Finance vs Accounting degree

[Isura]

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Why choose one over the other?

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Do what you love

[midas]

I would take the accounting route and take as many advanced finance classes as you can squeeze in as well. It just gives you more downside job protection. The worst case is you get a job at a local accounting firm and get your CPA in 3 years - then go to B school or law school for an advanced degree and a career change.

[john kane]

$1k down. whoever was that dick who raised with Qc7c and i smooth called with AhQh preflop only for flop to come Ac and two rag clubs owes me $700.

please transfer the $700 to my stars SN thanks.

first and last time i ever play on stars. asijcaoiscjoasjc

[skindog]

I don't know about other schools, but the recruiters at University of Illinois weren't very eager to recruit someone with just an undergrad finance degree - to me it almost seemed like a pre-law or pre-med major... wth do you do with it if you don't go further?

An accounting degree will give you a lot of versatility and it looks very good to employers. You can squeeze financial accounting classes in too for a finance focus. And if you want to do the finance route you can always go for an MBA or CFA or whatever else your position requires after you graduate.

If you have the luxury/will, go for the double major route. An extra major can't hurt... I'm pretty sure mine set me apart in an interview or two

[DcifrThs]

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like i said, both are pretty easy for me class wise. I'm in my 3rd year. I JUST transfered schools though.

Ohio State did a 3 year, internship over the summer, then 2 more years.

Cincinnati is more of a co op, like 2 quarters on, 1 quarter work, 3 quarters on, 1 quarter work

So I haven't had any internships/co ops yet. So really this question is hard for me to answer, but I need to make a decision soon.


I am planning on going to law school, so I guess it doesn't really matter, but I only want to go top 10 law or don't go at all, so I need something to fall back on.

might just double major, or do finance, work for 2 years, go back and do financial engineering and do quant

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Good luck finding quant work. In today's market place, most quants are PHD's in the hardcore sciences such as Physics or Math. Also, quants are located in the tri-state area. If you do have interest in becoming a quant, computer science as an undergrad then financial engineering can also be a good path but finance and/or accounting is probably not going to cut it and I am speaking from experience in this area.

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yea, if i could program i'd be a quant by now lol.

you need academic quality modelling skills in addition to computer science graduate level programming skills.

you need to be able to take a model from theory to practice, backtest it, evaluate it, and make it run by itself.

furhter, as mentioned, quants are typically in tristate area and a majority of the time refer to PhD in math, finance, physics, engineering + computer skills.

DE shaw and many others though hire undergraduate-graduate level quant analysts.

not an easy thing to break into. if i had a "do-over" it'd be to be a sick computer programmer.

Barron

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I don't know about other schools, but the recruiters at University of Illinois weren't very eager to recruit someone with just an undergrad finance degree - to me it almost seemed like a pre-law or pre-med major... wth do you do with it if you don't go further?

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Are you being serious here, because this is pretty ridiculous?

[thing85]

The first part of his statement is true. Recruiters at U of I are generally more eager to go after accounting majors than finance majors.

[zethro]

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I don't know about other schools, but the recruiters at University of Illinois weren't very eager to recruit someone with just an undergrad finance degree - to me it almost seemed like a pre-law or pre-med major... wth do you do with it if you don't go further?


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This is the complete opposite at my school. From what I have been told in the Minneapolis area it is really easy to get a job with a finance degree from my school.

[skindog]

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I don't know about other schools, but the recruiters at University of Illinois weren't very eager to recruit someone with just an undergrad finance degree - to me it almost seemed like a pre-law or pre-med major... wth do you do with it if you don't go further?

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Are you being serious here, because this is pretty ridiculous?

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Yes, 100% serious... but like I said, it's specific to my school. And even then, my view might be skewed because I didn't talk to every recruiter.

I suck at making points - I exaggerated by saying almost like pre med/pre law. Yeah, you could get jobs with a finance degree, but definitely not many higher end jobs.. definitely not compared to accounting. If I was going just finance, I'd definitely get an MBA.

[Jimbo232]

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The first part of his statement is true. Recruiters at U of I are generally more eager to go after accounting majors than finance majors.

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I'd agree to some extent - the Big 4 has a huge presence at U of I because of the accountancy program's reputation, but in my experience finance majors were not struggling to get jobs. I went the Big 4 route and my roommate who I'd describe as an average finance major got a job with JPMC and is making at least 2x the money I am fwiw.