I’m an international undergraduate student and I want to study in the USA. I want to major in Finance but and I need financial aid too. The thing is the liberal arts colleges in USA offer the most aid but most of them do not offer Finance as a major. So another option is Economics. But I did not take economics in high school and I have no idea about it. So what should I do? Should I go for economics or stick to Finance instead. What’s the difference and what will be a good major?
What do you want to do after you finish college? Don’t count on staying in the US. Unless you marry an American or get into a funded graduate program, odds are you will have to leave after you finish your OPT.
So the question becomes: what can you do with an economics degree in your own country? Or in your own part of the world?
“Finance” majors come in a few different flavors that would take you into very different directions. Which direction did you have in mind? What career path do you envision yourself in after college?
If you are hoping to stay and work in the US after college, current immigration regulations strongly favor STEM majors (science, technology, math, engineering). It can be a double-major in addition to your econ or finance major. STEM majors are allowed to work for 36 months in the US after graduation before they require work visa sponsorship, while everyone else just gets 12 months. Since work visa sponsorship is expensive, time-consuming and uncertain (there’s a literal lottery for work visas each year), the additional 24 months of prior work authorization seem to make a big difference to employers when they consider who to hire.
“and should I stick to Finance or go for Economics?”
As an international student who needs financial aid, you may have to settle for economics since that is offered more often in the types of schools that award financial aid.
I’m an international undergraduate student and I want to study in the USA. I want to major in Finance but and I need financial aid too. The thing is that the liberal arts colleges in USA offer the most aid but most of them do not offer Finance as a major. So another option is Economics. But I did not take economics in high school and I have no idea about it. So what should I do? Should I go for economics or stick to Finance instead. What’s the difference and what will be a good major?
“Finance” could mean corporate finance - like accounting, management and stuff. It could mean quantitative finance - mathematical and economic modelling of financial markets. There’s an investment direction - asset and wealth management, sales and trading, those sorts of things. There might be others.
What does “finance” mean to you? Which direction did you have in mind?