I was a stpm student for the year 2016/2017 and going to get my results in another 1 more month. Expecting my cgpa to be above 3.5. I m really interested in studying economics and possibly i might venture into invetment banking. I live in penang and if i choose usm it would be very nice lol coz usm is near to my house (10km). But i m afraid of the quality of the education there...heard a lot of rumours that usm quality has gone down because of the quota system bla bla bla...so i m kinda afraid that it would affect my job prospects in the distant future ...and since um is the top public uni in malaysia, the education there would be top notch right? But i m still curious to know your opinions and thoughts about this ....which uni should i choose for econs degree.

I'd personally choose UM. Highest ranked university in Malaysia. But that's just me la.

Unless you want to go really deep into economics (PhD), being in the best economic dept doesn't really matter all that much. If you want to become an investment banker, what you need is the right degree and a good GPA.

Food for thought: if USM is easier because of said quota, and you can get a 4 flat and be at the top of the curve every single time vs just being an average dude in UM, you're better off being in USM.

UM would be more suited for your case somemore closer to KL haha

I see...thanks for the opinion.

Maybe...if i picked um, can lepak in kl if got free time xD...but i still need to know the quality of the contents and teaching of economy from um and usm so i can make my final decision after i get my result. Dunno whether there are any big differences or not.

Btw, UM ranked top 10 for engineering. If i were to choose engineering, i wouldn't have thought of usm haha. Economy one i m not so sure between this 2 unis.

This post has been edited by CaptainTeemo855: Jan 28 2018, 09:49 PM

RANKING DOESN'T MATTER!

It shouldn't matter when it comes to choosing unis for Undergraduate students, especially since we are dealing with places like USM and UM, which are the more prestigious local unis.

Furthermore, the metrics used in ranking hardly applies to undergraduate studies.

The main question is whether you wanna go kl, or stay at home? Answer this and you probably have your answer already.

Tbh for investment banking, a degree in economics is kinda useless. A lot of investment bankers are from the more quantitative fields like engineering or math.

Econs as a undergraduate degree in Malaysia is sadly lacking the mathematical vigor required of a respected degree

Have you considered UUM? I heard UUM is very good for business-related courses.

Hmm I would pick UM over USM..
Its seems to have some kind of positive "brand" among all the IPTA in Malaysia. Not many can simply go & get seat there to study..

But i saw this article where econs undergrads are the second highest in the investment banking sector. The engineering and math one you said are among the least. That's for USA la...i doubt it's the same in Malaysia too.

https://news.efinancialcareers.com/my-en/23...bs-wall-street/

Yeah, i think i will brush ranking aside for this 2 unis.

Actually, where i wanna reside when it comes to picking uni is my 2nd concern la...but my main concern is i dunno which one one is btr when it comes to quality teaching for economy. Like better research, lectures etc etc. Somemore UM just laid off a substantial amount of staff, not sure whether it would affect the quality or not. Enlighten me pls haha.

This post has been edited by CaptainTeemo855: Jan 28 2018, 11:10 PM

Nope, but i will look into it later.

Research output should be almost the same right. Even though they cut funding for um, it's still higher than usm. Even then, research shouldn't concern you as an Undergraduate as Malaysian unis in general have very little support for undergrad research.

Quality of lectures, no reason to believe one is better over the other. As a matter of fact, I'm in a top 20 uni in Asia, and frankly speaking, most lectures and tutorials here are useless. It's more to self study.

Bear in mind that uni isn't like school, where a good teacher mAkes a difference. It may make a difference, but 99.9% of the time it's self study.

Depends where you graduate from. An Econs degree from MIT or Harvard will open many doors, but the same probably can't be said for econs graduates in Malaysia... Econs degree programs here are generally too general and lack the vigor required for a respectable economics degree.

That table claims that businss and finance grads have it good. Now, with so many business schools around ask the average graduate and see how they are faring.

This bias is probably due to the fact that there are more Econs/business/finance graduates applying for these jobs, so naturally, their representation is higher. But do take note that you're not dealing with your average Ali from UM, Ah Chong from USM or Muthu from UKM. You're talking about princeton, Yale and Oxford graduates applying for these jobs.

That's assuming the article is correct, I find the statistics highly dubious. The website efinancialcareers isn't even highly credible to begin with... For an alternative pov, refer to this https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/apr/...estment-banking

Also, do note that for the large investment banks, unless you're super talented (have some kind of impressive investment portfolio when u apply for a job), chances are that you need some connections (son of someone important, etc) to even get an interview. So in that sense, your major doesn't matter.

Ohh okok will bear that in mind...thanks . Oh, which uni are you from?

This post has been edited by CaptainTeemo855: Jan 29 2018, 02:11 AM

So it means studying economy in one of those public unis in malaysia is not a good choice? Any recommendations for a good uni when it comes to econs? . Not thinking of hardvard, princeton kind of thing lol..SG perhaps?


Yeah, connections...guess i would need to buy some cables in the future xD

Doing Econs at local U is a good choice ..........both are Ok and you'll be good for an IB job .

This post has been edited by tpleong: Jan 29 2018, 09:50 AM

Studying locally is fine, but I would recommend studying something less general like engineering, accountancy etc. At least u have something to fall back on should you fail to go into IB.