Majors - CS/Applied Maths vs CS/Finance, others

[Pat]

Hello,

I am just finishing up my A.A.S in Computer Science (GPA 3.9, if that matters at the associates level), and planning to go onto a local university (NJIT). They offer a multitude of hybrid dual Bachelor of Science programs including CS, CS & Applied Maths, CS & Applied Physics, CS with a Finance (5 courses) specialty, a Maths of Finance and Actuarial Science major, a Computing & Business program, all within the Math and CS departments. There's also a BS in Business under the business school with both Finance and Management Info Systems as options.

I'm learning personally toward the CS/Applied Maths program - and I think I can still take the CS Finance 'specialty' with that, thought that may be really piling on the credits (I have a ton of credits to transfer in, mostly cs, some math, some business). I am 25 already - my professional background is in IT (tech support, pc repair, server upgrades, that sort of thing) at the small buisness level. If I wanted to continue in my current area, the MIS or Computing and Business would probably be the best option - but I don't. I'm not 100% sure I want to wind up in the financial world, but I'd like to keep that open as an option for grad school and beyond.

If I do just CS or CS/Applied Math would I be hurting myself by not having enough finance background? Would trying to finish a whole Business degree in addition to a CS degree even be that helpful? Does anyone know anything about NJIT?

Thank you.

 

[Jonathan B]

Hi Pat,

I'm in a similar situation as you, getting my associates in business though then going to transfer to a university in to focus in both Applied Mathematics and Finance. For a fact I know I enjoy the finance/equity/derivative enviornment so that was already a given that I would focus in that field. Applied Mathematics I decided to be an additional focus because I've grown to appreciate the strong connection of math and finance and realize they go hand in hand. As for C.S I might minor in it and while I enjoy the mental satisfaction of writing out hundreds of lines of codes and having it run flawlessly, I'm not so sure I would want to make it a major academic focus relative to the other two fields. However, with that said I'm spending my own free time whenever I can learning C++ and programming dynamics. In the end this will save me money and can spend my academic time on two areas I know I want to implement in a career.

So you might want to consider doing finance outside of your academics at first to see if you really want to persue a career in finance. Grab some books (the site has a good selection of reading in the books section) and read and go online and research. I can't tell you to major in this or that, ultimately it's you choice. Also remember that just because you enter a four year school doesn't mean you can't add an additional degree once you get. I just had a friend switch from finance to actuarial science as a junior.

While I'm not in a masters program and can't give you advice from that perspective, I hope this is of some help.