Moving into finance with a humanities background

I graduated in 2007 from a competitive liberal arts college where I majored in archaeology. I interned at a well-known art museum as an undergrad, and went on to get a MA degreee in medieval history. I just finished a year long stint cataloging art at a major university, and published several encyclopedia articles while I was there, but I realize now there aren't enough jobs in the art/museum field, and I have to switch fields if I want to survive. As I'm looking now at my prep school classmates, most of whom majored in finance of a related field and now have comfortable careers as analysts or associates, I realize what a risk it was to chose a field I was "passionate" about and just hope everything would fall into place.

With my entire academic and professional background in the humanities, and no solid work experience to show for it, is there any way I can transition into finance? I have a good network I could tap into, and my GREs show I retained all my math skills throughout college, but other than that I have absolutely nothing to go by. How would I go about making the transition, if it's even possible?

 

Sounds like you have a good network already...you will have to leverage your contacts if you are going to break in. I'd start speaking with some of your friends from prep school directly.

Impossible is nothing
 
trinko:
Do I have any chance of ever getting a SA position, even though I've been out of school for years? If not, what should my target be?
You probably don't have a chance at most SA slots; these are generally filled by college juniors, and maybe a couple seniors who are delaying graduation. The only internships that might consider you are ones in banks that have less structured programs, and you're really going to have to use your connections to get these.

You can either try to go to business school and rebrand yourself, or you can try to network your way into an internship/full time role at a boutique bank, and then work your way up. The problem with the MBA route is that you still don't have finance experience, which puts you at a disadvantage when internship recruiting comes around, as you can bet that most of your peers will have worked in business.

 

I've met multiple people who studied humanities in undergrad and went into finance ... honestly I think that coming from a non-finance background is a major plus actually. I don't understand why people shell out 50k a year for undergrad Bschool (unless maybe Wharton, NYU etc) when you learn a ton of it on the job or on your own anyway. Read the news, get into markets, it is totally possible.

 
Best Response

It would help to develop a baseline understanding of what is necessary knowledge vis-a-vis ib interviews. Or even what IB is.

In all seriousness, what do you think you're doing? As a humanities major myself, I cringe when I see people like you make an ass out of us. Do your homework. Open your eyeballs and read. And possibly, if you have a minute during your studies, learn anything at all about the industry.

You could have easily found a solid interview guide in about 30 seconds, which would have told you: a) that you won't be asked economics questions in an ib interview, obviating the need for "econ terminology," and b) precisely what you need to know for the technical interview questions.

For the love of god, know why you want this job before you get an interview via resume drop and scamper over to WSO and demand help. You should be better than this.

"There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat."
 

WSO technical guide, BIWS technical guide, Rosenbaum & Pearl book -- I was a HUM major and passed essentially every ib interview I had. But ya gotta be dedicated to learning this stuff. Don't half-ass it, or you'll make an ass out of yourself in front of people who probably majored in finance (and alongside other candidates who almost certainly did).

 

In.

I would suggest possibly a MS in Finance in lieu of a second bachelors but idk.

"It is better to have a friendship based on business, than a business based on friendship." - Rockefeller. "Live fast, die hard. Leave a good looking body." - Navy SEAL
 
BatMasterson:

Lots of great people came from Humanities. Have you watched last weekend's interview with David Rubenstein ?

Do you think a self-taught finance education is better fit on a humanities background or on a quantitative background? Just random question.

"It is better to have a friendship based on business, than a business based on friendship." - Rockefeller. "Live fast, die hard. Leave a good looking body." - Navy SEAL
 
BatMasterson:

Lots of great people came from Humanities. Have you watched last weekend's interview with David Rubenstein ?

Canada is different though as recruiting is pretty much limited to business students. Pretty much all of my analyst class had gone to undergrad bschools (BComm or BBA). I worked for a top Canadian banks. And while an engineer can sometimes manage to get in, recruiting is pretty much limited to business undergrads across the street.

OP. I would look into a masters program, would fit better with your goal and experience.

 

Would getting a BSc take 4 more years or can it be done in 1-2 given the courses you have already taken? You could try applying both for : 1. Educational opportunities (Masters programs as well as Bachelors if it can be expedited) 2. Professional opportunities (IB, maybe also consulting and whatever else is interesting to you; both full time, paid internships and unpaid internships) Then depending on which of these opportunities you receive, you can decide. Assuming you only want IB, priorities would probably look something like this, ceteris paribus: FT IB > IB internship paid > IB internship unpaid > Masters / expedited Bachelors > Unexpedited Bachelors

IMO, even an unpaid internship at a decent shop in your desired field is a much more appealing opportunity than going back to school: -more useful skills -much faster (6-12 months internship probably brands you much better than a 2-4-year extra degree) -no tuition

 

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