Finance/Econ Dual major or MAcc?
Hello all, I am new here and this is my first post on WSO, however I have been lurking these forums for some time. I am currently a sophomore in the Penn State system. I chose to go to one of the commonwealth campuses for the first two years due to personal and financial reasons and constraints, however I was accepted into the Smeal College of Business as an incoming freshman. On campus, I have taken up quite a few leadership roles, such as student government treasurer (which is a big deal/responsibility on my campus) and starting the first and only fraternity on campus.
Now, the time is coming quickly in which I will have to make a very important decision. I will be transferring up to Smeal for the first semester of my junior year. However, I am concerned with which major route I should go. I am interested in breaking into a BB IB and I know Smeal grads have been placing well on the street in recent years. Smeal offers an integrated MAcc program in which I can go for an extra year and earn a MAcc degree with a finance or accounting BS. I would still pay the undergrad tuition rate for this program which makes it very tempting. However, I am unsure as to whether or not I should seize this opportunity, or do concurrent majors in Finance and Economics (BS). So to get to the point, my question to those of you who are wiser than myself is which should I do? Which route will better help me break into BB IB? Which will make me more marketable? Will doing the MAcc and taking graduate level courses make myself more appealing in interviews/on my resume? Your thoughts are much appreciated.
As a side note, I do NOT plan on transferring to another school, even if I could. I'm proud to be part of the Penn State system and I have had a lot of wonderful opportunities and I foresee a lot more to come in the future.
No need for econ major with finance. It really will add virtually nothing. Just stick to the finance major and try to get something else that opens up different possibilities that you're interested in.
stick with just finance. Penn State has a great alumni network and if you want IB you can certainly get it...good luck this weekend against the Orange!
I'm definitely going to do finance regardless. Maybe I wasn't clear enough. While doing the MAcc program, I can still get a BS in finance as well as the MAcc degree as it is an integrated program. Like I said, my main goal is to do BB IB out of Smeal. I was just concerned with whether a MAcc degree + BS Finance is > or BS Finance + BS Economics in terms of landing a BB IB job (also, I would be shooting for a FO role.) Part of the sentiment behind me doing an extra major is the fact that I started my college journey at a commonwealth campus. I feel that no matter how hard I try to explain my reasoning behind choosing to do that and what not, employers at the BB firms wouldn't care and would pick someone from a target over me regardless. Having an extra year at Smeal gives me the opportunity to get heavily involved with their investment club and the Nittany Lion Fund. Two years would probably not be enough time for me to get say an executive position in the fund no matter how hard I network. This extra time gives me the chance to network and make up for the time I am spending here at a commonwealth campus and to get deeper involved, with the bonus of getting another degree.
Anotherthing with the MAcc is that it provides me with a backup plan - getting a CPA and working in a Big 4 Public Accounting firm (over 80% of Smeal MAcc grads place here) should IB and finance not work out so well for me.
So on that note, which route is better and why?
Any one else have a recommendation? I'd really appreciate more input.
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