Anyone with a Finance degree?

Turkish

Lifer
May 26, 2003
15,547
1
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Hey ATOT, let's see if we have any Finance majors here (or anyone with a Finance degree of course). I am a Management and Finance double major and I was wondering how the market is for Finance degree holders... I am at Virginia Tech and the Finance department offers 3 options for Finance majors: General Finance, Financial Accounting, and Financial Risk Management. I am curious about how your Finance degree helped you find a job or did you land on a job totally unrelated to your Finance degree. Also, I don't know if your college offered the Financial Risk Management option (or something similar) but any clue what these people do in real life? I probably sound like I should go talk to my advisor but oh well, I figured I would ask on ATOT as well... and yes, I have an appointment with my advisor on Wednesday (damn summer office hours).
 

Raincity

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2000
4,477
12
81
I got mine from UNLV in 97. I was already working in the finance and admin dept and needed it to be taken seriously for promotion and it worked.
 

Orsorum

Lifer
Dec 26, 2001
27,631
5
81
I'm four quarters away from a double-degree in Economics and Accounting, but that's not exactly finance. :p
 

dbk

Lifer
Apr 23, 2004
17,685
10
81
Hey fellow Hokie. Finance (Fin Acct + Risk Mgt), Econ double major here. Imo, I don't know how people are going to get any good jobs with the General Track. Didn't learn jackshit in the classes I took last spring. The other two tracks seem a lot more in depth, esp. Risk Mgt. If you wanna talk more shout me a PM.
 

Turkish

Lifer
May 26, 2003
15,547
1
81
Quick bump before I leave for classes but I will respond to messages when I come back. Let's hear from other Finance people on ATOT :)
 

austin316

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2001
3,572
0
0
Originally posted by: Xiety
Hey ATOT, let's see if we have any Finance majors here (or anyone with a Finance degree of course). I am a Management and Finance double major and I was wondering how the market is for Finance degree holders... I am at Virginia Tech and the Finance department offers 3 options for Finance majors: General Finance, Financial Accounting, and Financial Risk Management. I am curious about how your Finance degree helped you find a job or did you land on a job totally unrelated to your Finance degree. Also, I don't know if your college offered the Financial Risk Management option (or something similar) but any clue what these people do in real life? I probably sound like I should go talk to my advisor but oh well, I figured I would ask on ATOT as well... and yes, I have an appointment with my advisor on Wednesday (damn summer office hours).

Financial risk management just looks at corporations and looks for ways a company can protect itself from losses, or in the case of a loss, recover from it.

finance, mis major here
 

Turkish

Lifer
May 26, 2003
15,547
1
81
Back from class (Interest Rates) :) Alright, looks like Finance isn't that bad after all.

thebenjamins, to be honest, I want a Finance degree because you somehow have a word on the money, but don't have to do all the accounting. I am also open to careers in Information Technology (online banking for instance) but I'll need to get a couple certifications for those I guess. My goal by double majoring is to have an advantage over other candidates for my first job opportunity because I don't believe your college degree matters that much after you have a job for couple of years (=experience)..

bykim5, that's why I want to do Risk Management. I heard the same thing from other students as well :)

austin316, thanks for the info. was your major option risk management? are you still in college or no? if no, how is the environment for finance majors? :)

thanks all :)
 

austin316

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2001
3,572
0
0
Originally posted by: Xiety
Back from class (Interest Rates) :) Alright, looks like Finance isn't that bad after all.

thebenjamins, to be honest, I want a Finance degree because you somehow have a word on the money, but don't have to do all the accounting. I am also open to careers in Information Technology (online banking for instance) but I'll need to get a couple certifications for those I guess. My goal by double majoring is to have an advantage over other candidates for my first job opportunity because I don't believe your college degree matters that much after you have a job for couple of years (=experience)..

bykim5, that's why I want to do Risk Management. I heard the same thing from other students as well :)

austin316, thanks for the info. was your major option risk management? are you still in college or no? if no, how is the environment for finance majors? :)

thanks all :)

we don't have focuses for the majors, so I will just be a finance graduate. and yes, I'm still in school. will graduate in the spring.
 

thebenjamins

Banned
Jun 17, 2004
170
1
0
take a look at the CFA curriculum at AIMR.com and that gives a good overview of what would be studied in a degree in finance.
 

Zenmervolt

Elite member
Oct 22, 2000
24,514
44
91
Just graduated with a Finance major here. No job yet because I'm moving across country. Just remember one very important thing; the degree will not get you a job. At most it will get your resume looked at. From there on out, it's all you.

ZV
 

gotsmack

Diamond Member
Mar 4, 2001
5,768
0
71
Drop the management major. Its worthless, unless its operations management/supply chain. I didn't figure that out until I was entering my last year as a management major. Take up Economics or accounting instead. At some schools Econ is really close to finance so you could double major for 1 semesters worth of classes.

financial accounting will give you a little more wiggleroom if you don't want to do the wall street stuff.

CFA is a badass degree. A Masters of Quanititve Finance is a little easier but it is for different type of work. You can get an MBA with a concnetration in finance too.
 

bcterps

Platinum Member
Aug 31, 2000
2,795
0
76
Originally posted by: gotsmack
CFA is a badass degree. A Masters of Quanititve Finance is a little easier but it is for different type of work. You can get an MBA with a concnetration in finance too.


CFA is not a degree per se, you need to pass 3 exams and then apply for membership to the CFA Institute. Once you do both, then you are granted the CFA charter.

From my experience (5 years at a large financial institution), financial accounting would definitely be a plus. I graduated with a finance degree and I wish I had paid more attention in accounting class, it certainly comes in handy.
 

MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
66
91
my uncle is CFO of a company that just went public, he knows what hes doing lol. i wish i wanted to follow his footsteps.

MIKE
 

DaiShan

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2001
9,617
1
0
I'm 3 semesters away from a Finance degree :D Of course then its 4 more years doing JD/MBA work heh.
 

DaiShan

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2001
9,617
1
0
Originally posted by: austin316
Originally posted by: Xiety
Back from class (Interest Rates) :) Alright, looks like Finance isn't that bad after all.

thebenjamins, to be honest, I want a Finance degree because you somehow have a word on the money, but don't have to do all the accounting. I am also open to careers in Information Technology (online banking for instance) but I'll need to get a couple certifications for those I guess. My goal by double majoring is to have an advantage over other candidates for my first job opportunity because I don't believe your college degree matters that much after you have a job for couple of years (=experience)..

bykim5, that's why I want to do Risk Management. I heard the same thing from other students as well :)

austin316, thanks for the info. was your major option risk management? are you still in college or no? if no, how is the environment for finance majors? :)

thanks all :)

we don't have focuses for the majors, so I will just be a finance graduate. and yes, I'm still in school. will graduate in the spring.


Yeah we have a College of Business which offers a finance major, you can do general business, economics, finance, a few others. There is a seperate school of accounting though.
 

phreakah

Platinum Member
Feb 9, 2002
2,883
0
76
Originally posted by: DaiShan
I'm 3 semesters away from a Finance degree :D Of course then its 4 more years doing JD/MBA work heh.

I'm in the exact same situation as you... 3 semesters from a finance degree then grad work.. :D


I'll be a 4th year at CSULB this fall
 

Turkish

Lifer
May 26, 2003
15,547
1
81
Hey guys thanks for the responses again... I went and talked to my advisor and it looks like I lilke Risk Management as the best option for Finance. Taking intermediate finance now, and they say if you can pass this class, its really easy afterwards as this class is the one where you calculate everything with hand, thus need to understand everything. The rest is computurized stuff so its much easier.. oh well, that's 7 more classes to take :)
 

thebenjamins

Banned
Jun 17, 2004
170
1
0
Originally posted by: benchiu
Originally posted by: tcrosson
take a look at the CFA curriculum

What does CFA stand for? What degree do you need to qualify (accounting or finance)?

CFA Institute

benichu, are you a CFA, I an hopefull of having passed level 2 recently. what do you do in your job. there was a quant called hector13 who used topost here a while ago, he was a cfa too.