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What are the disadvantages of majoring in finance?

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Michelle’s Answer

One disadvantage of majoring in finance is how broad of a field it truly is. If you are not sure what you like specifically in the finance sector, then it can seem overwhelming when looking for internship or job opportunities. Another disadvantage is the time commitment that a lot of finance courses require. But finance is an ever-changing sector and is really interesting if you enjoy it. It's a tough industry to get into, but it's worth it in the long run.
Hope this helps!
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Tirzah’s Answer

I agree with many others on this topic. Finance has so many avenues that it could be hard to determine which you are best suited for. I started out in Accounting and then later moved into a Finance role focused mostly on Budgeting, Forecasting, Planning & Analysis.

The primary disadvantages I experienced working in a Retail environment were:
1. Extremely long hours,
2. Constant changes related to leadership initiatives or change in business climate &
3. Setting the example of financial stewardship to other business units to the detriment of having enough support staff within Finance (ex., Sales and Marketing might set the tone in terms of generating Revenue which also results in significant spending to a company. Those areas are not naturally aligned with less spending so to balance a company's financials Finance traditionally understaffs support to show you can do more with less).
4. The work becomes repetitive which for some can make it boring.

Tirzah recommends the following next steps:

Make a list of particular areas of interest related to Finance (ex. Are you interested in Investing, Banking, Budgeting, Forecasting, Analysis?)
Research companies or industries in which you would like to work & if possible use LinkedIn to see what type of roles are offered.
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Emily’s Answer

As a finance major in college I found that it was hard to get real life experience due to going to school in a non-financial focused area. I was able to get a good education but it was hard to go places and apply it or get an internship due to the area I was in.
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Gianna’s Answer

Hello Aleasia,

Unfortunately, there are some disadvantages to majoring in finance. Personally, I double majored in finance and analytics. I found the most career opportunities in analytics. In terms of finance, it is a great career, but it is often hard to find a job, unless you'd like to be in a big city! Finance can be a rewarding career, but also can be stressful if you are looking into investment banking career. If you are interested in finance, I would look into an insurance job or a banking job. Those types of jobs can be rewarding and often will not stress you out/make you work long hours. Overall, it is often hard to find a career in finance as a woman, as I have noticed, personally.
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Kevin’s Answer

I majored in finance for my undergraduate degree. There should not be a disadvantage as you can use your learning in many career paths and the knowledge you gain is good to manage your personal finances.
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Kaitlyn’s Answer

I personally do not think there are any disadvantages. Only thing I would suggest is to enhance your skill or build on another skill set to stand out. There will always be jobs for those in finance. I would just add more to what you already know.
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Richard’s Answer

The lack of optionality relative to other majors. Sure, you can do many things within finance, but as opposed to something like econ/math you're restricted to a relatively small universe without grad school and would have a relatively restricted universe of grad school options
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Anant’s Answer

I studied Finance and Computer Science in school. I greatly enjoyed finance classes, but I will admit there are some disadvantages. Like many careers, but especially so in finance, much of the learning is done on the job, as classes are often too broad until the higher levels. As a result, it could, depending on the career, be just as valuable or even more valuable to take more accounting classes to have a stronger base of knowledge. Other majors of my finance colleagues include accounting, economics, and engineering.

Depending on the school's finance program, you may not be learning as many tangible skills relative to finance, such as coding (VBA in excel, etc), softwares and tech related to finance (CapIQ, Bloomberg, etc.), and more.

It can also be hard to test finance careers out through internships. While many internships may be available (and are increasingly becoming available), many interns don't actually get to do the finance during the internship and are often doing admin tasks, research, or shadowing (this could be due to license regulations, complexity of the finance work, etc.)

Anant recommends the following next steps:

If you are interested in specific careers within Finance, set up some informational interviews with employees working in those jobs to learn their thoughts about studying finance versus studying other subjects
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Hayes’s Answer

It all depends on where you're located and what your career goals are, but you're very marketable as a finance major.
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