Pls Help: NYU Senior Seeking Advice on Major & MBB Career Path

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this message.

I am a senior at NYU graduating this May. I am also an international student from Asia and will ultimately require visa sponsorship to work in the U.S. I am currently majoring in International Relations and minoring in Economics.

I originally started with Economics but found Political Science more intellectually engaging, especially given my strong interest in geopolitics and its impact on markets and industries. Since NYU does not offer a formal Political Science major, I pursued International Relations, which is a subfield of political science. If NYU had a PPE program, I would have pursued that path. I added the IR major during my junior year.

However, I realized last semester that I would need one additional semester to graduate with a double major in IR and Economics. As a result, I am now considering graduating this May with an IR major and an Economics minor instead.

I am debating whether it would be better to stay an extra semester to complete the Economics major. While tuition and time are important considerations, my ultimate goal is to enter MBB consulting or an entry-level role in finance. I am concerned whether having IR as my major and Economics as my minor could be a disadvantage in the short or long term. In particular, since I aim to move into PE/VC in the long run, I believe Finance/Economics degrees are generally preferred across U.S. and Asia offices, including Hong Kong, Singapore, and Korea. If I decide to graduate this May, I would also consider pursuing an MBA later to strengthen my profile. Also, Economics is a STEM degree at NYU, while IR isn't, meaning firms do prefer more if you are intl kid?

Given this, I am unsure whether staying an extra semester to complete the Economics major (Apparently, I have 3-4 more courses to take) would be more beneficial, or whether it would be better to take a lighter course load this semester, focus on case preparation, graduate, and keep looking for jobs In short, I would appreciate your advice on whether having both IR and Econ would give me a stronger edge or having Econ as Minor would be already kind of more than needed. I have seen posts suggesting that majors matter less if you attend a target school or have strong experiences; while I am unsure whether I would be considered from a “target” background, I do have prior internship experience in MBB as an Summer Intern, Venture Capital, Private Equity, and a Fintech startup with extracurriculars in case competitions. Also, I currently hold a GPA of 3.9 (I think I can manage to graduate with 3.8 at least) but if I take one more sem with advanced level econ courses, it will probably go down to 3.5-3.6

Additionally, I recognize that I am quite (or very very) late in the cycle for entry-level roles in both finance and consulting. I was originally targeting Asia markets due to visa concerns, but I realized why not give it a shot in trying for U.S. roles as well. Do you think it is still realistic to secure Summer/Fall 2026 start positions, and if so, which fields, firms or roles would be most targetable at this stage?

Thank you so much for you advice and I really appreciate it.