Which math major is best for entering a career in business?

College Majors
1

<p>I want to do something in like finance type of stuff. I'm good at math and always wanted to major in it. I'm not sure which major is best for business. I also wondered if it is best to do one of those five year integrated Bachelor's and Master's degrees programs.</p>

2

<p>Managing hedge funds is probably going to require an MBA, and an undergraduate degree is business is actually bad prep for such a program. A degree in general mathematics or applied mathematics would be useful equally useful, as would economics or accounting. Statistics could work as well, depending on your interests.</p>

3

<p>nah actually, the more quantitative your ugrad degree is, the less likely you will need an MBA. MBA’s are mainly taken if your ugrad major is not that hardcore and also for “connections”. Double major in math and econs or if you are looking at ugrad business schools, then the top 2 like MIT, Penn, Michigan, Haas. Hell even engineering with minor in bus/econs would be fine.</p>

4

<p>thanks, but would mathematics or applied mathematics be a better major?</p>

5

<p>It’s not the name of the major, but the courses you take which matter. The short answer is for finances, if you want to go all the way to a top class MFE program, you should know: stochastic processes, ODE/PDE, basic linear algebra, calculus very well, possibly some analysis, and then take courses specific to finances. As an undergrad, you might want to gather a broad assortment of economics, mathematics, and statistics classes, and also train yourself to do basic programming very well.</p>

6

<p>mathboy98 nailed it. I got my MBA in Finance from Wharton, and wish now that I had the math background to go for an MS in Finance, with a concentration in Financial Engineering. For example, check out Illinois Institute of Technology’s course offerings in that field - their B school is just a few blocks from the Board of Trade, the Merc and the CBOE. The field I’m in now - equity/financial valuation - has evolved, and there is significant demand for people who have the math skills to develop valuation models which reflect the behavior of increasingly complex financial instruments. In our practice area, knowledge of probability and stochastic processes, combined with the ability to write code (as simple as VBA for Excel) would make you a very attractive hire. But don’t forget to take some basic corporate finance and accounting courses.</p>