Stuck Between Majors

Hi, As the title suggests I am stuck between choosing between two majors: Accounting vs Statistics(Mathematics with a stat track).Initially, I was interested in banking but a feeling is in my head that something like Accounting is limiting myself.I am not planning on getting married or having kids and advancing my career is my top choice(I am 28 so I am not some idealistic kid around the block).It is my gut feeling that finance will become much more quantitative in the future and things like manipulating big data and statistical analysis will gain much more popularity than now,so for this very reason and the fact that you can do much more decision making with a statistics degree than an accounting one has persuaded me to choose statistics,so I wanted to ask you guys if you think I am making the right choice or not.My accounting route plan was to make it to the big 4, network my way into their Advisory services and see where I can get to from there.However doing a degree in statistics and a minor in CS will help me land a much more diverse set of jobs than accounting which may expose me to more decision making within the business and help my MBA profile.Some additional info: 1)I do not have a US Citizenship status, so companies will have to sponsor my Visa, I know that this will be more likely with something more technical than an accounting degree. 2)Although I am 28, I have changed careers and have a lot more motivation than the average Joe in my class, and will feel that I can connect to people a lot faster, however, to be a quant type don't you have to look really young and be young? 3)All else being equal if I go down the statistics route with a minor in cs will I have a higher employment opportunity than an accounting major? I am one of those rare individuals who enjoys accounting however I am relly after reinventing myself and doing something hard to give a better signal to employers &not a kind of easy degree. 4)I don't have a problem with grad school in stat/MFE if it will increase my chances here in the U.S and I do go to a decent school in terms of it's STEM(UMD), so if I do get a good GPA there are pretty cool options out there.

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Best Response

No, I am not.My previous job experience in the home country was an Oil/Gas salesman.I do love sales but for 3 reasons I am inclined towards the statistics role: 1)I don't have a green card so I have to reinvent myself to something that the typical person cannot do, I don't see myself succeeding in that reinvention with an accounting degree.In my very limited scope, I am much more likely to get a Visa sponsor with a stat degree than an accounting one. 2)People tend to think you are smarter if they find you did an undergrad in stat vs accounting.Therefore back in that sales role, they tend to trust you more in a way. 3)The career diversity to someone with a stat degree in finance or any modern day mega trend is much more than that of accounting where you are really doing the same thing regardless of the industry.

 

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