Terp2014

Any comments?

Treebounders

At UMD, econ majors are kids who couldn't get into the business school after 2 years, and are now stuck studying econ in the College of Letters and Sciences.

Terp2014

Treebounders, ya I've heard that sentiment expressed previously. Does that show in the job placement too?

Treebounders

Yes

Not to say that UMD has great recruiting, but econ majors don't have access to Smith's recruiting network/events. Also econ and biz tend to seek different job types. Econ tends to shoot for grad school or work for the government (DC close by), while biz tends to well... about 75% of the people go into some sort of accounting.

Terp2014

Oh

I wanna major in Economics but would prefer not to go into govt or non-profit =/

TheDad

Terps, what do you want to *do* with an Econ degree?

I don't share JPN's "Ivy or die!" outlook. But having a Math degree coupled with an Econ degree makes you a stronger candidate for just about everything. My D got her first job with a Government/Math double with a few Econ courses on the side. She had this habit of skipping Intro courses and plunging right in to Intermediate Macro and going from there.

Limited anecdotal evidence from her says that she can run rings around the straight Econ majors on math stuff.

Fwiw, I don't think my D would be caught dead applying for biz-type jobs.

Sligh_Anarchist

What kind of jobs does your daughter apply to, just out of curiosity?

Terp2014

I wouldn't mind competing for the same jobs the Business students get. I'd like to go into Consulting (Not McKinsey or Bain or anything like that, but similar work).

Ya I've heard that the more quantitative the coursework is, the better the job prospects. Thing is I haven't really decided on a career path or anything like most CCers have I really liked AP/IB Economics this year and I did really well, so thought I might continue it in college.

yelena

OP,
I kind of agree with you but I suspect that your adviser and the teachers in the economic department at your schools were simply as lame as the ones who work at my school.

But, one thing that might surprises you:

I went to a career fair at my school and I talked to the representatives of a financial firm and another Big corporation. The two companies were looking for Business majors but when I told them that I was an econ major, they said that I could apply for the internships and learn along the way. My guess was that they did not mind my application because none of the Business students at my school went to the fair. It did not matter to me because I felt that from what I have learned in the past years as a former econ major and from my personal research in economics and Business, I could have beat any Business kids who would have compete with me for the internships.

As someone else said, you need some determination. I sold my Economics studies to the recruiter as if there was no difference between the Business majors and me.In fact, whereas I could understand the financial world, these kids only knew how to make beautiful PowerPoint slides. In fact, I was taking this money and banking class with the seniors Business majors, none of them could understand the financial jargon nor the broad economic terms that people use to talk about the problems of the current financial market or the appropriate terms that we needed to use to talk about the government's economic policies. It was only another econ major and I , who could sit in a class and listen to the teacher talking without consulting Wikictionary.

I don't think that this sort of ignorance pertains to all Business major , I think that the Business program at my school was just too lame to prepare the students correctly . I have an entrepreneurial spirit, a flair for Business, so these modest personal qualities gave me some confidence during my interview.Nevertheless, I do think that studying economics has its plus, I hope that I can do a Master in International economics once I am done with my horrible undergraduate experience. I always wanted to study econ, so the lame @ss teachers of my school won't make me give my dream up.

OP, since you must be already done with your econ degree , you will now need to work on how to sale yourself to some job recruiters as a potential Business man who will learn by doing and bring a strong economic background on the table.

I wish you the best.

Anyway, I switched to finance and and Computer Sciences and I will complete them after I come back from my trips to Cuba and Peru, so I won't have to worry about the suckers of the economic department and my former adviser anymore.OP must of them studied economics, they ended homeless and teaching was the only job that they could get.They end up making the students pay for their failure as if we were the ones who told them to study Economics.They are as lazy as a pregnant cats.

yelena

To The Young Kids who want to study economics:

If any of you young people, or highschoolers are planing on studying economics, be aware of the starving and homeless economist syndrome.

You can also double major in Economics and Statistics so you might not end up like a starving and bitter economist. No matter what you choose to do at the end,get a second major as a back up plan because we don't want anymore bitterness in the world.And it would be sad to add to the lists of economic losers.

These losers have one thing in common with the filthy Wall Street thief: They ruin everyone's life with theirs. I feel that my adviser partly messed up with my undergrad studies. He was just being a loser like most starving economists are.

TheDad

Terp, if it's any consolation, I'm wary of students who are too locked in too early into what they think they want to do. Take as much quant stuff as you can in college and take a variety of non-Econ/Gov/Math stuff along the way. If you're still completely at sea toward the end of your junior year in college, then you can maybe *start* to panic. Be aggressive in applying for internships while you're in college...even negative information is useful and you may discover some unexpected joy in doing a job you hadn't considered.

The most damning thing I've heard someone say about undergrad biz degrees is "they know nothing of lasting significance."

===
SA: my D is a research assistant for federal tax and budget policy for a major think tank. It was the only job she applied for. She was invited to apply. She loves it. And she is so exceedingly lucky...something I know and she knows. Otoh, she put herself into some positions where luck could find her.

Terp2014

TheDad, thanks for the info

Venkat89

When in college, one should try to pursue studies that not only fulfill his/her interests, but also pursue studies that actually help him/her gain employment upon graduation.

For an average economics major, they found that they enjoyed the subject, but have little interest in a PhD. For them, a business degree would probably have been better. While it varies from school to school, usually business schools have better recruiting and better connections. All of that helps when applying for jobs. If both majors are viewed as equal, might as well go with the better name and better recruiting. You can take some upper level econ courses if you really want to gain that background and take the liberal arts courses you want to gain that background.

If you have other goals (med school, PhD, etc.) an econ degree might be better. Those paths require more preparation in sciences and math, which a business major might not allow enough room for. However, most econ majors out there are not interested in med school or getting a PhD.

This is coming from a person who chose to study economics. If I seriously wanted to puruse business at undergrad I could have taken the necessary courses to transfer into my business school. I acknowledge that the business degree would have been better for me getting jobs right out of undergrad. However, I want to pursue graduate school in economics and the extra math, research, and other stuff would be too tough with a business major.
I'd say this is true of business school students at my college, but they are in great posiitons to get some of the highest paying jobs right out of undergrad in the country (75k+, up to 100k in a good economy).

For UMD, I am from the state and almost went to UMCP. If you are deciding between econ and business and don't think you'll want to puruse a PhD, go with business and if you really want to get a double major in economics. The business school will make you more competitive for jobs upon graduation. You have an idea for what you want to do which is great. A business degree will allow you to do those things too, but gives you a few more opportunities if you change your mind.
If you want the best opportunities upon graduation, major in engineering There are just more opportunities. If you have the quntitative abilities to do economics you should be fine doing engineering. With a degree in engineering and some economics courses you're probably just as competitive as an average economics major for the jobs an average econ major goes for. However, you are also able to apply to jobs only open to engineers. In the DC area there are lots of defense contractors who hire engineers from CP.

Treebounders

lol Yelena your school must suck

yelena

It does indeed.