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Interested In Economics/Business

lion7037lion7037 2 replies3 threads New Member
in Business Major
I've heard a lot about how business/economics is a dying degree and isn't applicable in the real world. The reasoning, I guess, is that it is insanely competitive.

I've heard that banks tend to recruit from the top undergrad schools for business, and I'm not sure if I can make it into those. I have almost perfect grades/test scores, but I suck at writing and my ECs are probably below average. I don't want to be struggling after college, so I'm looking for further input.

Are these statements close to the truth or are people just over exaggerating things?

I'm not sure if I want to pursue academia in economics(research, analytical, etc...) or go into the world of finance. I would love if someone could offer me input on both options, some college choices that are good for each one respectively, and future prospects in the job market.
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Replies to: Interested In Economics/Business

  • merc81merc81 11125 replies183 threads Senior Member
    edited March 2019
    The top 20 or so from either of these analyses will offer you some great college suggestions for the study of economics:

    https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html

    https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.usecondept.html
    edited March 2019
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  • hssenior191919hssenior191919 20 replies0 threads Junior Member
    im going to ucla for business!
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  • UCBUSCalumUCBUSCalum 1124 replies4 threads Senior Member
    In addition to top undergraduate business schools, many banks and investment banking/firms do recruit business economics majors from top undergraduate schools like UCLA. Since UCLA does not have an undergraduate business schools, firms such as Blackrock, Goldman Sachs recruit at UCLA's bus. econ. Even though UCB has Haas undergraduate business, firms like Goldman Sachs still recruits from UCB's econ majors if they have the right mix. For example, I know of a pre-med student, who subsequently got into med school, who was recruited and hired by GS. He was an econ major and math minor major and took all the pre med prerequisites. He turned down medical school to work at GS. The money at GS was too good to resist.
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  • happy1happy1 23506 replies2333 threads Senior Member
    It is important to understand that economics and an undergrad business degree are very different paths. Economics is a liberal arts course of study and gets very theoretical at the upper levels. In contrast if you go to an undergraduate business school you will take a business core with introductory classes in subjects such as accounting, finance, IT, marketing etc. and then you will major in one of those disciplines. I'm not saying that one is better than the other, but they are different. I would take the time to look at the coursework (can be found online) for both a economics major and a business degree and see if one set of classes is preferable to you.
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  • CheddarcheeseMNCheddarcheeseMN 3595 replies13 threads Senior Member
    edited April 2019
    Banks are just one of many, many possible employers.
    edited April 2019
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