Interdisciplinary studies in persuit of quantitative analysis

[Matthew Ulvik]

I am at that point in my college education where I have to pick a major and stick with it. I want to ultimately do quantitative analysis, but I am having problems deciding on a major.
First, a little background… I am currently in the Air Force and will be for the next few years. Here in the coming months I will be moving to the UK so, all class work must be done online. I completed all of my liberal requirements at Park University and recently transferred to University of Minnesota for accounting.
As stated above I would like to end up as an analyst, but am having trouble deciding how to get there. I could stick with the accounting major and get zero programming knowledge or I could stay with Park and do an interdisciplinary degree. With the interdisciplinary degree I would make sure and hit all fundamental programing classes, discrete mathematics, linear algebra, calc (1,2,3), macroeconomics, microeconomics, and various accounting and financial classes.
To me this sounds great, but I am concerned with the credibility of an interdisciplinary degree in the eyes of future employers and/or grad schools. Please, provide me with some advice on which path to take that will ultimately lead to my chosen destination.

 

[Ken Abbott]

Stick with UM. Name counts and accounting is more marketable. Take as much math as you can there and some programming if you can.

 

[Matthew Ulvik]

Thank you for your reply Ken. Perhaps, it is noteworthy to mention that at UM I will not be afforded the option to take any Calc, Linear Algebra, or Discrete Mathematics. I am not sure if they even offer those classes online, but more importantly if the military is to pay for my education then I have to stick to the degree requirements.

Here is a rundown of the classes that I would be taking.

ACCT 2101 - Principles of Accounting I (3.0 cr) ​

ACCT 2102 - Principles of Accounting II (3.0 cr) ​

ACCT 3201 - Intermediate Accounting I (4.0 cr) ​

ACCT 3202 - Intermediate Accounting II (4.0 cr) ACCT 3220 - Accounting Systems (3.0 cr) ​

ACCT 3301 - Cost Accounting I (3.0 cr) ​

ACCT 3302 - Cost Accounting II (3.0 cr) ​

ACCT 4110 - Advanced Accounting I (3.0 cr) ​

ACCT 4111 - Advanced Accounting II (3.0 cr)​

​

ACCT 4221 - Auditing I (3.0 cr)​

ACCT 4310 - Auditing II (3.0 cr)​

ACCT 4404 - Income Tax I (3.0 cr) ​

ACCT 4405 - Income Tax II (3.0 cr) ​

COMM 3303 - Writing in Your Profession, LIB ED ELC (3.0 cr) ​

GBUS 3107 - Legal Environment in Business (3.0 cr) ​

GBUS 3117 - Business Law (3.0 cr)​

​

MGMT 3100 - Managerial Finance (3.0 cr) ​

MGMT 3200 - Principles of Management (3.0 cr) ​

MKTG 3300 - Principles of Marketing (3.0 cr)​

I am thinking that I am missing some crucial classes unless they have disguised Calc in one of those accounting classes. I do plan on going to graduate school. I guess I could pick up those classes then, but from what I have read so far they are prerequisites. Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated!