<p>Finance and business have far-reaching tentacles that demand knowledge in not only mathematics, but statistics, technology, human nature, markets, and politics. It’s extremely fun, interesting, and stimulating stuff (even if some of it is a little fluffy and/or dry). </p>
<p>Meanwhile, I can study things that also genuinely interest me on the side such as physics, foreign languages, computer programming, art, and music. If you truly have intellectual curiosity, you won’t necessarily pigeonhole yourself based on where you go to school. </p>
<p>But, for me, I felt that I would rather study something that I could directly apply in a value-adding way to the real world no matter where I go. I can’t necessarily go anywhere I want and leverage a history degree to get a job I find ideal, nor would I ever be as good as a native speaker in Japanese or Chinese (even if I studied it intensely), nor would I enjoy studying CS only to get stuck being a code monkey for years on end.</p>
<p>What I really wanted was a strong set of central skills that I could AUGMENT with my side hobbies/abilities/skills. Instead of being a CS or Japanese/Chinese major with a little bit of business knowledge, I am a business/finance major with foreign language and CS abilities – the latter of which is a much stronger combination, I think. This way I become more well-versed in something extremely versatile and practical while supplementing those skills with things I do purely for fun anyway. </p>
<p>In the end, I think studying finance/business leads you to study a HUGE range of relevant topics, whereas liberal art educations tend to be a bit more narrow in their scopes.</p>