Most useful major (1 Viewer)

[callywoo]

I'm considering doing the BComm/BEco double degree, and I'm after a second major from commerce to compliment the eco major..

I don't want to do accounting or finance.

Are marketing, management or business law any good as far as career prospects go when accompanied by an eco major?
I've heard these fields are fairly useless at undergrad level (maybe not bus law).

Any ideas? should i stick to BEco and do a single major?

Cheers

 

[wrong_turn]

economics would be good with international business and also finance from my memory. oh and why not finance? its not as hard as most people put it to be.

 

[callywoo]

Accounting and finance have always intimidated me... I could look into it i guess

 

[tallkid34]

I'm considering doing the BComm/BEco double degree, and I'm after a second major from commerce to compliment the eco major..

I don't want to do accounting or finance.

Are marketing, management or business law any good as far as career prospects go when accompanied by an eco major?
I've heard these fields are fairly useless at undergrad level (maybe not bus law).

Any ideas? should i stick to BEco and do a single major?

Cheers

Why do a single major when you can do 2? Nobody does a single major nowadays.

Marketing is pretty defined in terms of what your career paths will be. Don't do it because everyone else says its easy.

Management is a bit too generic for a major. Specialise a bit more by doing HRM or international business (IB is one of my com majors).

Business law is a decent major but you have to do it with something else like finance or accounting. Especially if you wanted to be eligible for a CA/CPA qualification.

For the record, my com majors are IB and Business Strategy & Economic Management and my eco major is financial eco.

 

[Vagabond]

Accounting and finance are popular because they open lots of doors for jobs

Marketing to a lesser extent is worth doing for the same reason, but there aren't many jobs that would specifically want someone to have studied marketing

Business law is kinda pointless because you'd be mediocre versus a proper law student

International business, management, in all honesty pretty much everything else = will not open you any doors so you should just choose whatever you find easiest

 

[Arowana21]

Accounting and finance are popular because they open lots of doors for jobs

Marketing to a lesser extent is worth doing for the same reason, but there aren't many jobs that would specifically want someone to have studied marketing

Business law is kinda pointless because you'd be mediocre versus a proper law student

International business, management, in all honesty pretty much everything else = will not open you any doors so you should just choose whatever you find easiest

AGREED.

acct and finance has the most job oppurtunities ahead

 

[Vagabond]

I should also add that you shouldn't do acct/fin simply because of the job opportunities either because if you don't like acct or fin then what's the point of qualifying yourself for an acct or fin job?

Therefore if you're asking what you should major in I would ask you why on earth are you studying a commerce degree if you have not identified and researched what sort of career you are broadly aiming for

 

[Cookie182]

Im most interested in Applied Finance/Financial Planning which we have here as a major at UOW- it's separate (by about 3 subjects difference) from a Finance major.

Thoughts? It allows you to meet ASIC requirements (RG146 or watever) so u can go to like CFP with experience.

 

[wrong_turn]

cookie, ours is still labelled as a finance major. however we have just have to follow the guideline. there is only 4 courses in it until we are rg146 qualified at unsw.

 

[Cookie182]

cookie, ours is still labelled as a finance major. however we have just have to follow the guideline. there is only 4 courses in it until we are rg146 qualified at unsw.

I'll show you guys the difference at UOW, maybe you could tell me if it's similar to UNSW. I'm interested in planning etc but don't want to limit my financial knowledge-

At UOW, B Commerce majoring in Financial Planning- Financial Planning - 2009 Course Handbook @ UOW

LAW 101
Law, Business and Society
Autumn
6

FIN 251
Introduction to Financial Planning
Autumn
6

ACCY228
Tax Planning
Spring
6

FIN 223
Investment Analysis
Spring
6

FIN 328
Retirement and Estate Planning
Autumn
6

FIN 323
Portfolio Analysis
Autumn
6

FIN 320
Risk and Insurance
Spring
6

FIN 329
Advanced Financial Planning
Spring
6

Then a normal Finance major is- Finance - 2009 Course Handbook @ UOW

ACCY200
Financial Accounting IIA
Autumn
6

FIN 221
Introductory Business Finance
Autumn/Spring
6

FIN 223
Investment Analysis
Spring
6

FIN 226
Financial Markets and Institutions
Autumn/Spring
6

ECON240
Financial Modelling
Spring
6

FIN 322
Advanced Business Finance
Spring
6

FIN 323
Portfolio Analysis
Autumn
6

+ an elective at the 200/300 level (Finance subject).

One of the big differences seems to be, while they both involve an accounting subject, obviously the FP major focuses on personal accounting (tax accounting etc) whereas you do company accounting with the Finance major. FP does not invovle another stat subject whereas Finance does, yet FP involves a law subject etc etc

I'm doing a law degree anyway, so I'll be able to skip that subject or substitute for something else.

 

[wrong_turn]

Required Course List
FINS1612 Capital Markets & Institution (6 UOC)
FINS1613 Business Finance (6 UOC)
FINS2624 Portfolio Mgmt (6 UOC)
FINS3616 International Business Finance (6 UOC)

Options (you have to complete these extra units to gain a qualification for RG146):
FINS2643 Wealth Management (6 UOC)
FINS3637 Wealth Mgmt Advice (6 UOC)

i had one more option to choose, so i chose:
FINS3655 Behavioural Finance (6 UOC)

UNSW School of Banking & Finance - Industry Links
RG146 compliant subjects:
- FINS1612
-FINS2624
FINS2643
-FINS3637

 

[callywoo]

I should also add that you shouldn't do acct/fin simply because of the job opportunities either because if you don't like acct or fin then what's the point of qualifying yourself for an acct or fin job?

Therefore if you're asking what you should major in I would ask you why on earth are you studying a commerce degree if you have not identified and researched what sort of career you are broadly aiming for

Economics and management/psych are my main fields of interest. I was just looking for another major to go with eco. I'll look into finance. I'll probably do some psych subjects as electives

Would an HRM major be useful at all as far as getting a job in HRM goes? or would they not require you to have studied it specifically

 

[Vagabond]

To be honest I don't know much about HRM but if you're planning to pursue that area then I'd probably advise it. Even if its not required at least it'll sort of give you more of a taste of things.

I just strongly feel that studying areas like management makes your already questionable commerce degree more micky-mouse like.

 

[Cookie182]

To be honest I don't know much about HRM but if you're planning to pursue that area then I'd probably advise it. Even if its not required at least it'll sort of give you more of a taste of things.

I just strongly feel that studying areas like management makes your already questionable commerce degree more micky-mouse like.

why all ready questionable lol? What's wrong with commerce?

 

[blue_chameleon]

why all ready questionable lol? What's wrong with commerce?

Some place criticism on it because of the fact that it's not a B.Fin or a B.Eco.

Apparently this is cause for the B.Com being worthless and irrelevant. It's labelled by the ignorant types that it's the 'soft option', for people that don't have the skills to take the more established studies in Economics and Finance.

Mickey
Mouse.

It's all a load of shit really, from those that struggle to accept that studies should evolve over time.

 

[Cookie182]

lol

It takes a higher UAI to get into commerce then those degrees anyway, I always thought BCom>BEco

Anyway, it's not like you can't MAJOR in Finance, Economics or BOTH.

 

[Vagabond]

why all ready questionable lol? What's wrong with commerce?

The thing wrong with commerce is that overseas it's barely taught at an undergraduate level at all. In the UK for instance people learn accounting during their CA rather than before their CA, so that accountants come from academic backgrounds in science, arts, etc etc.

In most places business/commerce degrees don't exist, the closest thing would be a BArts with economics major

It's a similar thing in the US where most people will only study commerce at an MBA level..

That's why internationally it's rather questionable that we give students the option to spend 3 years studying "International Business"

 

[dvse]

The thing wrong with commerce is that overseas it's barely taught at an undergraduate level at all. In the UK for instance people learn accounting during their CA rather than before their CA, so that accountants come from academic backgrounds in science, arts, etc etc.

In most places business/commerce degrees don't exist, the closest thing would be a BArts with economics major

It's a similar thing in the US where most people will only study commerce at an MBA level..

That's why internationally it's rather questionable that we give students the option to spend 3 years studying "International Business"

While I absolutely agree with your sentiment, undergrad 'commerce' degrees do exist in UK and US although may not always be called that and possibly with more free electives.

In my view the main problem with commerce is that either you study absolutely inane bullshit such as international business, human resources, information systems etc - these majors simply do not have enough worthwhile content - or things like economics and finance where first of all they never explain the limitations of the models and secondly never give enough maths background to really understand how these models work. IMO a straight commerce degree is denying yourself any chance at half decent education, at least do a double.

 

[moll.]

I'm considering doing the BComm/BEco double degree, and I'm after a second major from commerce to compliment the eco major..

I don't want to do accounting or finance.

Are marketing, management or business law any good as far as career prospects go when accompanied by an eco major?
I've heard these fields are fairly useless at undergrad level (maybe not bus law).

Any ideas? should i stick to BEco and do a single major?

Cheers

Are you doing it at UNSW? Cos I don't know about at Macquarie or ANU, but just doing Eco at UNSW is a completely different course choice, so swapping at this stage might be a bit hard.
Have you looked into doing international business as your major? With an increasingly integrated global economy, that kind of skill would be useful.
Also, between the choice of marketing or management, I'd probably choose management, because there are heaps of marketers out there from other universities and their specific marketing degrees, but not many business management majors or bachelors.
Not sure about business law, it depends whether you like law in general though, wouldn't it?

 

[Vagabond]

Are you doing it at UNSW? Cos I don't know about at Macquarie or ANU, but just doing Eco at UNSW is a completely different course choice, so swapping at this stage might be a bit hard.
Have you looked into doing international business as your major? With an increasingly integrated global economy, that kind of skill would be useful.
Also, between the choice of marketing or management, I'd probably choose management, because there are heaps of marketers out there from other universities and their specific marketing degrees, but not many business management majors or bachelors.
Not sure about business law, it depends whether you like law in general though, wouldn't it?

To dissect your post

No, economics isnt a difference course at UNSW, they're just forced in majoring in economics

Int business is a perfect example of mickey mouse material. I'm sure you're just presuming its useful.

I'd still choose marketing over management because management doesn't open any doors at our level. If you want to learn some basic management skills you're far better off buying self-help books rather than wasting an education majoring in it.