To preface: I am not one of those children whose parents pay for their education.
I have already committed, submitted housing, and finished placement credit testing. I will be majoring in econ and business (finance and international business concentrations) at Emory University this fall. My biological mother decided to tell me that “good financial firms” only hire middle class asian females with no country club connections if they are STEM majors. And so she says that the only way I can ever make money is to be a STEM major.
While I understand this sentiment, I don’t believe it to be true; however, I am only 18. So I was wondering what you all thought about this.
I’ve never been one to care about friendships (which is different from friendly networking) or relationships and such, so my career matters to me.
If you major in finance you will end up working in finance. If you major in computer science you will end up programming computers. Either way there are jobs.
I would base my major on what you want to do for the rest of your life.
How much debt will you need to take on over four years at Emory? Emory is a very good university, particularly if you can graduate without any debt.
Here is one view:
https://www.investopedia.com/personal-finance/best-entry-level-finance-jobs/
There are plenty of finance and economics career paths in which a person can be very effective.
The CEO of Goldman Sachs has a degree in political science and government.
“Which is the best degree to become a CEO?
Bachelor’s degrees in accounting, business, economics, finance, and management are common qualifications of CEOs. ”
“ The Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) were the most popular among F100 CEOs, with 53% of those identified having obtained one of these two degrees. ”
Choosing a major/career path for money and not interest/enjoyment is a recipe for an unhappy future, IME.
Factually false
Who is paying for your education? If you have a good funding source you don’t have to worry about being “homeless”.
This is profoundly sad- and the two are not mutually exclusive! Life is long, and friends (related to you or not) can make all the difference as you navigate the ups and downs over the years.
How are you paying for your college education? Did you receive a full ride to Emory?
Piling on debt for an undergrad degree will severely limit you for decades.
You will be judged for future jobs by your major and your GPA. If you are forced to take STEM classes but have no aptitude for it, your GPA could suffer. Then your job prospects will really be bad.
Stick with what you know and enjoy, and work hard to keep your GPA. But employers want to see you involved on campus, and getting internships related to your major.
Yes, you will be homeless.
Is this what you want to hear?
Go into a major that excites you and you have a real interest in. Neither major guarantees you success. That’s up to you. If your not fully invested as mentioned above you can fail with both.
Something interesting is you can merge your interests also. Something like industrial engineering is like business engineering and many go into finance and /or business positions.
Create a goal of where you want to end up and talk to a counselor about different paths to get there. Also keep your mind open to new and different career options you might of never considered.
Join groups /activities and meet people. It’s part of the college experience. Some people make more acquaintances then actual friends and that’s OK. But if you go to college with the attitude you don’t need anyone that can work against you in college. In college you don’t have to be the same person you were in high school. College is about maturity and change. Consider doing that.
You have a full ride to Emory? Congratulations! That’s certainly a better deal than paying in state tuition, room, board, other expenses for W&M if you are lucky enough to qualify for instate VA tuition. You are far more likely to be homeless as an independent student who is paying their own way for everything if there is more to pay. I would take the full ride deal absolutely!
OP: One of the best thread titles that I have ever read on CC. Thank you !
(I appreciate your sense of humor.)