Economics and Finance or Financial Mathematics in UCD

suffer or

So I am currently in 6th year and trying to decide how to fill out my CAO. The difficulty is between the financial mathematics or the economics and finance courses both in ucd. I believe I can get the points for either one and its just a matter of choosing the right one as the first place choice. I am interested in a career in investment banking, quantitive analasys or other high playing jobs within the financial sector and am willing to work hard and put up with long hours. I have researched a lot about the economics and finance course and it seems like a great way to get into investment banking with top companies. It also has a one year internship in the last year which is a huge advantage of getting into the top New York/London companies. However looking at the new financial mathematics course it seems like this course might have a lot less theoretical economics and more maths which would be an advantage to getting a quant job perhaps. However as this course is new and theres very little info about it online apart from the ucd website itself. So is anyone here doing either of the courses or in a position to make comparisons between the opportunities for graduates of these courses? Which of these course is more likely to put me into the top firms, the economics and finance course considered a business course with a proven record of above average wages, international accreditation and an internship? Or a the new and risky financial mathematics which is a science course and is much more mathematical and scientific which even involves computer programming and seems like the better option for the apparently better position of a highly mathematical quant.
Also which of these would best qualify you to do a masters in something like financial maths sounds like a simple answer but I feel like the financial mathematics course might not have enough economics or accountancy in it.
As you can see I am.all over the place with this choice and any argument i make in favour of one course I quickly counteracts with another for the other course. Any help is highly appreciated. Thank you

ciaraofcourse

I did Actuarial and Financial Studies in UCD and graduated last year. While they were designing this new course our lecturer surveyed us final years to get input into what should be included. He told us they were streamlining the new course and the existing Economics & Finance and Actuarial courses so they would be more similar to each other particularly in the first and second years (as far as I can remember). I believe the objective is that if by the end of first year you realise you are in the wrong one you should be able to transfer between them fairly easily. Not too sure on the details though so get in touch with the School of Mathematics for more information.

In general these would all be respected courses and valuable for getting into top firms/masters programmes (if you get good grades along the way of course!

Also the UCD elective programme lets you take one extra module of your choosing each semester, in addition to options which are embedded in the course. So if you feel like you're not getting enough theoretical economics or accounting or computer programming you can take them as electives

nandoslover

suffer or wrote: »

So I am currently in 6th year and trying to decide how to fill out my CAO. The difficulty is between the financial mathematics or the economics and finance courses both in ucd. I believe I can get the points for either one and its just a matter of choosing the right one as the first place choice. I am interested in a career in investment banking, quantitive analasys or other high playing jobs within the financial sector and am willing to work hard and put up with long hours. I have researched a lot about the economics and finance course and it seems like a great way to get into investment banking with top companies. It also has a one year internship in the last year which is a huge advantage of getting into the top New York/London companies. However looking at the new financial mathematics course it seems like this course might have a lot less theoretical economics and more maths which would be an advantage to getting a quant job perhaps. However as this course is new and theres very little info about it online apart from the ucd website itself. So is anyone here doing either of the courses or in a position to make comparisons between the opportunities for graduates of these courses? Which of these course is more likely to put me into the top firms, the economics and finance course considered a business course with a proven record of above average wages, international accreditation and an internship? Or a the new and risky financial mathematics which is a science course and is much more mathematical and scientific which even involves computer programming and seems like the better option for the apparently better position of a highly mathematical quant.
Also which of these would best qualify you to do a masters in something like financial maths sounds like a simple answer but I feel like the financial mathematics course might not have enough economics or accountancy in it.
As you can see I am.all over the place with this choice and any argument i make in favour of one course I quickly counteracts with another for the other course. Any help is highly appreciated. Thank you

Both courses seem great and don't worry if one course is new and the other isn't, just look at the modules you are studying and see if they seem relevant to what you want to do and become. I think financial mathematics is good, as you said, for quant business careers and is very mathematical, which is become very sought after now. And from what I've gathered from your paragraph, I think it may suit you more than economics and finance which does have a good bit of theory associated with it.

gero123

Sorry to take over this thread. I've just finished leaving cert and sorting out my cao. Considering single honours Economics in UCD, BESS and Commerce in UCD. Am concerned about the maths side of economics and am curious if a pass in HL lc maths would be a good enough standard for this course? Also am concerned about the large size of classes in BESS and amount of accountancy involved in Commerce. Was just wondering if anybody could share their experience with any of these courses?

Eoneil99

Hi I'm currently a sixth year student and am currently in a situation similar to you last year, do you mind me asking what course you chose and the pros and cons?

suffer or wrote: »

So I am currently in 6th year and trying to decide how to fill out my CAO. The difficulty is between the financial mathematics or the economics and finance courses both in ucd. I believe I can get the points for either one and its just a matter of choosing the right one as the first place choice. I am interested in a career in investment banking, quantitive analasys or other high playing jobs within the financial sector and am willing to work hard and put up with long hours. I have researched a lot about the economics and finance course and it seems like a great way to get into investment banking with top companies. It also has a one year internship in the last year which is a huge advantage of getting into the top New York/London companies. However looking at the new financial mathematics course it seems like this course might have a lot less theoretical economics and more maths which would be an advantage to getting a quant job perhaps. However as this course is new and theres very little info about it online apart from the ucd website itself. So is anyone here doing either of the courses or in a position to make comparisons between the opportunities for graduates of these courses? Which of these course is more likely to put me into the top firms, the economics and finance course considered a business course with a proven record of above average wages, international accreditation and an internship? Or a the new and risky financial mathematics which is a science course and is much more mathematical and scientific which even involves computer programming and seems like the better option for the apparently better position of a highly mathematical quant.
Also which of these would best qualify you to do a masters in something like financial maths sounds like a simple answer but I feel like the financial mathematics course might not have enough economics or accountancy in it.
As you can see I am.all over the place with this choice and any argument i make in favour of one course I quickly counteracts with another for the other course. Any help is highly appreciated. Thank you