<p>As a Senior in HS moving into the Undergrad realm I hope my thread here isn't entirely irrelevent.</p>
<p>I've been accepted into NYU's Stern and plan on focusing on a Finance Major with a International Business Co-Major, eventually pursuing an MBA... BUT I also am maintaining a HIGH interest in attending a top law school someday. I also have the option of further pursuing a chance at Rice University.</p>
<p>For all intents and purposes, lets pretend I have a choice between the two schools with a similar financial situation at both, and that campus setting is irrelevent. (with the exception of better opportunities in NYC verse Houston).</p>
<p>Pursuing finance becomes highly relevent here because while Rice offers an overall better undergrad education and experience...but Stern would definitely push me further in the field of finance and Int'l Business.</p>
<p>However a recent post in regards to my dilemma troubled me about the possibilities of a finance major, ill just go ahead and quote it:</p>
<p>*"NYU-Stern is a good school for what it does, but business? C'mon, major in an academic subject that interests you. I know that "ibanking" sounds really cool and prestigious to you right now as a high school senior and you've probably read a couple of articles about it in Forbes, but the reality is that it is a time consuming and social irrelevant job. NYU-Stern would put you in a good position to get one of these jobs, but from what I hear, there is a harsh curve on classes, meaning you could end up with a less than impressive GPA. That doesn't help for law school......</p>
<p>Undergraduate business isn't even a real major. You don't need it to work in business. There's a reason why HYPS and many other top schools don't have business degrees."*</p>
<p>This sort of thing shook me to my core because this is exactly what I'm basing my decisions off of... but would attending Stern over Rice be a serious flaw on my part because im jumping into a field that may hurt my chances for a top law school while also putting me in a field that may end up being extremely distasteful for me?</p>
<p>So am I really caught up in a naive fantasy about being some well-payed Wall Street player or is there more to a finance major that what I'm hearing... also anything you can tell me about International Business would be extremely helpful.</p>
<p>Have you considered NYU's joint degree program. You can apply to their J.D./MBA program for grad school. It is through NYU's law school and is a four year program. So, to get the best of both worlds you can focus on a liberal arts major during your undergrad years at NYU by majoring in something in Economics. This will enable you to get a "real" "HYP" degree if you know what I mean (although I believe there is nothing wrong with majoring in Finance as I am a Finance major myself), and will allow you to still be able to get into i-banking. Following i-banking you could do the four year J.D./MBA program. Here's the link: <a href="http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/admissions/fulltime/innovativecurricula.cfm?doc_id=4777%5B/url%5D">http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/admissions/fulltime/innovativecurricula.cfm?doc_id=4777</a></p>
<p>International business is ok for a co-major, really its un-needed if you learn the languages.</p>
<p>If you're thinking of big law versus i-banking, I think i-banking would be a better choice. The fact is, in big law you'll be working horrible hours too. At least with banking you'd be making more money and you could always go to law school. It's much harder for lawyers to switch to banking.</p>
<p>And you're right, the curve at stern is pretty tough but if you work hard you should be okay. </p>
<p>As for majoring in an academic subject, this really depends on the school you're going to. Some schools for instance it's better to major in business just because of placement. At my school the economics majors are looked down upon because it's harder to be admitted to our business school, they're looked at as the business-rejects. I hear the same thing happens at Haas.</p>
<p>I'm an engineer that went back for an MSF - Masters of Science in Finance. Major in Finance, not business. When I switched careers to finance, I found that top MBA's can not hold a stick to me when it comes to finance. You will learn so much more in finance than business. Besides, you can always get the MBA later. </p>
<p>As far as your posted concern, NYU is top notch in finance. If you truly have an interest in finance, go to NYU. Your undergraduate is somewhat irrelevant for law school. In other words, you can still go to NYU and then to law school - don't fear the curve.</p>
<p>in addition, i think NYU law school, which is ranked 5th, takes a lot of NYU kids, and I'm pretty sure they would know how harsh the grading curve is at stern, so don't worry. And if finance is really what interests you, then study it, but if you're doing it just for the big money on Wall Street, you may want to rethink what you're doing.</p>
<p>Oxford, maybe that's because not everyone who gets an MBA majored in Finance? I mean..you have the liberal arts majors, social sciences majors, engineers, etc, so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them were worse than you (with a Masters in Finance specifically). </p>
<p>Anyhow, NYU - Stern is awesome for finance. No doubt.</p>
<p>I enrolled at stern with a Finance and IB double major. Im a sophomore now, and Ive changed that to Finance and Information systems. While IB is ranked 2nd in the nation and sounds really impressive, none of my graduating friends are utilizing their IB majors, they are all taking 100K+ I-banking jobs with their finance degrees.</p>
<p>If you can allow yourself to drop that top ranked "IB" from your majors and decided to go with econ or english or something in College of Arts and Sciences, you will be well prepared for Law school or IBanking (your options would be wide open). Also, considering that NYU has a top 5 law school, it would be a fantastic resume (Stern's #2 finance and NYU's #5 law) if you were accepted into the law school.</p>
<p>Stern lets you take up to 36 elective credits (8-12 courses) outside of stern, so you can easily do "finance/cas major/cas minor" or "finance/econ/pre-law concentration" or something like that. The rumors about the stern curve are exaggerated, it helps if anything- its very possible to get A's and REALLY hard to get below a B.</p>
<p>Rice is a great school, but you're interests as of now seem to be right up NYU's alley. What you really need to do is rethink what you want to do in life- Ibankers usually work as much as 100 hours a week for their first 2 years, which is basically selling 2 years of your life for 200-250K. If you are willing to make such a sacrifice IBanking will give you a big savings account, proabably no debt, and a full plethora of options as far as careers or grad schools at age 25. its a lot to consider at 18, but going to NYU would definitely not trap you on any certain course. If its worth anything, i am really happy both as a student and in terms of my future prospects.</p>
<p>One last thing--if you are considering patent law--also known as intellectual property--one of the best places to take law is Columbia--right up the subway from NYU. I know they also have an outstanding MBA program in venture capital--so go the NYU undergraduate route, 2 years I-banking, then check out a dual major MBA in venture capital/JD in intellectual property and you can work for any major finance firm in the country at the very top level.</p>