PoliSci major, rising senior, could really use some advice.

As the title says I’m a rising college senior, majoring in (wait for it) political science. There’s a host of “reasons” why I ended up in this position, but I’ll cut to the chase.

I am interested in a well paying career in finance, or international business (speaking more broadly). I have done my homework on this field of work and it does sound enjoyable, and I do believe I am well suited to it. Unfortunately, I am not sure how to get there from my current position, and I'd love some advice.

The dilemma I am faced with now is that I am not sure if I should change majors to Finance and do more 2-3 more years of undergrad, graduate undergrad and enter an MBA program immediately, or try to work in Econ for a few years with no prior hard skills and THEN enter an MBA program. I have a 3.75 GPA, extensive and solid work experience (albeit in the fields of law enforcement and government, not finance) , and attended an "elite" liberal arts college for my freshman year, and a very, very well known and fairly well regarded large state school for all other years. I likely have some "connections" in finance, but nothing that could land me a guaranteed job that I know of...will have to see what's out there.

I am wondering if anyone on here was once in this position themselves, or knows someone else who was. I could really use some guidance as far as what the pros and cons of each option is.

Another factor is that I get 50% off the already reasonable in-state tuition at the state school I attend, as my mother works in the connected hospital. This applies to both graduate school and undergrad, so any further education would almost certainly be done there. A few more semesters of undergrad in particular, while a pain in the ass, really wouldn't be all that expensive in the grand scheme of things. At the very least it pails in comparison to the price of an MBA, so as of now I am leaning towards changing the major.

My main concern is that I will have almost zero finance works experience coming out of undergrad, and will be entering the finance work force a little older than everyone else (I'd be like 23-24 when I finished). I'd much rather leave undergrad sooner rather than later if possible. I've also read that the highly sought after summer associate positions usually go to undergrad juniors.

I don't care about going to a top tier business school, I don't care about a job at a big four bank. I want to enter this field because it interests me, I want to the career flexibility, and I want to make good money without having excessive student debt. But I'm not sure where to start.

 

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