Majoring in Business Law?
Hello... So i really am considering becoming a business lawyer. So I want to major in econ. But honestly can someone tell me where I will end up with that degree.. I mean I know I have to get into the under grad program at some university, then take the LSAT get into a Law School, then take the bar exam, but then what? I just made everything sound easy, but i know it is very very hard. I mean I want to work in big corporations such as Chanel or Gucci or Yahoo.. So can one who becomes a business lawyer end up in the companies like those? Please help!
What did you major in and what are you doing today?
I went to college with a major in Spanish and a minor in political science. My plan was to become an interpreter for the United Nations.After my first two poli sci classes I found that politics bore the everloving crap out of me. That aspect of my aspirations hadn’t occurred to me before.I switched to a sociology minor - much more interesting.No idea what I planned to do with a Spanish/sociology combo, but it did actually come in handy when I was the Coordinator of Interpreter Services at a hospital in a small Alabama town with a large Guatemalan population.Yeah - how did so many native Guatemalans wind up in a small Alabama town? There was a huge chicken processing plant there and that’s where they worked. I guess one family came, stayed, and their friends and neighbors from back home decided to join them.Anyway…Now I’m an executive assistant (EA) at a global management company (like McKinsey but a bit smaller).They wanted Spanish-speaking EAs for the Houstson office because the Houston guys work a lot in Mexico City, so it definitely helped me get this job.Shortly after I was hired, the firm opened a Mexico City office, so there are actually Mexican EAs who handle the Spanish; it’s not a part of my day-to-day responsibilities.The Mexican EAs are always amazed to learn that I speak Spanish and they let me practice with them.Their English is definitely better than my Spanish, especially in a formal business setting.I learned more of the language by traveling (Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Mexico, and Spain, in that order) than I did in school. I tend to speak informally and have what I’ve been told is an accent that sounds more Argentinian than anything else.When I was traveling in Europe I actually told a few people I was from Argentina. I got away with it on a few occasions, including with some native Spanish-speakers!Good times.
What happens to major courses you take if you end up not majoring in that field?
It will depend on what your new major is and the college. If you new major is related to your old one, they may allow you to apply those credits to satisfy requirements of your new major. Also some colleges are more lenient when making this decision. At worst the old credits will count as electives.
Double majoring at Hillsdale College?
Interesting choice to post these questions to Yahoo Answers. I'll toss in my two cents but you'll want to go straight to the source and talk to your admissions counselor or give the Registrar Office a call: http://www.hillsdale.edu/academics/registrar.asp. That's quite a bit into your schedule. Emphasizing liberal arts, Hillsdale College maintains a large Core Curriculum requirement (http://www.hillsdale.edu/academics/corecurriculum.asp) and you'll find much of your underclassmen years spent in those classes. As long as you cover the core, you can even triple major (rare) if you can fit in the courses. Your Faculty Advisor (you'll meet at freshman convocation) can also help map your goals. Minors are not required at Hillsdale. B.S./B.A. - I think you have to pick one or the other (depending if you've met the qualifications for both). Again, Registrar can answer that one for you. Students have pulled off the double-major with Honors program. Ask to have the college put you in touch with one of those graduates to get an idea of whether it's "too much." Personally, I chose to stay out of the Honors Program as I felt Hillsdale itself was enough of a challenge. :-) Greg Class of '00
What do most finance majors actually end up doing?
Hard to get hard data on this, and even if you had it it's hard to interpret the employer's preference. That said, it seems like you are referring to the notion floated around that "engineers and hard scientists are preferred to finance people at investment banks". I think that refers to masters and PhD level positions, so given all this it's probably worth some major clarification.In general, finance is a broad discipline. The best "crude" classification is the difference between trading and investment banking. Since we're talking about majors, I'll focus my discussion onto the undergraduate level.That STEM majors take priority over finance majors is probably more true for investment/trading jobs, of specifically of the quantitative kind. Engineers and hard scientists can write code and deal with data by training that finance majors typically are not trained to. You'll see often these types of firms say they aren't looking for people who know finance, but smart people who can be trained to do so. Even if you are smarter than the STEM guy, the finance guy has a signaling problem - can he deal with tough work?This isn't generally true. Investment jobs where finance majors are favored are probably the discretionary or global macro jobs. Finance majors have broader business knowledge. In investment banking you're likely to see the finance major. The finance major has taken corporate finance and accounting, has free time the STEM guy doesn't have to do clubs, network, do finance internships etc. and thus is more useful in a job where this sort of knowledge is required. I think I'm acknowledging the truth in the notion the OP posits, but overall debunking it. It is easier to get a finance job doing a finance major than otherwise.I think the best combination is a STEM guy who does finance clubs or a finance minor. These guys have the business knowledge of a finance major - roughly - and the skills and credibility of a STEM major. These guys can get any job they want.At the PhD level, I think hard science guys are better at some kinds of jobs that finance PhDs aren't trained anymore to do (derivatives) but finance /econ PhDs are better for any kind of quant research that involves actually thinking about finance / macro /economics
What do most philosophy majors from Harvard end up doing?
According to Prof. Warren Goldfarb (Department of Philosophy), who has been with the department since the 70s, a significant percentage (something like 23%) end up involved with startups (not just tech), as founders or otherwise. As I recall, however, a majority do end up in law school or consulting. This really comes of no surprise, as an aptitude for critical reasoning is essential to understanding the material in certain 100-level Phil courses. There is also in the department a substantial overlap with topics in mathematics and computer science, which certainly have vocational applications, albeit at the theory level.I do believe some number end up in academia, though I can't be certain how many.
How do physics majors end up in big banks?
I studied Physics from 2014 to 2017 in the UK.At the beginning of my final year I applied to summer internships at investment banks, and I got a few offers. You’ll find that in Global Markets divisions (trading, sales, research, structuring) they’re beginning to favour physics/maths/engineering grads over finance and sometimes over economics. In my global markets internship class about 19 out of 30 got job offers, I think at least half of which fit those majors.After the summer internship I got a job offer, and I’m starting there full time in October this year as a trader.In other words, physics majors end up in banks in the exact same way as anyone else ;)
How do you ignore your parents when chosing a major?
In the end, you'll have to answer to yourself. Your parents aren't going to be around forever. If you choose a major that is second best to your passion, you'll probably experience less satisfaction out of everyday life. Think about it...about 5 to 8 hours of bland work? THATS most of your life. If you are passionate, then you'll probably make money as a consequence of your passion and beat out all those other people in your field who are just there to make money or even worse, there to please their parents. That being said, if you are going to study the history of Temeculus paintings, then you will starve no matter how passionate you are. What is Temeculus paintings? Exactly... Don't choose majors that aren't interesting. In other words, make sure enough people are interested so that you will make money.
Why do so many math majors end up as programmers if they don't go into academia?
Not only is there money in it, but programming itself is a lot of fun. If you read my other answers, you know that I'm not a fan of the state of the software industry. I don't like the egregious extent to which the respect and rewards have accrued to non-producers peddling connections and influence, and I especially don't like the cultural byproducts (age discrimination, open-plan office fetishization despite the general lack of value in such a layout, and fashionable micromanagement in the name of "Agile") of an industry being led and run by the blind and ignorant. We're going to be in a lot of pain until we take this industry back, and it's not going to be an easy fight.Nonetheless, the act of programming is very enjoyable. It's an opportunity to build things out of mathematics and logic rather than just to theorize. You can actually test your ideas out in the real world. That's pretty fucking cool.