Care to lend some help to a confused student? (question regarding majors)

personally i;d do a do-able major in say finance and comp sci. or if thats to much like finance and a liberal arts. theres no need to overload your undergrad courses with too much finance/biz. recruiters want to not only see academic excellence, an undergrad in the related field of your jobs, but also the ability to think outside of the box and to think outside of the box well.

Isn't economics considered more liberal arts than business? (or at least social science over business?)

why exactly would computer sciences help out? I don't think I'd be any good in that.

I understand that they want to see some thinking outside of the box, but if a finance/econ double major will actually help with my decision making once I have a job in one of these fields, I would rather prepare myself as much as I can while in college. chu know?

thanks for the response

ps I actually really enjoy my economics classes so far but I'm completely up for suggestions... I just wish that all of the recruiting wasn't done at Ross. Not many look into U of Ms economics department.

Make sure you keep your grades up (most important thing) and if you can get into Ross I would do finance and take as many financial accounting classes as possible.

^I've actually heard a lot of people say that accounting is a better major and its best to study valuations on your own. Any comments on that?

Yeah there is some truth to that in terms of taking Intermediate Accounting 1 and 2. But I like that you can take Corporate Finance, an M&A course, and an advanced securities analysis course...as well as the opportunity to learn about fixed income securities or other finance related subjects in case your decide that IB is not for you and you want to do Asset Management or Trading. Also, I find the intermediate Accounting 1&2 (at least at my school) are the hardest finance classes to take and I knew kids who had 3.95 Cum GPAs getting Bs and B+ in the class while working their asses off.

At least your intermediate accounting is spread out over 2 classes and not compressed into 1 semester.

Regarding Ross, it is a 3 year undergraduate program. The normal way to get in is to do one year at either the U of Ms college of engineering or LSA and then apply for Ross. They only let in a few actual transfers a year. I guess they use the first year at LSA or CoE to see if you can hang. So I'll be going to school longer than normal but I'm gettin a Pell Grant and an honors scholarship from my school at the moment so it's free for now. Kinda awesome actually.

Thanks for the help. I guess I'll put mandarin on hold.

Direct transfer is possible but generally more difficult. You'd have to really stand out. I know a guy in my class (soph at Ross) who went to a community college, did a semester as an econ major in LSA, and applied/was accepted after one semester at Michigan so you're probably in good shape as long as you keep the grades up and show them you're serious.

As far as majors go, BBA will be your major but you can have multiple areas of emphasis within it as well as getting a dual degree from one of the other schools at Michigan. To my knowledge most of the guys who end up pursuing IB choose to do dual emphasis in finance and accounting.

Good luck

Oh dang, that sounds good. I thought I would at least have to do a year in LSA. Did he have many ECs? I was planning on doing some when I actually got there cause my current school has nothing (I just joined amnesty international). Having a kid doesn't make doin ECs any more convenient either... though I'm sure that would lower expectations for em huh?

Thanks for the tips, very much appreciated.

A year in LSA is probably better than a single semester, so if that's possible it's probably your best bet but I guess the past has shown a semester can get you in as well. I'm not really sure how involved he was with ECs, but there's no doubt it will help your cause. One of the essays asks about things you've done since coming to U of M, so make sure you can identify ways you've made a substantial contribution in whatever groups you get involved with. Be careful not to spread yourself too thin. As far as the kid, I can't speak for the admissions committee but personally I don't see much of a reason why that would either help or hurt you from their perspective.

Yeah, I was just wondering about my kid because of the ECs... even though in the common application you can put down "family responsibilities" for an extracurricular. Kinda hard to show a leadership role with a 1 year old though lol.

I'll definitely try to get into Ross after 1 semester but if not, I'm not gonna make a deal out of having to do another one in LSA.

What would be considered a substantial contribution? Is making a leadership role necessary or will doing a lot for the club regardless of title be better? How many clubs would be good? 2? I also plan on finding a job. Times is gonna be tough lol

I'm gonna bump this n see if I can get a response...

Would focusing in accounting/finance while minoring in economics be beneficial in regards to keeping up the GPA (not too hard)?

or f economics? I've heard that liberal arts edus are valuable and I can see where they're coming from but will that be doable?

Scott:

I have a feeling that you're slightly confused about IBD / PE / HF, 'cause if you weren't, you wouldn't be asking these questions.

If by IB you mean IBD corp fin (M&A, equity offerings, debt offerings, etc), which is the most popular out-of-undergrad IB destination, then a degree in Econ will be pretty much useless for the ACTUAL job. Now, that doesn't mean you won't get hired; in fact, I've seen PLENTY of kids from Wharton, Michigan, Berkeley, plus thousands of schools who don't have undergrad business programs, place fine at IBD with Econ degrees. HOWEVER, in terms of USING your knowledge, you barely use ANYTHING from econ in IBD corp fin. In IBD corp fin you need to know accounting, corporate finance, and sometimes general business knowledge (marketing / strategy) - and all of these are taught directly in business programs. So I wouldn't call undergrad business a "throw-away" degree; in terms of practical applications, it's much more useful than anything theoretical economists will teach you. So if you can get into Ross, get into Ross, but if not, don't despair - keep your GPA high and try to take accounting / corp fin courses at Ross if you can. If you know your stuff at the interviews, people won't care if you're Ross or econ.

As you transfer to PE, the business skills will still be important (if not key). Now, HFs are different, as there most of the time (depending on your HF's expertise) you need to be strong in math, stats, econometrics, etc. This is where an economics degree with a concentration in mathematical and financial economics will help you. But if you're looking at IBD Corp Fin -> HF route, you're basically gonna want to transfer from a non-math job to a math-heavy job. Not many people are able to successfully do that - only people I know who did that go to long/short funds where they utilize their industry knowledge / expertise, and maybe M&A arb shops where they use their M&A and industry knowledge.

talk to some ross and umich kids. ull have a better understanding of econ degree and BBA.

I know an economics degree isn't valuable with the specific job (IBD) but I've heard that they're valuable in a more general way... n I can kinda see where they're coming from (different way of thinking about things). That's why I would want a minor in economics at the most if accepted into Ross and having a double focus in finance/accounting... I'm having a hard time deciding if I should just focus in accounting, finance, or both and whether or not to minor in economics along with it. It's premature seeing as how I haven't even been accepted to U of M yet (I should be) but I like figuring this stuff out ahead of time so I know what I'm getting into.

N i'm leaning more towards the PE route over HF... not the greatest guy at math here lol. I still wanna take some math classes n see how I do though considering the math course that made me feel like a bum was an Honors Pre-Calc class when I was a junior :(