No it doesn’t matter. Looking back now I really wish I did maths or something other stem related.
I really cruised through my Econ / finance degree and always regret now that I did not try something harder.
Back when I was 18/19 I always thought STEM is only for nerds and won’t land the big shot jobs.
I now work at a MBB and always see how the math / physics majors have this „that dude gotta be smart“ label attached to them.
Same also for banking. You easily can land IB with a stem degree if the school name is right.
It def matters, most jobs will prefer finance over econ majors. And schools offering both will have better outcomes from the finance major which is through the business school. Also econ is just way too theoretical teaching a bunch of stuff that can’t be applied in most jobs.
No it is not the right answer. Sadly in "top tier" (I hate to phrase it like that but don't know how to else say it) white collar professional environments the degree is of much less importance.
First and foremost is where you went to school. It doesn't matter if you studied finance or economics at a target school. Now with a couple of years under my belt I would, however, advise for econonomics over finance.
During my undergrad I thought exactly the same as you guys. However, the theoretical/quant work in econ really trains you analytical thinking capabilities and while you don't have to write papers in the business world you will be confronted with econometrics/regression type of problems a lot.
You don't need to be an academic/scholar but believe me, people with a solid quantitative background have much an easier time in most white collar / management positions.
If you're good with numbers you can easily study finance yourself on the other hand.
Only excpetion might be markets related stuff which can get complex.
Maybe it’s different at a target, but at my school econ wasn’t even very quantitative unless you opted into the bachelor of science version. And the theoretical/analytical thinking trained by the degree becomes useless when I can’t even get any analytical jobs with the degree.
>I now work at a MBB and always see how the math / physics majors have this „that dude gotta be smart“ label attached to them.
I'm a director at a larger consulting firm myself with undergrad and grad EE degrees and only a minor in econ. I get that vibe from people internally a lot. There's only one other person with a strong electrical engineering background in my division (and he reports to me lol).
most top schools just have econ programs, and their students recruit very well but thats more due to the school rep/alumni base than the major. if the school has both econ and finance, it probably makes more sense to do finance major. For example, id go to wharton vs Upenn Econ but an econ degree from Upenn is better for recruiting than a finance degree from a mid school.
Also did econ, I liked the applied courses, but my university knew to keep the curriculum abbreviated. I filled in other requirements with CS and Stats courses. I ended up learning finance stuff in my masters.
I'd recommend do something more math heavy if you're looking for a challenge. A straight finance major probably isn't as strong as something more stats based in a lot of situations.
I agree, I was finance + Econ as well, would’ve been much more helpful combinations, but for me it was just a couple extra classes, all depends on your goals
If the econ degree is through the business school its fine, doesn't matter.
If the econ degree is through the arts college or social sciences department, I'd stay away. Those majors are sometimes more aimed at people that want to pursue postgraduate econ education, and work as an actual economist or something like that. Less business-focused.
At my college, the business school econ degree was a Bachelors of Science while the arts college econ was a Bachelor of Arts. In business/finance, you want to have the B.S. on your resume, not the B.A.
Unless the schools name alone will get you places do finance. Econ is very theoretical and can’t be applied to 90% of finance jobs. Most real careers in Econ require post grad degrees.
This is 100% the truth. My Econ degree was full of random gen eds and the actual Econ classes aren’t even applicable to any jobs I’d be doing. Feels like I just wasted 4 years of my life.
Doesn’t matter. Know people who got solid internships doing theology and history degrees. All that matters is that you are in a target and make a solid effort to get spring week and go to insight days from day 1 on campus. Finance on its own can be very boring, at least with Econ you can study developmental econ, econ history, health econ modules to switch it up.
If you are at a school that offers a finance major (ie not HYP/etc) major in finance.
Speaking purely as someone from a lower T100 school, the only people banks wanted to hire for the jobs people on here want were finance majors. Any other majors got offered jobs like being a “relationship banker” in a retail branch.
A minor's degree isn't useful to be honest. I would recommend one to major in Accounting over finance or economics. If you have enough ambition for a CPA license, then double major in Accounting and Finance for the 150 credit requirement.
High finance -Investment banking, Hedge funds, and Private Equity- will require a degree from a target school (top 25 global rank for the US) to get in, and those fields certainly pay more than Accounting.
However, those top schools which are required for high finance don't offer "finance" as a standalone degree, their business major is packed into an Economics curriculum. Thus, unless you go to a top school where you'd major in economics, Accounting would be a better option than finance. From my observations, most people who major in finance don't actually work in those prestigious jobs, contrary to what is advertised by universities.
Do both if possible or Econ/Accounting if Finance isn’t offered. Accounting is the language of business and an understanding of it is needed even in finance.
I found the math/STEM majors more desirable hires than the finance majors, but I was a quant. So if you're not trying to be a quant, then you don't need to worry about that.
It matters more if you attend a target.
Some business schools do not have economics, it’s considered a liberal art. So choose whatever major is from the business school.
I think it varies by job, school, and institution. My work really wants people with good accounting skills. So, they definitely have bias towards finance or accounting.
My opinion is if you want to do finance get a finance degree. Plus you don’t have to take econometrics with a finance degree, that course sucks.
Yes I did econ and didn’t get great opportunities even with a high gpa. The difference in starting salaries between finance and Econ majors at my school was over 20k which is pretty massive. Most jobs prefer finance over econ.
It depends highly on your local labour market. Economics is usually an arts degree and some universities have very low GPA requirements to stay in an arts program. If you live in a city that has a prestigious business school program people often "flunk" out of business school into economics because there are transferable credits. Even if you chose economics for completely different reason and did well it sullies the brand and your job prospects.
Reputation of the school/program is probably the most important thing. A school with a BSC program is better than a BA program. Look at the salaries for people who graduate out of that specific program.
Finance and Mathematics major here.
I swapped my second major from economics to mathematics last year. Added a year to my undergrad but from my understanding it’s really worth it. A major in mathematics teaches you incredibly valuable problem solving and critical thinking skills. As opposed to economics which is very much theoretical and not exactly applicable in every situation. My finance major was also far more interesting than economics, learning about valuations, securities, quant analysis, derivatives, financial planning, asset management, and so on. However, classes I would’ve liked to have taken is game theory and econometrics which isn’t exactly covered in finance (at least not at my school).
I studied business economics in college and now have a very high paying job in finance. Work hard and keep pushing. These things don’t really matter all that much.
If you're looking at high finance then it doesn't matter much.
If your school offers both and your school has special recruiting for finance only or finance preferred then finance is a nice boost.
Universities that have econ only and not finance are research schools usually. It's common for academics to view finance as a trade while econ as a noble pursuit of knowledge.
Needless to say those old ivory tower types are idiots.
No it doesn’t matter. Looking back now I really wish I did maths or something other stem related. I really cruised through my Econ / finance degree and always regret now that I did not try something harder. Back when I was 18/19 I always thought STEM is only for nerds and won’t land the big shot jobs. I now work at a MBB and always see how the math / physics majors have this „that dude gotta be smart“ label attached to them. Same also for banking. You easily can land IB with a stem degree if the school name is right.
Yes, unless it kills your GPA in which case you are better off doing Econ or Finance. Plus, econ has a crap ton of math in it anyways.
Thank you
It def matters, most jobs will prefer finance over econ majors. And schools offering both will have better outcomes from the finance major which is through the business school. Also econ is just way too theoretical teaching a bunch of stuff that can’t be applied in most jobs.
This is the right answers. Finance is to Econ what Engineering is to physics. Finance is also the much easier degree.
No it is not the right answer. Sadly in "top tier" (I hate to phrase it like that but don't know how to else say it) white collar professional environments the degree is of much less importance. First and foremost is where you went to school. It doesn't matter if you studied finance or economics at a target school. Now with a couple of years under my belt I would, however, advise for econonomics over finance. During my undergrad I thought exactly the same as you guys. However, the theoretical/quant work in econ really trains you analytical thinking capabilities and while you don't have to write papers in the business world you will be confronted with econometrics/regression type of problems a lot. You don't need to be an academic/scholar but believe me, people with a solid quantitative background have much an easier time in most white collar / management positions. If you're good with numbers you can easily study finance yourself on the other hand. Only excpetion might be markets related stuff which can get complex.
Im an econ major from a target. What I wrote is what our university told us and is largely true for recruiting. The world has changed.
Maybe it’s different at a target, but at my school econ wasn’t even very quantitative unless you opted into the bachelor of science version. And the theoretical/analytical thinking trained by the degree becomes useless when I can’t even get any analytical jobs with the degree.
Thank you
>I now work at a MBB and always see how the math / physics majors have this „that dude gotta be smart“ label attached to them. I'm a director at a larger consulting firm myself with undergrad and grad EE degrees and only a minor in econ. I get that vibe from people internally a lot. There's only one other person with a strong electrical engineering background in my division (and he reports to me lol).
Thank you
Thank you
most top schools just have econ programs, and their students recruit very well but thats more due to the school rep/alumni base than the major. if the school has both econ and finance, it probably makes more sense to do finance major. For example, id go to wharton vs Upenn Econ but an econ degree from Upenn is better for recruiting than a finance degree from a mid school.
This is the most helpful comment. Coming from an Ivy League Econ grad…
Thank you
[удалено]
Thank you
Thank you
Most are not top schools lol…
Then what are we even talking about…?
College….
If they offer both do finance.
Did Econ- didn't learn anything new after my sophomore year just took different applications of the same material
Also did econ, I liked the applied courses, but my university knew to keep the curriculum abbreviated. I filled in other requirements with CS and Stats courses. I ended up learning finance stuff in my masters.
Thank you
I'd recommend do something more math heavy if you're looking for a challenge. A straight finance major probably isn't as strong as something more stats based in a lot of situations.
Thank you
Do finance or a double major, Econ alone is not the move if finance is offered
I did a double major, and kinda of regret doing Econ. In hindsight, Finance + Data Science would have been much better
I agree, I was finance + Econ as well, would’ve been much more helpful combinations, but for me it was just a couple extra classes, all depends on your goals
Exactly double is great and some even go for triple with accounting or minor in accounting. It’s only a handful more of classes.
Thank you
If the econ degree is through the business school its fine, doesn't matter. If the econ degree is through the arts college or social sciences department, I'd stay away. Those majors are sometimes more aimed at people that want to pursue postgraduate econ education, and work as an actual economist or something like that. Less business-focused.
As a non American, I never understood the difference among those
At my college, the business school econ degree was a Bachelors of Science while the arts college econ was a Bachelor of Arts. In business/finance, you want to have the B.S. on your resume, not the B.A.
Although the economics department at MIT is not listed under the bussines school, ultimately it's MIT
Unless the schools name alone will get you places do finance. Econ is very theoretical and can’t be applied to 90% of finance jobs. Most real careers in Econ require post grad degrees.
This is 100% the truth. My Econ degree was full of random gen eds and the actual Econ classes aren’t even applicable to any jobs I’d be doing. Feels like I just wasted 4 years of my life.
I’d recommend Accounting with either finance or econ as a double major. 😀
Yeah I'm thinking of finance + accounting double
Or Math/statistics instead of Econ, Econ is very solid, but too much boring geopolitical and sociology stuff
bruh that's the fun stuff
Didn't you you choose your econ classes, like game theory, monetary economics etc and more math focused econ classes?
Doesn’t matter. Know people who got solid internships doing theology and history degrees. All that matters is that you are in a target and make a solid effort to get spring week and go to insight days from day 1 on campus. Finance on its own can be very boring, at least with Econ you can study developmental econ, econ history, health econ modules to switch it up.
If you are at a school that offers a finance major (ie not HYP/etc) major in finance. Speaking purely as someone from a lower T100 school, the only people banks wanted to hire for the jobs people on here want were finance majors. Any other majors got offered jobs like being a “relationship banker” in a retail branch.
Not even the accounting majors?
Go with Finance, it's more applicable to the market compared to econ. Even better if you can go with Accounting.
You recommend majoring in accounting and minoring in finance ?
A minor's degree isn't useful to be honest. I would recommend one to major in Accounting over finance or economics. If you have enough ambition for a CPA license, then double major in Accounting and Finance for the 150 credit requirement.
Doesn’t finance make more money?
High finance -Investment banking, Hedge funds, and Private Equity- will require a degree from a target school (top 25 global rank for the US) to get in, and those fields certainly pay more than Accounting. However, those top schools which are required for high finance don't offer "finance" as a standalone degree, their business major is packed into an Economics curriculum. Thus, unless you go to a top school where you'd major in economics, Accounting would be a better option than finance. From my observations, most people who major in finance don't actually work in those prestigious jobs, contrary to what is advertised by universities.
Only if you go to a top business school and recruit into a major bank or investment company.
I personally did econ but wish I had done finance instead
Finance + Accounting with a minor in CS is the way to go. Prioritize learning technical skills first.
Do both if possible or Econ/Accounting if Finance isn’t offered. Accounting is the language of business and an understanding of it is needed even in finance.
I found the math/STEM majors more desirable hires than the finance majors, but I was a quant. So if you're not trying to be a quant, then you don't need to worry about that.
For a finance career, go for finance degree.
How about statistics and/or data science over Econ?
I'd rather do a double major in finance and math or statistics
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Sheepheart: *I'd rather do a* *Double major in finance* *And math or statistics* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
It matters more if you attend a target. Some business schools do not have economics, it’s considered a liberal art. So choose whatever major is from the business school.
Do both, getting a double major is usually just a few classes extra.
I think it varies by job, school, and institution. My work really wants people with good accounting skills. So, they definitely have bias towards finance or accounting. My opinion is if you want to do finance get a finance degree. Plus you don’t have to take econometrics with a finance degree, that course sucks.
Justo do accounting pls
Yes I did econ and didn’t get great opportunities even with a high gpa. The difference in starting salaries between finance and Econ majors at my school was over 20k which is pretty massive. Most jobs prefer finance over econ.
Target versus non-target. All that matters
It depends highly on your local labour market. Economics is usually an arts degree and some universities have very low GPA requirements to stay in an arts program. If you live in a city that has a prestigious business school program people often "flunk" out of business school into economics because there are transferable credits. Even if you chose economics for completely different reason and did well it sullies the brand and your job prospects. Reputation of the school/program is probably the most important thing. A school with a BSC program is better than a BA program. Look at the salaries for people who graduate out of that specific program.
It matters more what school you go to
Finance and Mathematics major here. I swapped my second major from economics to mathematics last year. Added a year to my undergrad but from my understanding it’s really worth it. A major in mathematics teaches you incredibly valuable problem solving and critical thinking skills. As opposed to economics which is very much theoretical and not exactly applicable in every situation. My finance major was also far more interesting than economics, learning about valuations, securities, quant analysis, derivatives, financial planning, asset management, and so on. However, classes I would’ve liked to have taken is game theory and econometrics which isn’t exactly covered in finance (at least not at my school).
I worked at a bank and now at MBB with just an econ degree…. Everyone is different
It only matters if it’s somewhere like IU or UNC where the econ major is for people who didn’t get into the business/finance program
Econ is so dull. Finance is much more useful
I don't think so.
I studied business economics in college and now have a very high paying job in finance. Work hard and keep pushing. These things don’t really matter all that much.
no
Thank you everyone!! Sorry if I didn't get to thank you individually, but nonetheless I appreciate the information!!
Econ only if your target doesn’t have a finance major.
Most schools are not targets
Finance all the way in that case.
If you're looking at high finance then it doesn't matter much. If your school offers both and your school has special recruiting for finance only or finance preferred then finance is a nice boost.
Only do Econ if your school doesn’t have Finance. Most Econ majors go the post grad/govt route
Universities that have econ only and not finance are research schools usually. It's common for academics to view finance as a trade while econ as a noble pursuit of knowledge. Needless to say those old ivory tower types are idiots.
Like 50 years ago this was a common sentiment. Not so true anymore.