absolutVictory

Hi, I am trying to decide on what major to double with a B.S. Business Administration and would really like your opinions!

I am an undergraduate student at Berkeley, and the second majors I am considering now are EECS (Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences), Computer Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics and Economics. I am open to minors in addition to a second major as well. The most viable minors by my opinion are EECS and Computer Science.
I intend to take a ninth semester, to take more classes for each of my majors.

I not only want a strong combination that will set me as strong for i-banking employment after graduation, but also as a potentially strong applicant to graduate business school. I have heard that paradoxically, business schools more and more prefer engineering and other undergraduate majors over business majors (with working experience), which is opposite of how i-banking firms would prefer to hire.

There are some pros and cons to each combination I am potentially interested in, and I'd like to put them out here for your consideration.

The EECS major is highly rigorous and has a great deal of requirements to graduate. It is packed with challenging engineering courses, and less useful (to me) requirements in the natural sciences. This is one of the most prestigious undergraduate degrees at Berkeley. However I think its many requirements will actually severely limit the scope of my education in the upper division years. Computer science is another of my interests and this is the "best" degree for it at Berkeley, but with the myriad of other requirements I will end up only being able to take a few upper division computer science classes.

The Computer Science major is like the EECS major, but has much fewer requirements. Taking this would allow me to take many more upper division CS classes. But I also wonder, would the prestige of EECS help me more for i-banking employment and business school applications, or my actual CS skills? How helpful would my CS degree really be towards my i-banking career? I can hardly imagine i-bankers besides quants needing a major's worth of knowledge in computer science.

The Statistics major is also very strong and highly prestigious. It is fairly time consuming as well, requiring me to take two upper division math or statistics classes every semester beginning junior year. I feel statistics is more applicable to i-banking and finance. This major is also a popular second major choice for aspiring i-bankers here at Berkeley, especially among the business fraternities. I am seriously considering this.

As for Applied Mathematics.. I don't know too much about this major yet. I feel it sounds stronger than a Statistics major, yet they do share many classes. Statistics requires you to take at least 3 upper division math courses, and 3 more electives among which are applied mathematics courses.

Economics, on the other hand, is what many Haas MBA candidates have recommended me to take. They say that it is most related to i-banking and finance, and would prepare me best for it. I am also very interested in this major. However I feel an Economics and Business Administration double major would appear too business oriented and not diverse enough to business schools. Considering how they especially seem to prefer people with quantitative backgrounds such as engineering or math, I have doubts on this combination's effectiveness for graduate school applications.

A way to circumvent this potential disadvantage though, could be to do an Economics and Business Administration double major with a minor in Computer Science. It is quite doable. I wonder if a minor's worth of CS would seem quantitative enough to business schools though. I kind of doubt it.

Thank you for even reading all of this! Haha it was pleasure to type and I hope I have brought up issues of interest to all aspiring i-bankers and financiers out there.
Hope to hear replies soon! =P

openedskittles

MBA programs don't care about your major and I doubt I-bankers would add significant value to engineering. You should have realized the opportunity cost of missing that half year of full time employment and passing up the Spring hiring period would not be worth the second major, so don't go for economics, either.

zapfino

The previous poster is right that MBA programs don't care abot you ug major, though quantitative skills are good.
On the engineering side of things, what about operations research?
Also, if you might go for an MBA, why do ug business?
If you need something related, economics + another area with quantitative skills would be good.
Or, consider supplementing an econ degree with a minor to develop some relevant expertise in some specialty industry or investment market, for example, energy. It's a hot area, domestically and internationally. UCB offers lots of relevant courses in environmental and resource economics, energy policy, mineral resources, etc. It might give you an edge. Transportation (think Railroads!) or agricultural commodities might be other areas.

coolkidd123

I'd say economics and computer science or economics and statistics are both great combos.

absolutVictory

openedskittles: Also, an economics and business administration double major most likely wouldn't require a ninth semester. In that case would you say that is a good idea?

openedskittles and zaptinio: I can see how MBA programs might not care about your undergraduate majors. Yet business schools are admitting less business majors and professionals, and more engineers and people of other majors. It can be seen from their undergraduate major admissions statistics.
Here is one of the sites that present the argument that business schools are "biased against pure business majors."
Positioning Yourself for Business School, Part 1: The Financier | Mergers & Inquisitions

zapfino & coolkidd123: I've heard operations research is amazing for business school admissions, and I'm considering it. How applicable to i-banking and finance do you think operations research is? And I am going for business as an undergraduate because at Berkeley business administration majors have significant recruiting and prestige advantages over other majors, including economics, having access to the resources of the Haas School of Business.