Math or Economics?

Dude,

trading, ib, and port mngment are very different. Either way though, I would minor in Economics, personally I find it really interesting, and much easier than math minor (differential equations is probably the harderst course I have ever taken in my life.) I would only choose math if I were going to be doing very complex fina stuff like derivative based.

Need more context. At the very least, what's your major?

Oh sorry should have provided more information. I'm just saying in general, what's better for each of the 3. I'm not sure what I wanna do yet, but like which of the 2 (math or econ) would be better for the 3 positions respectively.
I'm actually majoring in Accounting/Finance, I'm kinda inching towards portfolio management type work, but I think my program's more styled for IB type of work.. (We don't learn much math)

I think this also depends on what school you're at, but if you are leaning towards portfolio management, I think econ is the better option. Being able to look at macro variables and their effects on the markets is key in that type of position...math would really only give you a leg up if you are planning on trading.

if you want to do math, you better damn sure that you can do it without jeopardizing your GPA. econ is a joke compared to math.

I would do math if your GPA can take the risk

In my opinion, more interesting, although harder.

Even Econ grads would admit that it's a joke difficulty-wise compared to Maths

Hey thanks for the reply guys. I'm not too worried about my GPA since there's not that many courses. I'm just not sure what's more useful.. But my school's pretty famous for its math program though, not sure if that should influence my decision..?

Wloo is very famous for its Putnam team. If you can land a spot on the team and do well on the exam, you're probably too smart for anything but pure math.

But if you can't, I think you should still pursue pure math because econ will probably be a bore.

Take what you're interested in.

General tip - if you study a subject that you enjoy and get good grades in it, as long as you attend a target university and you show a legitimate interest in the job, you have a good chance.

No one will give you a job over someone else based on your minor anyway.

do math, if you can handle it

way to state the obvious, you should consider heading for a careers advisor job fp, your obvious talents would be wasted in IBD

and if i could go back and do it all over again... i'd major in applied math (econ major). econ is much more intuitive and easier to "pick up" by simply reading a book. because math builds upon earlier concepts, i think you would be well-served in pursuing a strong math background now. when i got my mba, i wanted to take a couple of the heavier-quant focused finance classes (i.e. - financial engineering), but lacked the requisite math background. by then, it was too much work trying to learn the math in order to learn the finance.

I'd agree with fishbeancake.

I graduated 12+ years ago, majored in economics and did a minor in math -- if I were to do it all over again, I would've reversed it (and perhaps not even minor in econ at all). At the time, I actually really enjoyed my math courses a lot more but didn't major in it because as an aspiring banker I wasn't "supposed" to major in anything other than econ (or alternatively enter an undergrad business program).

Economics was a great way to get strong grades because the courses weren't very hard -- at least where I went for undergrad, econ was just an excuse to do math but in less intellectually rigorous way than doing a math major (and with a heavier workload compared to a math major).

Alex Chu

If it was so obvious people wouldn't constantly post the same exact question all over this forum every day.

Joefish -

Of course it was "very, very general". That's why she introduced her comment with "general tip - ." It's actually something a lot of the posters on this board need to hear so we stop getting the bullshit "math / econ / double major / triple major w/ summa cum laude / investment banking fan club" questions.

Next time, save your uncreative dick-like responses for some of your less experienced and less insightful counterparts. Oh wait, you're all alone down there?

Just focus on reading the forums and keep your posts to yourself.

whatever nystateofmind, maybe you should spend your time doing something more productive than piggybacking on my posts you loser

Ok, ok fp175 if it's that IMPORTANT to you to have validation for your post, then here it is. You win! Best post ever, happy now? Apologies for questioning you in your infinite wisdom, I'll think twice next time.

maybe if you didn't keep re-posting the same tedious stuff, then people would evolve and learn how to use the freakin' search function, that's what it's there for.

My god- stop posting. We need something that is the opposite of the certified star- maybe a frownie face? Seriously, most annoying college student to post on this board ever.

I really don't post enough comments on this site to be the blame for people constantly asking the same questions.

I think it's really weird that you have such weirdly strong reactions to my posts - which are overwhelmingly benign. So much so that other posters comment on your behavior.

You don't have to use this website you know. Ad hominem attacks like yours just make this place less useful for the students who look to it as a resource.