<p>Okay, since 1/5 of posts in this forum are about one of the following topics:
[list=0][<em>]How to declare oneself as a pre-major for Business Economics
[</em>]How to actually get admitted into Business Economics
[<em>]The Accounting minor
[</em>]Business Economics vs. a "real" undergraduate business program[/list]</p>
<p>Here's the official thread. Please ask all your questions in here and hopefully someone in the major can answer them in a professional, entrepreneurial, "business-like" manner. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>1.) Is it harder to get into Accounting minor as an Econ major than getting in as a BizEcon major?</p>
<p>2.) Is it true that BizEcon majors tend to fare better than the other Econ. Dept majors (Economics, Intl. Area Studies) in terms of employment?</p>
<p>3.) I heard Econ 11 and 101 is the hardest of all Econ courses to get good grade cuz of the competition among students (since they are the core courses that decide whether you can get into the major or not). Is this true?</p>
<p>4.) Which courses tend to be harder on average - Accounting or Economics (including the 106 courses)?</p>
<p>1) Your major has no bearing on your acceptance to the accounting minor.
2) Those with better gpa and better ECs, leadership exp, internships, interview skills, will fare better with employment
3) I didn't think 11 was too hard, but 101 was a bit tough. Both are totally doable though, just study well.
4) I'm not sure since I'm only gonna be a 3rd year, but I think Accounting is harder just because Anderson requires its professors to have a certain percentage of C's and D's in undergrad management classes.</p>
<p>3) If you are a transfer student, those are two core classes that determine if you get into the major. You could have straight A's, but if you got two B's in those two classes, you won't get into the biz econ major. You can also take a class that uses 11 as a prereq and that will be factored into the transfer GPA that would be considered for admittance into the program. For non transfers, I believe you just need a 3.3 GPA and you will get in. </p>
<p>That being said, I found econ 11 to be extremely difficult because of 1) The Nicholson book is horrible and 2) The teacher was horrible. Those two points made econ 11 extremely hard to understand. 101 was a lot easier to understand. </p>
<p>4) I think it really depends on YOU. Economic courses tend to be more theory based while accounting courses, though still theory, can be readily related to the real world a lot more than economics. In my case, I like the more practical material, so I tend to do better in accounting courses. I also feel that I learn more in accounting courses than economics courses.</p>
<p>I just got my grade for Econ 11. I ended up with a B+. I'm kind of relieved because I was on the borderline B/B- area right before the final, and I managed to get an A- on the Final and was able to add the extra .3 to my GPA :D (although it's saddening to see a perfect 4.0 GPA will now remain a dream for me.)</p>
<p>I must get at least an A- in Econ 101 in order to get admitted to the BizEcon. I'm taking an intermediate financial accounting (mgmt 120A), multivariable calc. (math 32A), and Econ 101 on Fall.</p>
<p>That being said, I have a couple of questions:</p>
<p>1.) Is Econ 101 harder than Econ 11? Do students tend to do better in one course than another?</p>
<p>2.) After reviewing through my Fall schedule, do you think it's a tough schedule and will I need to work my ass off to get an A- in Econ 101? Which course do you think will be the toughest to get an A-category grade?</p>
<p>1) I felt Econ 101 was easier than Econ 11. It was mostly because the teacher for Econ 11 sucked while the Econ 101 teacher spelled things out a lot better. I still did better in Econ 11 than 101 though (75% of my econ101 class was the final). </p>
<p>2) I'm not familiar with the Econ101 teacher for next quarter. But if you have Ravetch as your 120A teacher, I would say that's the hardest class to get an A.</p>
<p>Going based off my experience, the best teacher for 101, 102, and maybe 11 (have not seen him teach it, but he may) is McDevitt. He's the only econ teacher that I have had where the students stood up and gave him a round of applause at the end of the semester. He's both effective, and slightly easy (tests are basically his practice questions with a twist).</p>
<p>dhl3 - In my 1B class with Ravetch, he had a speaker from the 120A class come in and she kind of emphasized it's difficulty. At the same time she said it's a good experience. I kind of wish I took 120A with Ravetch instead of Litt. I really didn't like Litt's teaching style and I feel that if I do take 120B with Ravetch, I will have a hard time. Regardless, work hard and get the A!</p>
<p>Well I've heard of the notriety of Ravetch's difficulty of his accounting class. However, I've also heard from many students that his was among the most memorable class ever. So while I'm very nervous about the class I'm looking forward to it at the same time. It'll be hard though, since this will be my first regular session at UCLA.</p>
<p>Any of you know what kind of things we go over in 120A? Is it very math intensive?</p>
<p>Yeah, thats the general feeling when going into a Ravetch class. You feel nervous for your GPA, but you feel excited about what you'll learn. </p>
<p>The stuff you go over in 120A is going to be similar to what you did in 1B. Here are some random chapter titles: Income Measurement and Profitability, Time Value Money, Cash and Receivables, Inventories: measurement. For Litt's class, the first like 3 weeks was pure review of 1B. Even the stuff we did after felt like a rehash of 1B.</p>
<p>I would say that 120 is about as intensive as 1B. If it didn't use calculus, it isn't considered intensive to me.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do you have to major in Business Economics to land a job in investment banking? Is it preferred or would a degree in Economics also get you an i-banking job?</p></li>
<li><p>What is the general difficulty of landing an i-banking job with a major in any of the Econ department majors? I've heard that it's harder to land a job with the bulge bracket companies (Goldman, Morgan Stanley, etc), but quite easy be an i-banker with regional and smaller firms, is this true?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My experience is fairly limited, so take my answers as you will.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A lot of that really depends on your GPA, work experience, and any other resume building things. I honestly don't think that your major makes or breaks your resume. It may be certainly preferred in some cases, but it does not totally blacklist you from being able to get the job.</p></li>
<li><p>I have heard it's pretty difficult. Near 4.0 and 3.8 GPA's with biz econ + accounting minor + internships and unable to land a big ibanking gig. One of those two landed an internship in a smaller firm w/ high possibilities of a full time job. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>My current boss worked at Morgan Stanley, Merill Lynch (I think) and Lehman Brothers and he made a statement to me saying it would be REALLY hard this year for people from the UC's to get an ibanking job. But then again he's just one person and he seemed to put a lot of emphasis on prestige and not loving the UC system. </p>
<p>Simply put, its tough whatever major you have. </p>
<p>Again, this is just what I've heard and seen from my friends/boss.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response. So what are some of the alternative career paths one can take if he/she heads towards i-banking career but doesn't make it? I mean, classes geared toward i-banking are grounded in finance right? So if one gears towards finance and is unable to make it into i-banking, what else can he/she do?</p>
<p>I'm just afraid that if i-banking attempt is unfruitful, there will be no other career paths I can take. :T</p>
Thanks for the response. So what are some of the alternative career paths one can take if he/she heads towards i-banking career but doesn't make it? I mean, classes geared toward i-banking are grounded in finance right? So if one gears towards finance and is unable to make it into i-banking, what else can he/she do?</p>
<p>I'm just afraid that if i-banking attempt is unfruitful, there will be no other career paths I can take. :T
</p>
<p>Honestly, if you aim for ibanking and fail, you should be able to land other jobs in fields such as finance/accounting/economics. </p>
<p>I have seen people who got hired from the big 4 accounting firms (they do financial advising, consulting, tax, audit, etc) with degrees in social sciences or engineering. </p>
<p>From what I have experienced in the finance field is that it honestly feels like ANY major will suffice, but what you do in terms of extras will make you into the perfect candidate. Keep above a 3.0, get some nice work experience (preferably in the field of interest), and perhaps get some kind of leadership position and you will be a solid candidate to get most jobs in the financial/accounting/economic field. The reason why it is like this is that whoever hires you will give you all the training necessary to do the job. </p>
<p>Well, what I am saying is that you are able to get any other job as long as you demonstrate the things I mentioned.</p>