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So, I was honorably discharged from the U.S Army. I am still fairly young (22)-- I decided to go to college to get a Bachelors of Science in Finance, I will be transferring from a community college. I initially was going for Economics but after much research I saw that Finance is more employable, is this true? What are some of the careers I could be doing?
Agree. Have summer options for what you think you would enjoy and think of the west to land there.
What industry? What city? What type of job?
Then figure out the coursework, school and networking that can help get you there.
I have a double major in finance and economics and they both did different things for me academically. I don't think either would be 100% necessary for the job I'm in now, but both have been relevant to other industries. Also, my school at the time had two different tracts for economics. One through the business school and one through the arts school as more of a social science. The courses were different to a fair degree, although you did come together as well.
In what career do you see yourself five years from now?
What classes/major do you need to get there?
I'm not so sure I agree with this advice- the business world is FULL of jobs that most regular adults have no idea even exist. College students are especially unaware of these roles. It's not until you start studying in the field that you even get a mere glimpse of the opportunities that exist; I have multiple graduate degrees and I'm still meeting people all the time who have jobs that I never even knew existed (in my own field!). Further, in 5 years you'll still be very, very early in your career so you don't want to plan your entire college education around something so near in the future.
Back to the OP- this is EXACTLY the right question to be asking. There are hundreds of different roles in the finance field. If you go to a corporation, you could work in the treasury group doing foreign exchange hedging, cash planning, compliance, third party finance (arranging third party borrowing and lending), deal finance (arranging money to pay for mergers and acquisitions), and a number of other roles. This is just one department at a company; other departments that have roles that might be filled with a finance background include the tax department, certain accounting roles, financial planning and analysis (a huge department at most companies, with another 10+ different job descriptions doing different things). You also have the option to go to a consulting firm instead of a large corporation; you'll work longer hours but make more money.
A B.S. in finance will definitely get you into the business world but in order to make the really big bucks you'll want to turn it into an MBA further down the road, perhaps at night after working a few years. With an MBA, you can get into the wild world of investment banking, private equity, hedge funds- your annual bonus could be in the six figures after a few years of hard work.
If you think you might be interested in finance, I would recommend keeping an open mind towards what role you'll eventually have and to just really absorb the material. The key is to really throw yourself into your coursework and do your best to get great grades- that undergraduate GPA will follow you for the rest of your career (I know, it sounds weird but surprisingly it's true).
I don't work directly in a finance role but I am a CPA and a tax attorney at a large corporation and work every day with folks in the treasury, mergers & acquisitions, and financial planning & analysis groups and many of the individuals I work with have a B.S. in Finance. Most also later received a graduate degree in something- lots of MBAs, some law degrees, some masters in accountancy, etc, but that's a choice for you to make at a later point in your career after it starts to gain some direction.
I'm not so sure I agree with this advice- the business world is FULL of jobs that most regular adults have no idea even exist. College students are especially unaware of these roles. It's not until you start studying in the field that you even get a mere glimpse of the opportunities that exist; I have multiple graduate degrees and I'm still meeting people all the time who have jobs that I never even knew existed (in my own field!). Further, in 5 years you'll still be very, very early in your career so you don't want to plan your entire college education around something so near in the future.
Back to the OP- this is EXACTLY the right question to be asking. There are hundreds of different roles in the finance field. If you go to a corporation, you could work in the treasury group doing foreign exchange hedging, cash planning, compliance, third party finance (arranging third party borrowing and lending), deal finance (arranging money to pay for mergers and acquisitions), and a number of other roles. This is just one department at a company; other departments that have roles that might be filled with a finance background include the tax department, certain accounting roles, financial planning and analysis (a huge department at most companies, with another 10+ different job descriptions doing different things). You also have the option to go to a consulting firm instead of a large corporation; you'll work longer hours but make more money.
A B.S. in finance will definitely get you into the business world but in order to make the really big bucks you'll want to turn it into an MBA further down the road, perhaps at night after working a few years. With an MBA, you can get into the wild world of investment banking, private equity, hedge funds- your annual bonus could be in the six figures after a few years of hard work.
If you think you might be interested in finance, I would recommend keeping an open mind towards what role you'll eventually have and to just really absorb the material. The key is to really throw yourself into your coursework and do your best to get great grades- that undergraduate GPA will follow you for the rest of your career (I know, it sounds weird but surprisingly it's true).
I don't work directly in a finance role but I am a CPA and a tax attorney at a large corporation and work every day with folks in the treasury, mergers & acquisitions, and financial planning & analysis groups and many of the individuals I work with have a B.S. in Finance. Most also later received a graduate degree in something- lots of MBAs, some law degrees, some masters in accountancy, etc, but that's a choice for you to make at a later point in your career after it starts to gain some direction.
This is EXACTLY right. I have spent the last 35 years working in a field that I never heard of until I was well along in graduate school. To get in a good grad school, major in something that interests you enough that you'll get a lot of A's in it.
Quote:
into the wild world of investment banking, private equity, hedge funds- your annual bonus could be in the six figures after a few years of hard work.
That's a conservative estimate. I know hedge fund whiz kids who've made *seven* figure bonuses while under the age of 35.
I have a BS in finance and went straight into investment banking (m &a)in NYC out of undergrad. I lasted less than a year and switched to marketing for a large entertainment company. But, most of my classmates are still in banking of some sort, 16yrs after we graduated. Most have left NYC and are working for funds or small boutique firms. Many now have mbas.
I lived with some accounting and economics majors in college, the accounting majors are uniformly cpas and the economics majors both work for the federal government.
As a finance person myself, I recommend any major in business.
examples of the jobs: financial analyst, financial reporting analyst, personal banker, credit analyst, research analyst, investment banking analyst
You can also apply to jobs in operations/commercial/accounting/economics fields as well if you have a degree in finance, it is very common.
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and switched to marketing for a large entertainment company. But, most of my classmates are still in banking of some sort, 16yrs after we graduated. Most have left NYC and are working for funds or small boutique firms. Many now have mbas.
