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Which major is better for working as a finance analyst, management analyst etc, finance or economics
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Overview of both majors at my school. The economics major includes a finance track as well. It consists of calc1 and 2, two stats courses and econometrics 1 and and 4 to 6 finance courses. The finance program includes classes in finance theory, two accounting courses and two stats courses. Which one should I go for?
If you want to work in corporate finance then you should major in finance or accounting. or both.
I would personally go with Finance you can directly apply whatever you learn to your career. Economics is a bit abstract and while it is interesting, may not always be useful in understanding financial statements, valuations etc.
I could take those courses and graduate on time. My only worry is how employers would look at it.
If the Economics program at your school is a part of the business school, it won't matter much. However, if the Economics program is at the liberal arts school, you would be better off pursuing Finance as the recruitment at business schools (target or non target) is slightly better. Also, look at the Linkedin profiles of your school's alumni and see what they majored in to get the positions that you are interested in.
I majored in both. I enjoyed econ a lot more- it teaches you how to think like an executive, understand how the market moves, how incentives work, how government policies effect companies and industries. The finance major was a lot more technical: DCFs, WACC, accounting, etc. Frankly, I haven't used a single bit of my finance major in my current job. BUT, my company was only looking for finance or accounting majors. My advice? Try to double major. If you can't do that, major in finance and minor in econ. If you still can't swing that, major in Finance and take econ electives. Unfortunately, a finance major is a litmus test for FA roles, so you'll need it. In the end though, everything you learn as a finance major is readily available as equations online. If you major in Econ, you'll have a (hopefully) good professor who can explain everything to you and help you understand. TL;DR: Get the finance major to check the box. Take Econ classes to actually learn.
I could go the technical route in economics and have most of the finance courses done anyway. TBH the finance degree is only three courses that form a concentration, financial markets(economics based course anyway),money and financial institutions(economics based course also) and financial reporting. Two of the three are required for both finance and economics meanwhile I could take financial reporting anyway.
Go for Econ, it will give you better options with macro shops.
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