Double Major?

jman3232 · #1 10-19-2007, 04:43 PM

Right now I am at the University of Illinois and have sophomore standing as a Freshman. I'm currently in their business school and majoring in finance, but I have time to get a double major. Would a double major in statistics or actuarial science be more beneficial? I have pretty much limited it down to those two.

SlowHabit · #2 10-19-2007, 04:47 PM

Computer Science ftw.

jman3232 · #3 10-19-2007, 04:51 PM

I'm pretty sure thats in the School of Engineering, which is pretty hard to get into, and I don't know if you're allowed to be in business and engineering.

Phone Booth · #4 10-19-2007, 04:54 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Right now I am at the University of Illinois and have sophomore standing as a Freshman. I'm currently in their business school and majoring in finance, but I have time to get a double major. Would a double major in statistics or actuarial science be more beneficial? I have pretty much limited it down to those two.

[/ QUOTE ]

Statistics would be helpful. Applied Math would be better.

john kane · #5 10-19-2007, 04:56 PM

go for anything math based. banks love maths graduates (and comp sci).

T50_Omaha8 · #6 10-19-2007, 05:02 PM

Actuarial science and finance would probably have a lot of overlap.

To be honest I don't really understand the value of majoring in actuarial science. I passed the first couple actuarial exams with an econ degree and math minor, and maybe a week of hard studying for each. And once you can pass the first couple exams, your major is irrelevant.

See if you can minor in computer science without being in the school of engineering. An huge number of entry jobs want computer skills like C++ and VB.

SlowHabit · #7 10-19-2007, 05:19 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Actuarial science and finance would probably have a lot of overlap.

To be honest I don't really understand the value of majoring in actuarial science. I passed the first couple actuarial exams with an econ degree and math minor, and maybe a week of hard studying for each. And once you can pass the first couple exams, your major is irrelevant.

See if you can minor in computer science without being in the school of engineering. An huge number of entry jobs want computer skills like C++ and VB.

[/ QUOTE ]
I hope you meant value-betting.

maxtower · #8 10-19-2007, 05:37 PM

The answer to this question depends a lot on what you want to do after college. If you want a job at a normal company, its probably overkill to get two majors. Your time would be better spent either graduating early (and therefore more cheaply) or really putting in more effort to get better grades.

If you are getting As anyway because you are smart, and the extra courses wouldn't delay your graduation or prevent you from doing an internship, then sure go for it, but I would rather spend the extra time partying.

SunOfBeach · #9 10-19-2007, 07:10 PM

Statistics is WAYYYY more useful, imho. Of course, I run a statistical consulting firm [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]. But seriously, you could use stats/finance to get to Wall St, in theory (assuming you'd be interested in that). Actuarial science ain't gonna get you there...

jumbojacks · #10 10-19-2007, 07:23 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Actuarial science and finance would probably have a lot of overlap.

To be honest I don't really understand the value of majoring in actuarial science. I passed the first couple actuarial exams with an econ degree and math minor, and maybe a week of hard studying for each. And once you can pass the first couple exams, your major is irrelevant.

See if you can minor in computer science without being in the school of engineering. An huge number of entry jobs want computer skills like C++ and VB.

[/ QUOTE ]
I hope you meant value-betting.

[/ QUOTE ]

VB can be very valuable. It's a great language to quickly prototype a design/model. Obviously no one is going to use it seriously in a production environment.