What careers could these majors in econs/commerce lead to? (1 Viewer)

[danielvh]

Hey

I'm currently in first year at UWA studying Econs/Commerce. I'm wondering what sorts of careers (and what sorts of starting salaries) I could be looking at with the following majors/minors that I'm planning to do (yep it's a lot but I've worked it out to be possible):

Majors:
Economics
Quantitative Economics
International Business Economics
Economic History
Management
Human Resource Management

Minor:
Asian Business

I'm a good student and will hopefully get a Distinction or even High Distinction average and will probably do honours.

I MAY end up changing The management/HR Management majors to Finance (corporate) and finance (investment) if I find I enjoy the field when I do intro to finance first semester next year.

Cheers

Daniel

 

[danielvh]

Also, how valuable are management/hr management majors? I know they're not the sort of thing that would land me a graduate job (unless you count woolies or coles ) but I'm under the impression that they'd provide skills that are easily transferable to any career and would make it easier to move up in a company?

Also, how's information management as a major? Useful?

 

[Vagabond]

Just remember that commerce is essentially an arts degree; management being one of the more airy lines of study.

Ask yourself now. Do you learn management skills from a textbook or from real-world experience?

And there you shall find the answer as to why there are no graduate management positions.

The only major in a Commerce degree that is a must (if you're interested in that line of work) is Accounting due to its CA/CPA prerequisites, and quantitative areas like Actuarial studies.

That aside, the degree is more or less a piece of paper in terms of the real work skills it provides you with. The right company can train you for any area you can imagine if they think you're the right candidate.. (CA Conversion courses included I guess)

Consequently, your major determines nothing in terms of starting salary.

 

[aim54x]

i can tell u that the core subjects sre very boring, i have done three of them so far at USYD and have not done any since

 

[koube0530]

Commerce is not like an Arts degree. If you think it is, why don't you go do an arts degree and try to get into investment banking (which does not require a CA or actuarial skills)?

 

[Vagabond]

1. You do realise many people with non-commerce degrees get into investment banking?

2. Commerce IS an arts degree with a business-world theme. Hence why in places such as the UK the same degree is called a BA.. Enough said I think?

3. Everything an IB grad needs to know is taught through on the job training/ education programmes provided by the company outside of University. Little to nothing is carried over from the commerce degree, hence why its about as good as a BA.

To finish off i'll quote JPMorgan:

Diversity is essential within the investment banking division, which is why JPMorgan recruits from a wide range of backgrounds and many degree disciplines. We have seen successful bankers from an art or humanities based training as well as those from an economics or finance background.

Case closed. Sorry to burst your bubble.

 

[koube0530]

To finnish off i'll quote JPMorgan:

Diversity is essential within the investment banking division, which is why JPMorgan recruits from a wide range of backgrounds and many degree disciplines. We have seen successful bankers from an art or humanities based training as well as those from an economics or finance background.

Case closed. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Don't be so naive, kid.

Those companies always make motherhood statements about diversity and they'll always invite the very rare vacationer from Deakin University who studied Information Systems/Management to make some speech about diversity at information sessions.

If you ever have the opportunity to do an internship at a bank, you'll realise that everybody comes from the top Sydney/NSW with a double degree in commerce. Why don't you just ask some people on here? Of course, there's always the rare exception who bucks the trend. Bill Gates didn't go to university! Why don't you quit university then and start the next craze?

Your point about there being many non-commerce graduates in investment banking is just completely wrong. I don't want to boast about myself and my internships (since you won't believe me anyway), but heaps of people here can refute this blatant lie. I for one can attest to the trend that the bulk of investment banking graduates (I'd say 95%) in Australia studied some form of double degree with commerce.

Kid, you can lie all you want but have you even worked a day in your life in anything respectable, such as JP Morgan?

You're a first year, aren't you? HAH!!

 

[Vagabond]

Be as condescending as you will, but have you ever considered that the reason most people in IB are from commerce backrounds is because most people who were interested in IB naturally chose to study commerce?

Zinnnggg!

 

[koube0530]

Firstly, thanks for admitting that you were wrong in saying that many bankers are from a non-commerce background.

Secondly, why would somebody who was (to use your exact words) 'interested in IB naturally choose to study commerce?'

Why wouldn't someone who was 'interested in IB naturally choose to study' arts? Why?

Because COMMERCE GETS YOU INTO IB, AND ARTS DOESN'T!!

Do you follow the logic? Let me explain it again.

This is what you said:

1) People are interested in IB
2) These same people choose Commerce because they are interested in IB

This is what I infer:

3) These same people did not choose Arts because they've chosen Commerce

The inference we draw is:
4) Commerce gets you into IB and Arts doesn't.

To be more precise, most people do Commerce/Law or Commerce/Engineering. I'm guessing you don't any of these combined degrees?

 

[Vagabond]

Secondly, why would somebody who was (to use your exact words) 'interested in IB naturally choose to study commerce?'

Why wouldn't someone who was 'interested in IB naturally choose to study' arts? Why?

Because they'd rather spend their years studying commerce instead of something like literature?

Just because most people who are pursuing IB do some form of commerce does not mean that commerce is a prereq to IB. To say so is post hoc.

Let's get something straight, regardless of the quantity, you've admitted yourself that there are non-commerce IB staff... Which reinforces my original point:

To be a doctor you need to study medicine. There's no other way.

To work as a mining engineer you would have needed to do an engineering degree.

A lawyer must have studied law. No doubt.

But does an IB need to have studied commerce? Whether a commerce degree improves ones chances or not, the answer is no!

Just like arts degrees, commerce is a formal requirement to nothing. Again, the traditional exceptions to this are accountants who wish to do their CA (up until conversion courses of course) and Actuaries.

From my original three points, I'll admit I have exagerated point 1, but other than that...

 

[wrxsti]

"koube0530" YOU ARE BLINDLY INCORRECT....INVESTBANKERS CAN COME FROM MANY OTHER DEGREES BESIDES BUSINESS/COMMERCE DEGREES.

TAKE FOR EXAMPLE, ENGINEERS CAN END UP WORKING IN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS E.G MACQUARIE BANK.

http://community.boredofstudies.org/586/general-university-discussion/143623/engineers.html


CASE CLOSED! vbmenu_register("postmenu_2927630", true);

 

[watatank]

technicalities aside why on earth would someone want to study a pure arts degree if they were looking to get into investment banking? and why would employers look at employing arts students over the zillion commerce students who apply?

 

[Vagabond]

^

That's not the point.

My original point wasnt "People who want to do IB should study arts" It was "Commerce is essentially an arts degree" Which is true considering that it is not a formal prereq... AND called 'Arts' overseas.

Relative to other areas of study, it is not particularly good at equipping students with work skills. Hence the strong emphasis on experience in the commerce world, more-so than other fields.

Employers are likely to hire commerce students however because:

1. You would assume that a student who achieved good results in a commerce degree has a genuine interest in the area
2. Commerce has a much higher UAI cut-off than arts and is just another way to seperate people on paper

That doesn't make commerce any less of an arts degree!

 

[koube0530]

From my original three points, I'll admit I have exagerated point 1, but other than that...

Ok, thanks once again. So I was right: the bulk of IB grads are going to be commerce and not arts or any other random degree, and diversity is a lie.

wrxsti, go get your brain checked... first of all no one rates Macquarie Bank, which takes every man and his dog. Secondly, why don't you go apply for a Macquarie Bank M&A grad role with your straight engineering degree? I looked at the other thread... you listened to some engineering kid tell you that you can get into investment banking in the strictest sense of the word, while people here with experience are telling you otherwise? You're kidding me!!

Onto the next point...

Do you need to have studied Information Technology to be an IT technician or an IT consultant or programmer whatever they call those roles? No!! There's no prerequisite to have an IT degree to be a programmer. Hell, you can learn the course off the Dummy's Guide for Programmer.

What a breakthrough... obviously IT is an arts degree too! Give me a break.

 

[blackfriday]

it is true IB (and other areas of business) are looking for more quantitative-based grads , but if you have 'BCom/LLB' written on your resume its wayyyy better than anything else if you want to be an IB.

 

[Newbie]

BCom (Hons)/LLB (Hons) from USYD is probably the sexist looking title

or Dark Arts/Law from Hoggworts lol

 

[turtleface]

Yeah BCom/LLB seems to be a highly popular combination. The only 2 IBers I can remember (because they are on the executive rich list and are CAs - Phil Green and Nicholas Moore) are both BCom/LLB grads.

Other examples I know of (fresh grads who probably get fired in 2 years time don't count):
The other day at Uni two Managing Directors from Deutsche M&A came in and gave us a talk. One was an ex-solicitor at some law firm in New Zealand, the other was some manager or something from Commerce&Industry.

I'm unsure why BCom/LLB is such a popular choice for Investment Banking in Australia. I have some theories:

• BCom/LLB on average shows a commitment to academic studies. Past behaviour is known to be a huge determinant of future behaviour, and they want hard workers.
• Without a doubt BCom/LLB is the most relevant academic content wise.
• I guess on average there are more ambitious hard arses doing BCom/LLB than any other undergraduate degree or degrees

I think Vagabond seems to be getting crucified for pointing out valid facts. I'm sure there are many instances of non Commerce grads getting into Investment Banking. Law is the classic example. There are tons of Bankers with LLB only.

"koube0530" YOU ARE BLINDLY INCORRECT....INVESTBANKERS CAN COME FROM MANY OTHER DEGREES BESIDES BUSINESS/COMMERCE DEGREES.

TAKE FOR EXAMPLE, ENGINEERS CAN END UP WORKING IN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS E.G MACQUARIE BANK.

http://community.boredofstudies.org/586/general-university-discussion/143623/engineers.html


CASE CLOSED! vbmenu_register("postmenu_2927630", true);

My cousin who is an international student in Hospitality at the moment works for Macquarie Bank part time as a services assistant. He's working for a financial institutional too!

wrxsti, go get your brain checked... first of all no one rates Macquarie Bank, which takes every man and his dog. Secondly, why don't you go apply for a Macquarie Bank M&A grad role with your straight engineering degree? I looked at the other thread... you listened to some engineering kid tell you that you can get into investment banking in the strictest sense of the word, while people here with experience are telling you otherwise? You're kidding me!!

lol