aj16

^^you really need to calm down.....the Op is just askin whether all this craze to get a finance degree is worth it......wats wrong in askin that....give him a break

tetrishead

I'm making an important point that the OP hasn't gotten despite constantly posting and reading this forum. Most of the information he's going to get is bad information, and when he reads the overwhelming majority of people say how a finance degree is a good idea, or sees links to average salaries from certain schools and then sees one person say a finance degree isn't worth "it" his first response shouldn't be to immediately assume that is the truth, or to ask about it. He should look at the source, then he should look at the sources saying a finance degree is worth it, then he should research that issue on his own--not looking for commentary, but hard numbers--and then he should try to discuss the issue, once he's familiar with it.

He's caught in a constant loop of trying to make decisions based on vague statements without stopping and doing his own research and going through the process of drawing his own conclusions.

Lil_Wayne_Fan

One person said it's not worth the degree. You've taken the word of one person as canon. You're about as easily manipulated as most six year olds.

Have you considered not spending money on college at all and just starting work at McDonalds right now? If you can't parse information I can't see how a degree would give you anything but debt, as you'll undoubtedly fail when you're in the professional world and you have to make your own conscious decisions. You're probably better off throwing all that money your dad is going to spend on BC for you into a well-diversified portfolio and just working some menial jobs for a while.
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Change of plans

I'm going to Penn State's Smeal Biz school to major in actuarial science

Gonna be an actuary instead - I think it's more interesting, I love math, I wouldn't need to go to grad school, and they get paid almost as much as doctors down the road

Plus, majoring in finance right now might not be the smartest thing to do, for economic reasons

BC is too expensive - PSU is 32k a year - saving us 80k+ over 4 years

Being an actuary is the way to go

tetrishead

Being an actuary is tough. I really hope you can take a lot of math (I wouldn't say it's the level of difficulty so much as it is the sheer amount of work) if you want to get through most of the actuarial exams. If you make it through, though, you're set--and you can still work your way into "regular" finance by doing risk management work and trying to make a lateral transition over time.

Good luck, and I hope you can get some of the money your father was going to spend on BC and invest it intelligently while you're in college--life is much easier coming out when you're already financially stable. If he's throwing that kind of money at a school he ought to have been maxing out a Roth IRA for you.

C-Revs

I think people over stress the "I shouldn't do finance for economic reasons" right now... Particularly because you are graduating in 4 years and change. Seems a bit silly in my opinion.

kmzizzle

the knowledge of math an actuary needs to know to be a fellow and other high positions fsa, fcas, acas is incredible
you will most likely need a PhD in math like many other actuaries

and when you start working as an actuary, you will constantly be studying before, after, and during work for your next exam; which makes your lifestyle a little harder

ish718

Yeah, if you don't like math much then actuary isn't the right job for you.

UCSDowns

just my 2 cents ... I apllied with accnt as my major, but then at orientation spoke to the advisor i changed it to economics. I thought that the material was too practical and i was pretty much going to be stuck with accounting for the first few years out of college. Even if i decided to do accnt i wud need a masters to get the cpa and you dont need a accnt bachelors to get into accnt masters get my drift?
*** am i talking about you may ask. You dont need to major in finance to get a job in the financial industry, you dont need to major in actuarial science to get a job as an actuary. A major might help but ultimately its about you and not your major/school. you can major in transylvanian studies and get actuarial internship/job if you have the exams , gpa etc.
The other thing is the cost i dont remmebr the figure you gave in the other thread about BC but that was OUTRAGEOUS, chances are you wont get into a high paying career like IB so lets just assume you get a 50k jon 35k after taxes then you will be living paycheck to paycheck (rent/morgage, car payment food etc).