Business Administration vs. Economics

crunchybanker:

if given the two, do business

1. more established student community (ie. Delta Sigma Pi)

2. negative connotation - a lot of people assume Econ majors = Haas rejects. You'll get asked "why aren't you in Haas" in your interviews.

3. first dibs on advanced finance courses (130 series)

I'll second that with emphasis on number two. I'm in a similar situation at UNC. Although it is admitedly probably a notch below Cal, its also a very good public school with a top notch undergrad b-school. Business is definitely the preferred major among people looking to go into any of the career fields discussed on this board. Econ majors sometimes get the rap as Kenan-Flagler rejects.

Of course with the right GPA and resume Econ opens all the same doors business does, it just lacks the name recognition/prestige.

Haas.

I know Berkeley has fallen in some rankings since 2007, but isn't it still a solid, highly rated undergraduate business program?

major depends on what you want to do within finance

Nope if you dont go to wharton major in something quant and conceptual like ECONOMICS

Haas has a fantastic name so if you can get in, definitely go for it. There are also a lot more resources at your disposal once you're in, it's almost like a private school in that sense. They definitely treat you a lot better.

You can also double in business and economics. It's really not that difficult to do since business classes aren't exactly rocket science. Doubling is actually a pretty popular option.

If your end game is IB, Haas is the best way in. Econ and IEOR/CS could help as well, but Haas gets the most spots.

I meet more UCB kids on the Street from Haas than I do from the Economics Department

A cousin of mine came in as Econ but now he's having second thoughts. He says the counselors at Cal are incredibly discouraging when it comes to students transferring from L & S to Haas. They make it seem nearly impossible.

the counselors are hella dumb- ask around, it's generally pretty easy to get in.

Ignore dipset; business is the way to go. 1. Course priority, 2. better community, 3. MUCH better presence in recruiting

Crunchybanker, its clear that economics is more quantitative and theory based and "hella" of a lot tougher than business majors. If anything the kid should do a double because finance course load wont be that tough.

You're advising he skip the opportunity to put the Haas name on his resume? C'mon now.

Definitely do Business, and if you have the desire, double major. If you're going to Cal, you absolutely want the Haas name on your resume.

dipset-

I actually agree that Economics may be tougher than Business. But, a degree at Haas is much more relevant to finance (tough or not) than economics.

A double in both is redundant, and is not value added going into recruiting. I would suggest a double in Stats or Math.

Honestly speaking, Econ majors at Berkeley are often pegged as Haas-rejects.

And yes, we say hella here.

Choosing economics over Haas is doing yourself a disserve if you want a career in finance.

Dude shut up you can learn business via MBA or taking the CFA's. There's probably a good reason why most ivy's dont offer undergrad business programs and also how liberal arts majors can pick up finance within two months or less through training. REALLY your going to enroll so you can have the "HASS" name on your resume?
Get your moneys worth out of your four year program and do econ and business if you want. You will do more research and analysis in econ than business these skills will transfer over nicely.

The Haas name will carry you farther when it comes to placement for internships and full-time. Really, how much is used in your job that you learned in school, and how much is taught/learned on the job? It's pretty much a no-brainer. Not having Haas while being at Cal would be a ding right off the bat, and trying to explain why you didn't enroll at Haas would be even more amusing. "Ivy's and LAC's don't offer business programs for good reason - I wanted to get my money's worth. BA is too easy, so I took economics." I'm sure that will go well.

dipset is currently unemployed at a target, so take that FWIW.

Why is Haas being argued against in favor of the econ program?

The name provides better placement for employment in the business world. Practically every Berkeley graduate I met on Wall Street is from Haas.

No one is saying that finance is hard to pick up or that you NEED Haas to do finance.

CFA & MBA... sure. Not relevant to the OP's question... but sure.

Haas has a great reputation (including the MBA), and places very well from undergrad.

Also, take this as you will, but in a recent post, dipset was unaware of the (lack of) difference between Cal and UC Berkeley, and was also unaware of the Haas-Cal connection. So he is likely to be clueless on the subject matter.

jimbrowning you clearly received poor education if you can't translate any skills or education from school into your work environment. Im playing devils advocate so he wont get one perspective. Im an econ major and conducted research and analysis for some of the top professors in the field. Econ is a broad major and can lead to other options other than finance which might be a good thing in this environment.

Crunchy banker...My comments regarding the CFA, and MBA IS relevant seeing as were talking about business admin vs econ. Just adding dimension and possible ops in the future to pursue. So eat a dick and by the way your a tool for saying "Hella".......Please tell me your not part of the Hyphie culture.

Dipshit1011, no one is dissing your Econ major. If anything, it's your own posts that are portraying the major in a negative light due to your stupidity. Since the OP is asking about Berkeley specifically, the business major is superior since the Haas brand name is very valuable. At other schools, your mileage may vary. Simple as that.

The question clearly asks whether Haas or Economics would be more advantageous to pursue if a UCB student wants to pursue a career on Wall Street. It inquired about nothing else, so any other comments are irrelevant.

The answer is Haas, not Economics. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about.

Endlessrain,

Your cleverness to insult me through my wso handle is genius. Its a forum for a reason and the kid obv came here because there was ambiguity between his decision between business admin and econ. Sure the simple answer would be HASS Im just delving deeper and shedding light on the other alternative.

Imakeitrain:

Do you think it is more advantageous in terms of pursuing a career in investment banking for a student at UC Berkeley to major in Business Administration or Economics?

If the person going through the UC Berkeley resume stack is a Cal alum, there's a 90%+ chance he or she is a Haas grad. This recruiter will view Haas as a "target" major, and (all things equal) will give the Haas major an interview over the econ major.

Well, it'll probably be easier to do all the things you listed AND have fun doing business administration seeing as how it is "so easy."

The OP did not ask that question. He/she asked which major to take to give him/her the best chance to get into banking. That is, without doubt, BA, because of the Haas name.

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would you like some cheese with that whine?

dipset,

Let me begin with the end of your post. I have a FT job offer at an IB secured from a non-target school with NO IB summer experience. I worked at an accounting firm and managed to network my way in to IB in the worst hiring market in recent history. Judging by the tone of your recent posts, you have secured absolutely nothing - congratulations.

Research assistant? C'mon. That's hilarious. While it will look better than nothing during your sophomore to junior year summer, you're crazy if you think that's going to get you anywhere. Most of the research these kids are doing is summarizing articles, tossing numbers into a spreadsheet, and running through analyses in Excel that one learns in any statistics course. A research assistant position is far from a make-or-break type thing.

Additionally, the Haas name is recognized throughout the business world. It may be banking, it may be any where it finance, it may be business, but whatever it is, the Haas name carries. As of a week ago, you didn't even know what Haas is, nor did you know that UCBerk and Cal are actually the same. It's not surprising that you think that the only industry that recognizes the Haas name is banking - it's not. The opportunities that kids at Haas receive are exceptional, and they are in a much better position to stick out in the business world if they are coming out with a BA degree from Haas.

If a kid can get a 3.7 in econ. at Cal, then, according to your claim that "econ is harder than BA," he should be able to get a 3.9-4.0 at Haas. There is no question that the 3.9-4.0 from Haas will have better placement than a 3.7 from Cal (with the highly competitive research assistant gig), holding all other things equal.

Finally, the OP asked which major is better to pursue for an investment banking career. It should not be difficult to understand this question. Though this question, at first glance, appears to be an "opinion" question, it's not; Haas is far, far, far superior when it comes to placing kids on the Street. That means major in Business Administration.

PS - Ya, that CFA will be REAL relevant to the investment banking job search. PPS - Also, can you get it right? I'm not sure if you think it's funny or a good joke, but it's Haas, not Hass.

One last thing: You are suggesting the research/analysis skills are "invaluable." Let me tell you something: within the first three months of your IB gig, you will have done enough research and analysis to last the typical econ major a lifetime. That's pretty much what your life revolves around. I don't think the minor research you do in your little "assistantship" will prepare you in any way, and after a week of researching for 16 hours a day, you'll be pretty proficient. Invaluable... please.

Jimbrowning you silly goose, im glad that my little blurb affected you so much that you had to sit your non target ass down to write a me an essay regarding why you are better than me and why business admin and haas is the way to go. Look at the end of the day its all subjective. Your entitled to your own opinions. There is also nothing funny about being a research assistant. But then again your blinded by your ignorance and you obviously don't understand the type of work RA's do especially when your professors work for the Fed reserve of NY.

PS. relax you dont need to go on a tirade on this forum its a waste of your time.

It actually took me about ten minutes to come up with.

What I don't understand are two things. 1. Why you continue to talk down on people because they don't go to a target (though clearly that did not help you much - keep up that gig as an RA for your prof from the Fed, it should pay you real well), and 2. why you refuse to concede that this is not a matter of opinion; quite simply, Haas is the better bet to get into banking. Fact. End of story. Kaput.

For further clarification, I am not acting like I am "better" than you; I'm just trying to explain to you that I have accomplished more while given fewer opportunities. And I wouldn't need to do that if you weren't such an arrogant dipshit.

Best of luck with your RA position.

That is Haas BA program for Undergrads:

UGBA 100—Business Communication UGBA 101A—Microeconomic Analysis for Business Decisions UGBA 101B—Macroeconomic Analysis for Business Decisions UGBA 102A—Introduction to Financial Accounting UGBA 102B—Introduction to Managerial Accounting UGBA 103—Introduction to Finance UGBA 105—Organizational Behavior UGBA 106—Marketing UGBA 107—Social, Political, and Ethical Environment of Business

9 classes. Very strict, you cannot choose what you want to study or interested in, only what they give you. Econ on the other hand has a huge variety of classes, students can take whatever they want to. Also if school has undergrad Finance/Accounting/Management majors, students are allowed to take those classes for their econ major as well. That brings even more variety. In addition, any strong Econ Department offers at least 4 of those 9 Haas courses (different names, same material). Each program has its benefits/drawbacks and it all comes down to work experience.

P.S.: Decision Making, Game Theory, Econometrics, "Money, Banking, and Financial Institutions", Malthusian Model are some of the most interesting econ courses I've taken. Sometimes education is about taking classes you like, and broadening your knowledge.

haha, blumie is not ignorant - he's brilliant. And again, I have a job in an industry you wish you had - so my mediocrity has served me far better than your "intelligence."

And just so you know, my school has not deprived me of "little opportunities"; they have deprived me of great opportunities, or they have given me few opportunities. Being from such an elite institution should at least allow you to construct a simple sentence.

Why are you on these boards anyway? You work as a RA, you interned at an arb fund, and you have gotten rejected from all IB interviews. You have nothing to do with this industry. Shouldn't you be wasting your time on the research assistant board?

No offense dipset but how is it exactly that you -- the individual despite all his vast knowledge and experience and target school status -- are the one without a job, and yet have the audacity to call the other guy "mediocre"?

P.S. I've been a research assistant at a top "target" university since my sophomore year as well, so spare me any snarky comments.

doesnt haas have econ under it? are you saying business admin as in management or finance subsector?

Haas and Econ are separate. It's not like Wharton that has Econ under itself or whatever.

And I would absolutely recommend Haas. Your school life won't be too much different from the one you can choose as an Econ major (many students in both majors take classes in both departments, some even double major), but for resume and networking purposes, Haas is the shit (consistently top 3 in the national business undergrad rankings).

Curriculum-wise, it depends on what I-banking you're talking about. If you mean CorpFin (aka IBD), which is the i-banking 80% of undegrads go to, Haas is clearly better, since CorpFin is not a very quantitative field. Courses like accounting, fin statement analysis, and corporate finance are MUCH MUCH more important than some theoretical behavioral finance or whatnot.

If you're a quant and wanna go the investment-management / hedge fund route, then good luck doing that out of undergrad, but if you're really really set on it, then Econ / Mathematics might be more suitable. However, you can still major at Haas and take a few courses from the math / econ fields and be fine, or do a double major.

haas. not even close. you can always take an econ double major. but if you dont go into the b-school, you wont have the same access to recruiters, interviews, and alumni networking.

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Haas all the way. My friends and relatives there at Haas talk all the time about all the networking and access they get via Haas.

IMO, when deciding between these two majors or any major generally, the school you attend will have the most weight on the decision.

Where did you hear that an undergrad business degree is useless? If your school has econ and business, then doing econ might give people the impression that you didn't get into the business school. Obviously, business would be better than econ considering your career choices.

I went to a school with a top 5 ugrad b-school and majored in economics. Didn't even think about business until my junior year and it was too late. Honestly though, after my first year I seem to be just as knowledgeable in business/finance as the people with degrees.

My degree in econ has definitely provided a different foundation for me (it was not biz economics - straight up LIBERAL ARTS) that I believe has only been beneficial.

Bump bump! Would like some more opinions!