail option.</p>
<p>An AEM “education” is by no means a prerequisite for a banking job. Like others said, as long as you can pull a 3.5+, you’re fine with a gov/econ major and the dyson cert.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t think that financial accounting is one of the courses that the certificate offers…but be sure to take that as well obviously</p>
<p>You’re better off not going into AEM if you want a wide breadth of course area options. CALS itself is fairly restrictive and the AEM major requirements seem to be getting more and more business geared.</p>
<p>^
Yeah, it seems like I would be getting a much weaker education with an AEM major and supplemental CAS courses than with a Government/Econ major.</p>
<p>Is the Dyson certificate the real thing though, or is it just a joke? It doesn’t seem like a 6 week summer course could really be comparable with full-AEM knowledge.</p>
<p>Well, sorry but that’s the kind of reputation AEM has on campus. Just an inside joke. Unless, of course, that you are in AEM. It’s an amazing program, but it’s AEM.</p>
<p>I don’t know which is worse, the fact that you’re arguing unsuccessfully against an actual AEM major, or that you’re justifying some ridiculous reputation promoted by people that aren’t even actual majors.</p>
<p>Well yeah, I know it’s only a certificate. Will it be adequate/useful, though? </p>
<p>I find it kind of weird that at Penn Wharton is the cutthroat school while at Cornell Dyson is seen as being easy. It’s basically the same material, although Wharton is probably more intense and math-heavy.</p>
<p>Difficulty in college is not determined by the material but rather by the grading. Grading is determined by two things: the curve and the quality of students you are curved against. Wharton has substantially better students than AEM, which has a large contingent of recruited athletes. I don’t know about the grading at Wharton but I doubt it is more generous than the grading in AEM.</p>
<p>Totally off-topic, but why did you personally choose Cornell over Berkeley? Do you regret it at all?</p>
<p>Also, were you surprised by not getting into UCLA for undergrad? I found it kind of surprising that someone like you didn’t get in when I see a lot of low stats people getting accepted.</p>
<p>I choose Cornell over Berkeley to get away from my parents. I’m a strong believer in going far away from home for college. Don’t get me wrong. I love my parents. They’ve achieved a lot, going from poor farmers in China to now owning over 25 homes in the Bay Area. The true epitome of achieving the American dream. That said, I’m an independent spirit and I rarely see eye to eye with my parents. I encourage Californians to explore other parts of the country. I didn’t return to CA for med school and I will be completing my radiology residency at a program far from the state. So, obviously, I have no regrets about not going to Berkeley, which is a fantastic school. </p>
<p>As for UCLA, 2 weeks prior to decisions, I received a letter informing me that I was being considered for the Reagents Scholarship at UCLA. So, obviously, I was pretty surprised when I didn’t even get in. Oh well. There are no sure things in life.</p>