# Business Finance, Accounting, Marketing Students?



## Tom90 (Mar 28, 2012)

Hey Im on my senior year and Im at the point where i need to make up my mind on my major or not go to college but i really dont have a choice I have to if i ever want to work in the family business. So i really wanted to do something medical and so do my parents but I don't have the grades and its all math and science and I suck at both, I have a B- average in both. 
I know it's possible but when I'm surrounded with people who sleep through class all day then pass with flying colors its just so degrading. It makes me realize how I'm not meant for it because there's a reason they have that gift and I don't. So after thinking I decided I'll get a business major and make it useful with the family business. 
So I realized management would be totally useless for me with Social Anxiety im not gonna be able to manage people. I've decided either finance or marketing. Accounting I heard is almost as hard as engineering so I took that off the list. So now I wanted to ask from business students with SA is it true you do a lot of socializing in class? Do you have to do presentations? Do you in general have to have good social skills for a business degree or to make it through college to get that degree? 

Im most interested in finance because I like dealing with money (I know i wont physically work with money but with numbers) but I'm not a math person at all. I failed pre-algebra in middle school, failed algebra in high school, then algebra 2 in my new school i managed to get a B-, then geometry i did the best in, now im in pre calculus and i can tell you i have a B- but i have no clue whats going on in class at all. Is finance really complex math? Is it easier than engineering? Do you have to study constantly? And do you have to socialize in the classes? I know each college has different class structures but Im just trying to get an idea.

As for marketing do you have to do public speaking? Do you have to socialize a lot? Do you have to constantly study also? Is there less math? Just describe what classes are like please?

I'm anxious about college because I'm not legible for financial aid so my parents are going to pay and my parents are those kind that expect everything to go well so i cant fail any classes or drop anything because they probably will be pissed even though I know they can afford they'll get mad because they'll think im just screwing around but my anxiety is what sets me back so much, it's the reason my grades are not at their best. 

If not I was thinking of just getting a sociology degree or psychology degree and just get college over with and work in the family business.

Sorry for so many stupid questions but I just have so many and nobody to answer them I already went on a college website and no one really helped on there. 

Thank you


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## Tom90 (Mar 28, 2012)

s2panda said:


> If you're going for a BBA or BComm then first and second year courses won't differ regardless of your specialization (Finance, Accounting, Human Resources, Marketing, etc). You are required to take intro to financial accounting, intro to management accounting, intro to marketing, organizational behaviour, statistics, finance, intro to human resources, ethics, and micro/macro economics. It's not until your third and fourth year where you select the upper specialization courses.
> 
> Out of all business specializations, finance would involve the most math. The math is definitely a lot easier than engineering though but it's not a walk in the park either. And accounting is no where near the difficulty of engineering.
> 
> ...


Thank you for all the detail now I understand curriculum but I have severe SA. Im in a class with people Ive known since I was 9 and I still have SA I have no clue how i would turn out if i joined a class of random people. I was considering accounting but I'm just like you, if something is boring I'm done for the semester unless I can cheat my way through but that's not worth it in college because of the consequences. I really dont want to go so ive decided on local community college since its cheap. Whats the hardest you've gotten so far though?


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## gunner21 (Aug 4, 2012)

Finance, as a career, requires A LOT of networking and socializing. Also, I don't know where you found out that accounting is hard. It's a lot of work, but it's not hard. Also, getting your foot in the door is extremely hard in the finance industry, I'm learning that the hard way. You won't encounter a lot of complicated math in finance, unless you're going for something like actuarial science.


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## Tom90 (Mar 28, 2012)

gunner21 said:


> Finance, as a career, requires A LOT of networking and socializing. Also, I don't know where you found out that accounting is hard. It's a lot of work, but it's not hard. Also, getting your foot in the door is extremely hard in the finance industry, I'm learning that the hard way. You won't encounter a lot of complicated math in finance, unless you're going for something like actuarial science.


That sounds good then and I know you need connections but my parents do not believe me and think I should get a degree anyway because it'll give me something to fall back on if the family business goes bad, but honestly thats all I wanted to do, go work in the family business. Sorry for all the questions but can you describe a weeks work for a full time accounting student? Like amount of hours you go to class each day and homework?


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

People in marketing seem pretty outgoing. I heard it's very hard to find a job with a degree in finance unless you went to an elite school.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

s2panda said:


> Each lecture is generally 2-3 hours long (sometimes split into two 1 hour lectures). You'll have 5 courses in a semester so you'll attend at least five lectures a week. There may also be tutorials that you wish to attend where the teaching assistant reviews the material, does some examples, and answers questions.
> 
> You get to pick your schedule so you can decide whether you want to have a class on each day or put them all in one / two days.
> 
> ...


hahahhaha...no one studies that much. At least no one in business.


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## wmu'14 (Sep 17, 2010)

Marketing is definitely not for SAD sufferers. Math in finance is much harder then the math in accounting. The math in accounting is really just simple addition, multiplication, and division and is mostly just rules of when to use them.

I did horrible in Algebra and Algebra II, but there's hardly any algebra in accounting at all and it's mostly just basic algebra you do in 5th grade. People always tell me I'm really smart since I'm in accounting, but I tell them if I was really smart I'd be an engineer and I fail at that kind of math.

You should really try an IT type major. Any reason you're interested in finance and accounting if you don't feel too good at math?


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## Zeeshan (Sep 4, 2011)

Honestly here is what I can tell you. If you go into marketing prepare to be unemployed

Real money is in finance And accounting. But make up your mind on certification right now. Be Cpa for accounting or CFA for finance.

Otherwise you will struggle. Unless you plan to do your cpa you are in for a being a clerk. Either be a chartered accountant or a chartered financial analysis

Life will become simpler when you get a nice job


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## Tom90 (Mar 28, 2012)

wmu'14 said:


> Marketing is definitely not for SAD sufferers. Math in finance is much harder then the math in accounting. The math in accounting is really just simple addition, multiplication, and division and is mostly just rules of when to use them.
> 
> I did horrible in Algebra and Algebra II, but there's hardly any algebra in accounting at all and it's mostly just basic algebra you do in 5th grade. People always tell me I'm really smart since I'm in accounting, but I tell them if I was really smart I'd be an engineer and I fail at that kind of math.
> 
> You should really try an IT type major. Any reason you're interested in finance and accounting if you don't feel too good at math?


I like working with money it always interested me since I was a kid and I grew up with my dad always teaching me things about money. So its always had a big impact in my head. I like the idea of managing money and it was the only thing i was good at in middle school algebra, that was percentages and interest. Everything else i srtuggled with in math.


Zeeshan said:


> Honestly here is what I can tell you. If you go into marketing prepare to be unemployed
> 
> Real money is in finance And accounting. But make up your mind on certification right now. Be Cpa for accounting or CFA for finance.
> 
> ...


Yeah i agree, if it wasnt for so much studying and me being horrible in math and science I would loved to have been a pharmacist.


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## Tom90 (Mar 28, 2012)

s2panda said:


> Hardest what?
> 
> Group assignments in first and second year are dreadful because you have a bunch of people who don't care or simply stupid (I don't even know how they got into the program since they can't even write properly). So you tend to end up picking up their slack if you want a good mark.
> 
> ...


Thats a crazy amount of work but if its only 5 lectures a week i could just do mon-friday so thats not bad


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## Tom90 (Mar 28, 2012)

MAJOR ISSUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE COLLEGE I WAS SET TO GO TO AND GOT INTO REQUIRES A PUBLIC SPEAKING CLASS. IM EITHER GOING TO COME OUT OF IT A FAILURE OR A VALIUM ADDICT.


IM so fucckkeeeddddd


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## gunner21 (Aug 4, 2012)

Tom90 said:


> That sounds good then and I know you need connections but my parents do not believe me and think I should get a degree anyway because it'll give me something to fall back on if the family business goes bad, but honestly thats all I wanted to do, go work in the family business. Sorry for all the questions but can you describe a weeks work for a full time accounting student? Like amount of hours you go to class each day and homework?


I was never a full time accounting student, but I did take two intermediate accounting courses. The workload is a lot, but it's not hard. If you dedicate about 2 hours per week to each course and pull hard at that end, an A+ is achievable. I had too many courses to do that though.

One thing though, you're going to need to study further after your undergraduate, or you're not going to get very far. I'm currently doing my CFA, which means about another 3 years of studying for me.


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## Zeeshan (Sep 4, 2011)

gunner21 said:


> I was never a full time accounting student, but I did take two intermediate accounting courses. The workload is a lot, but it's not hard. If you dedicate about 2 hours per week to each course and pull hard at that end, an A+ is achievable. I had too many courses to do that though.
> 
> One thing though, you're going to need to study further after your undergraduate, or you're not going to get very far. I'm currently doing my CFA, which means about another 3 years of studying for me.


Dont confuse your intermediate accounting to actual professional level exams where theory and practice comes into play. A professional accounting designation is a lot of work both at work and in theory.

Good luck on your CFA. You will also require 4 years of experience. CFA exams are very hard and marked on a bell curve


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## Tom90 (Mar 28, 2012)

gunner21 said:


> I was never a full time accounting student, but I did take two intermediate accounting courses. The workload is a lot, but it's not hard. If you dedicate about 2 hours per week to each course and pull hard at that end, an A+ is achievable. I had too many courses to do that though.
> 
> One thing though, you're going to need to study further after your undergraduate, or you're not going to get very far. I'm currently doing my CFA, which means about another 3 years of studying for me.


If it's all math studying I dont think I could do that, I always did good in history since I was little my lowest was a 90 average in honors history. But what can people good with history do?


s2panda said:


> That is in no way a realistic expectation, especially for someone who struggles in high school. No offence to the OP.
> 
> Unless you read at an amazing speed or just very smart (or go to a ****ty school), there's no way you're getting an A+ by putting only 2 hours of work a week into your courses.


I dont think accounting is right for me but I have to study something in college, my parents are not giving me an option if I want to live here.


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## calichick (Jul 30, 2010)

Lol @ the public speaking requirement freak out.

I was there what seemed like yesterday honey. I remember reading the freshman curriculum and thinking. Yea, how soon can I get my refund on my tuition downpayment?

Not even joking, that's how much I was going to avoid that requirement.

But hey, it was fing GLORIOUS. Glorious I tell you. The thing about college is, *you have freedom to pick your class. You time. Your professor. Your class size* if you're smart enough about it. I went to ratemyprofessor.com, researched all the profs who were offered for this class. Found a f***** BLESSING of a class at 8 AM in the morning, WHAT FRESH IS GOING TO OPT FOR AN 8 AM CLASS? ME!

TEN PEOPLE. Yes that's right. 10 people. Like being in an AA meeting. Teacher was a doll, the nicest 70 year old lady ever. Nobody was paying attention because they were either too hung over, seriously, it was like giving a presentation to a group of seniors, they didn't give one f**** what you were saying.

Back to the topic at hand, business school.

1) Be prepared to sell your soul.
2) Be prepared to fall into many a quarter life crises in the next 5 to 8 years of your life. Might as well erase all of your emotions NOW.
3) You're going to make more money than most of your other non business school friends out of college.

enough said. (business school survivor and post grad zombie )


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## calichick (Jul 30, 2010)

I also want to point out, finance is not a networking/socializing career.

Maybe in a parallel universe?

Finance is all about the GPA's, the numbers, the internships, and the certs.

My friend's friend knows Bob, who knows Stacy, who knows Bill, who knows my mom, who knows me, won't quite cut it in the financial world.

On the other hand, a 3.99 GPA, with CPA, CFA, or CTP licensing, and experience with a number of tools and financial software is what is going to earn you the big $$. A no brainer.


MARKETING is the networking career.

Marketing is a joke of a job, it doesn't require quite as much 'technicality' as you get with finance or engineering. I think you're on social media 99% of the time, so knowing the big people is a +.


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## Zeeshan (Sep 4, 2011)

calichick said:


> I also want to point out, finance is not a networking/socializing career.
> 
> Maybe in a parallel universe?
> 
> ...


Lol I knew it

Your Asian arent you


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## calichick (Jul 30, 2010)

Zeeshan said:


> Lol I knew it
> 
> Your Asian arent you


Nope. I'm a white/latin hybrid.

which I guess in most parts of the world automatically makes you look like you're from Brazil.

which is fine with me.


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## Zeeshan (Sep 4, 2011)

calichick said:


> Nope. I'm a white/latin hybrid.
> 
> which I guess in most parts of the world automatically makes you look like you're from Brazil.
> 
> which is fine with me.


Are you a CTP too?

I got both my cpa and CTP this year


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## calichick (Jul 30, 2010)

Zeeshan said:


> Are you a CTP too?
> 
> I got both my cpa and CTP this year


I considered doing the CTP program for a brief second but opted not to go for any certs in the near future because the entire profession is utterly soul robbing.


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## Zeeshan (Sep 4, 2011)

calichick said:


> I considered doing the CTP program for a brief second but opted not to go for any certs in the near future because the entire profession is utterly soul robbing.


Lol your lucky in your in America there is so much money to be made

Canada sucks.

A guy like me in the states would be making almost 150k a year. Land of opportunity America is


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## calichick (Jul 30, 2010)

I want my soul back business world.

RETURN IT!

This is to Arnie who was wondering why I was so nice and different a few years ago. My soul was robbed!


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## calichick (Jul 30, 2010)

Zeeshan said:


> Lol your lucky in your in America there is so much money to be made
> 
> Canada sucks.
> 
> A guy like me in the states would be making almost 150k a year. Land of opportunity America is


Yes, but I bet the Canadians still have souls, right?

Took me some time to realize that doing something which makes you feel like you're walking through the motions of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is not the purpose of life.

There's rarely a good work life balance in a fully functioning company as well. Americans are known to _live to work_ while most other parts of the world, work to live.


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## Zeeshan (Sep 4, 2011)

^ I enjoy my career

I want to make lots of money and help the poor

I want money. Keep your soul.


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## calichick (Jul 30, 2010)

yes you enjoy your career because you make $40k doing 7 hour days with a lunch break.


question, which one of us is working right now while at the same time replying on SAS?

that'd be me.


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## calichick (Jul 30, 2010)

Multitasking. 

Priceless.


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## whereis (Oct 28, 2013)

calichick said:


> I want my soul back business world.
> 
> RETURN IT!
> 
> This is to Arnie who was wondering why I was so nice and different a few years ago. My soul was robbed!


so what kind of business do u work at now?? it must require good social skills?

haha what do u mean, u want ur soul back!?! I think I know, but I still need to ask.
I don't knw either what I want to do, I always wanted to make good money, and getting an education is a must in my family, but I realized not long ago I have SA, and always had. And I am more of a spiritual being..... so I don't knw, it seems like in business u must be thick-headed, thick-skinned, be freakin smart and just lie down all your heart on your work..!? blah


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## calichick (Jul 30, 2010)

whereis said:


> so what kind of business do u work at now?? it must require good social skills?
> 
> haha what do u mean, u want ur soul back!?! I think I know, but I still need to ask.
> I don't knw either what I want to do, I always wanted to make good money, and getting an education is a must in my family, but I realized not long ago I have SA, and always had. And I am more of a spiritual being..... so I don't knw, it seems like in business u must be thick-headed, thick-skinned, be freakin smart and just lie down all your heart on your work..!? blah


I'm in the analytical side. I would say my position requires basic communication skills but nothing compared to marketing.

Working in business is not for the creative mind. It is solely oriented on profit margin, and 99% of your job function revolves around just that.

It's not hard work or anything. It's just extremely dull with regards to the greater picture in life.

Working in an office is often described as soul-wrenching work because you are merely a fragment in the corporate world.


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## calichick (Jul 30, 2010)

We worker bees use office gossip to fill our meaningless lives


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## Mr Bacon (Mar 10, 2012)

I'm studying in a finance master, but I live in France, so I'm not sure how things compare on the North American continent. I went for the CFA level I 2 years ago but failed it due to lack of work on my behalf. University classes are a joke compared to the CFA, seriously!

Maths aren't too complicated, although they are present. Nothing like the hardcore material they study in engineering.

As for being social, it depends on the branch of work within the finance industry. As a rule of thumb, though, networking is important. My dad is close to the end of his successful career in the finance world and he keeps telling me how essential it is to keep your contacts with other professionals.

Starting as a broker, for example, you're going to have to be hella social. If you're aiming for asset management, same thing there. M&A? Same thing after a while. Although technicalities and analysis are part of the job, the more your progress high in the hierarchy, the more socializing is required and the less technical your job. If oral presentation classes are scaring you, wait until you see the responsibilities you're gonna have to burden on your shoulders in the finance world!


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## Tom90 (Mar 28, 2012)

Mr Bacon said:


> I'm studying in a finance master, but I live in France, so I'm not sure how things compare on the North American continent. I went for the CFA level I 2 years ago but failed it due to lack of work on my behalf. University classes are a joke compared to the CFA, seriously!
> 
> Maths aren't too complicated, although they are present. Nothing like the hardcore material they study in engineering.
> 
> ...


Oh god man your scaring me! LOL i don't like the sounds of this but I have to come up with a major and besides engineering, medical, computers, and finace, nothing makes that much money.


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## hannahgirl484 (1 mo ago)

Hi! I'm a marketing student, and I'm currently writing an essay on Google Ads Bidding. Asking for your help, can any of the experts tell me more about it?


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