Does Finance Major Actually Help?
Do you guys think that majoring in finance actually helps you things you need to know to work in IB, HF, or PE, or can all the stuff be learned in the first few weeks of the job? Is finance major really a stepping stone, something to get you in the door, or is it something that helps you? What are your thoughts?
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you should major in finance,
you should major in finance, it's very easy compared to other subjects
majors dont matter as much
majors dont matter as much as people think. i mean banks hire english majors...over kids who majored in finance so what does that say.
Well, not so much to get
Well, not so much to get hired, but I am more asking of the general usefulness of the major. Do you think its a worthwhile major? Or, do you learn everything you need to learn in the fields of IB, HF, or PE in the first few weeks of work?
what do you think? do you
what do you think? do you think they would hire the english major if they didnt think their training was adequate background?
Yes thats what I thought as
Yes thats what I thought as well, before I learned English majors were actually hired. Which then brings up the point...what is even the point of college, if in 4 years of studying finance, you are not ahead in that field of an english major. Or, is it just that hedge funds or banking jobs are so easy to learn, that it doesn't require prior knowledge?
It's not relevant to a lot of what you do
The major is very theoretical whereas the work is... well, practical. A lot of MBA students have this reaction when they start... they ask me why we do such and such differently from what they learned in school, and I always just say, "This is how things work in banking."
Majoring in finance is good to show you have an interest in the field, and you will be ahead of someone who majored in English. But the reality is these jobs can be learned by anyone in a matter of months because there is nothing super-complicated except for maybe some very quant-focused hedge funds.
Personally, I wouldn't major in finance just to get an IBD job. If you're interested in the subject, that's one thing, but doing it just to get a job doesn't make sense.
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i know someone who got into
i know someone who got into a quant-focused shop with a "useless" (for lack of better word) major - think philosophy/government/english and no relevant minor. they couldnt even program when they started.
I'm a finance major and
I'm a finance major and looking back, it would have been much more useful to major in accounting.
As someone working in
As someone working in banking with a non-finance major, I can tell you it is a little bit of a disadvantage. Things that are intuitive to others are foreign to you and you must quickly adjust and get caught up whenever a new idea or concept is introduced. That said, after your two years you will be proficient in finance as well as whatever you majored in. This, I believe, is a bit of an edge in general.
somewhat
It'll give you an intuitive edge without a doubt. Finance can certainly be taught via bank training programs, but in reality, all you're learning is how to perform the same tasks over and over again. If you really want to get a solid understanding of capital markets, major in Economics (you'll actually have to understand concepts instead of just plugging numbers into a formula).
In reality, banks recruit all types of majors. They really only care about GPA. The best strategy, IMO, is to choose an easier major (read: English, History, etc) and coast to a 3.7+.
I know people will probably respond to this post saying majors like English/History/Poli Sci are difficult, but that just isn't true. If English is your native language, majoring in a writing-intensive subject is a cake walk. You literally have to be an awful writer and/or retarded to not graduate with honors.
Whaaaaaat?
It'll give you an intuitive edge without a doubt. Finance can certainly be taught via bank training programs, but in reality, all you're learning is how to perform the same tasks over and over again. If you really want to get a solid understanding of capital markets, major in Economics (you'll actually have to understand concepts instead of just plugging numbers into a formula).
In reality, banks recruit all types of majors. They really only care about GPA. The best strategy, IMO, is to choose an easier major (read: English, History, etc) and coast to a 3.7+.
I know people will probably respond to this post saying majors like English/History/Poli Sci are difficult, but that just isn't true. If English is your native language, majoring in a writing-intensive subject is a cake walk. You literally have to be an awful writer and/or retarded to not graduate with honors.
This post reeks of ignorance. English being your native language does not somehow guarantee an A average in an English major. People are way too quick to think that a lack of numbers makes a major easier. Acting like econ or finance is some insanely difficult degree is ridiculous. I was an econ major, and I'm quite sure I would've been thrashed by some upper level English classes.
I never said
People are way too quick to think that a lack of numbers makes a major easier. Acting like econ or finance is some insanely difficult degree is ridiculous.
King: I never said that Econ/Finance was insanely difficult. I only said that I thought Econ was more comprehensive from a business standpoint. If you're a smart person and a good writer, you can naturally do well in subjects like English without having to try that hard (I took similar upper-level courses in college and am speaking from personal experience)
I would also assert that I am not the only one who places a higher degree of difficulty on quantitative subjects. Why do you think B-Schools look so closely at grades in undergrad quant courses/your math score on the GMAT?
Sorry to come off in such an abrasive manner. Guess I'm a bit antsy in my cube this week since everyone else has off.
English is definitely not a
English is definitely not a simple major. In my college, you need a 3.6 to graduate summa cum laude in English but a 3.9 in finance or economics. Also, in English, you study a lot of literature which is not really that facile.
I don't think you have a
I don't think you have a good finance program then? In my school finance has the toughest curve/classes in our school.
Ya...
I agree that you can definitely breeze through college with a 4.0 in finance and think it was the biggest joke of your life. That's how I felt up until a few months ago. The classes I took were easy, to say the least. However, then I took a class that really challenged me, made me think, and showed just how little I actually knew about finance. It all depends on the instructor, and on how much he wants to teach you. The theory behind finance is not difficult; the formulas are easy as hell, and there are only a few crucial definitions you need to know. However, the trick is learning which number to pick, how ti sift through all the data and come up with what you need. That's the tough part. So yes, although finance might be easy for you (if you took some joke of a class where differentiating between EBIT and EBITDA was the major topic of discussion), there are definitely classes you can take which will whip your ass into shape.
I think that the finance
I think that the finance cirriculums vary by school. Ours is pretty tough. If I had to do it all over again, I may have considered a double major in math and econ.
wharton's mba classes in
wharton's mba classes in corporate finance (even advanced) are not that complicated. im not even that smart, and they are easy as a hell.
This thread is pretty dumb.
This thread is pretty dumb. The usefullness/difficulty of the major depends on two things...
1)What you are interested and good at. I am interested in finance, and it clicks in my head, so I am able to do well. My buddy is starting med school, if I tried to do that I would have no idea what was going on, but if he tried doing finance, he'd be lost as well. Majoring in finance will give you an edge in understanding the concepts behind all the numbers you will be plugging into excel so you may actually understand what is going on.
2)It completely depends on your school's program and the classes/professors you have. Sure you could get a prof teaching an easy class and CRUISE through it with an A while doing no work. Or you could have a total ass who actually expects his/her students to learn something and can actually be extremely difficult.
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don't do it for the wrong reason
After training, everyone is equal. I majored in a humanities field (think English, History) and at this point I think I'm just as knowledgeable (for the purposes of IBD) as the Wharton kids at my bank, never mind how much more fun I had at college actually studying something that I enjoyed and would likely never have the chance to do again in the professional world.
I think that Hank Paulson
I think that Hank Paulson was an English major and he did pretty well in banking
If you attend a state
If you attend a state university, breaking into finance without a finance degree probably borders on the impossible. Sure, banks hire out of all kinds of majors, but of course most liberal arts majors hired into banking (or any finance-heavy field) are out of top liberal arts or Ivy League schools.
I don't know what programs these posters got their finance degrees in, but finance was utterly killer at my school with a large drop-out rate. I passed L1 of the CFA exam with only my school's finance degree and about 150 hours of study (mostly ethics reading).
This is a very interesting
This is a very interesting topic for me because I'm starting college at an ivy right now and trying to decide whether I should major in economics or not. My instincts tell me yes, and I am very interested in it, but I also have other interests in the humanities that I'd like to pursue. Maybe I'll just take classes in different subjects and see where that takes me..
quantitative majors
zykke - Sometimes an econ major is only 8-10 classe - At least its like that at my school (an Ivy). So if you can take 1 class a semester and get a major in Econ, and you are interested in it, you may as well, right?
That said, and no offense to finance majors (banks hire them more than any other major for sure [of course, there are also way more trying to get in from a finance major]), but I think undergraduate business school is pointless. The way I see it (and please don't take offense at this, I'm just giving my rationale), you are limiting yourself by majoring in business. It's somewhat hierarchical: if I major in electrical engineering (and I am), I can go into just about anything a business major can (literally - sales, marketing, finance, etc), either right out of school or down the road (with an MBA, certainly, but even without its a pretty usual path). I can also go into electrical engineering, software engineering, computer engineering, could go to grad school in physics or economics or anything technical and a lot of things nontechnical (law, MBA, etc), and generally will have 10x as many doors open as a finance major.
School, in my opinion, is about learning how to learn. People go to college (and not trade school) for two reasons:
(1) to learn how to learn, and
(2) to prove they are smart
Employers (no matter their variety) want people that have two qualities:
(1) they are smart
(2) they get things done
[In the end, and you can argue all you want about any other quality, and employers (especially banks) can list the 5 things that make their employees special, but this is all anyone gives a rats ass about]
Sure, you don't have to understand quantum mechanics to become a banker, but, at least in my [probably far too logical] head, someone that can truly understand that, and has gone through an intense 4-year physics or math or engineering curriculum, has done 10x more to prove they are (1) smart and (2) get things done than someone who breezed through an undergraduate finance program so they could get a job in banking.
So anyway, thats my long-winded take on quantitative majors and going into finance with a quant major. Take it for what it's worth, and please don't take offense if you are a finance/business major, this is simply my logic (not backed up at all by anything except the fact that banks hire plenty of engineers where I go to school). Obviously, engineers need to fight the stereotype that they are all too nerdy/antisocial/quantitative to make it in banking...but really, if you can look someone in the eye and speak somewhat confidently its not that hard to do.
cdw, again, I don't know
cdw, again, I don't know what kind of schools people attend where finance is a breeze, but strong finance programs are incredibly challenging.
I disagree VTech. If finance
I disagree VTech. If finance is "incredibly challenging" then you would never succeed in engineering. As a former pre-med/Math major, I can attest to the fact that the finance major is a joke. I guess it's all relative; starting out with finance may appear difficult compared to high school, but in reality it really doesn't require much work. I've spoken to students from nearly every target (yes, Wharton too) and most agree that the major isn't particularly difficult given an appropriate investment in studying. You can still lead a very regular life: join a frat, go out 3 nights a week, skip classes, etc. and you'll be fine. Engineering... not so much.
I agree with aloki, I am an
I agree with aloki, I am an EECS major at a top engineering program, I think it is true that for engineering even if you invest all your time studying, you still won't understand certain topic. We got sleeping bags in our computer lab! LOL (my friend told me berkeley got them too.) But still, difficulty rating is relative, but if you want to just compare the amount of discipline, math, physics and abstract theory, finance can't beat engineering, esp EE and ChemE.
But I think we diverged the topic quiet a bit. I feel studying finance is very useful, when I studied for CFA I I think it is very interesting, practical and very market oriented. I had fun learning from it and am not sure if CFA I & II indeed covers the undergrad finance materials. If it does then you can also study on your own while choose a major that you like.
just my two cents.