If I end up at HYPS / Ivies, does my major matter?
Let's say, God willing, I make it into HYPS, Dartmouth, Columbia, Wharton, etc. for undergrad. My high school experiences have been centered around a bit more STEM than business, about 60-40 or 70-30. If I were to get in to these schools as a STEM major
1. What are the chances for an easy switch to finance? OR
2. What are the chances for banks & institutions to hire me as STEM?
Thanks in advance guys.
I can't give much advice. In fact, I'm not sure which one of your two questions I'm answering. I'll try anyway.
All you probably need to know is that if you do STEM, I'm pretty sure that you'll have all the same options and more...since the "normal" options respect a top STEM major because of being "smart" or something, and the new options almost exclusively hire STEM...stuff like a quant fund.
The only counterargument is that "omg my GPA could be low =(" Well coming from one of those places as a multiple-major STEM with a very high GPA alongside a decently vibrant social life, I have to say you can't let your peers' failures be an excuse for performing below your peak, whatever that is. Even if their GPAs are low, you can always be higher unless you just straight up suck no matter how hard you work.
Unless you're burning passionate about another major, and unless you TRULY wouldn't get a "high enough" GPA from STEM, you should major in STEM. Hell, even if those first two qualifications fail, you probably should major in STEM anyway lol.
Having said that, many succeed from many different backgrounds. The only thing I have heard possibly being bad is people MAYBE thinking you're a STEM nerd and "consigning" you to quanty things. Could be good or bad depending on what you want to do.
ALSO, having said all this, if you're already gunning to break into finance (which is probably, for you, investment banking judging by those hashtags) and you aren't truly quanty (I'd bet good money you're not, since if you get into a top STEM program you'll lol at the kindergarten stuff you did in high school or else STEM would be nobrainer), you're probably not going to "enjoy" the STEM programs...I know I've burned out more and more over the years as trading has become far more alluring than STEM when I first pursued it due to other reasons.
Just something else to consider.
Best of luck in admissions but make sure you make the right choice in where you choose to go. You decide what that means.
what ill tell u is that if ur decent at math and like programming you should major in computer science. cuz if u end up not wanting those jobs fine just be well rounded, but knowing those technical skills is relaly helpful
If you're at HYPS, major doesn't matter whatsoever. Arguably, it doesn't even matter at lower-tier schools (Dartmouth/Columbia/Duke), but at those four schools you can major in Linguistic Studies and you have just as good a shot at banking jobs as the Finance/Accounting double major from Ross/Stern etc.
Having gone through recruiting at an ivy myself, I would argue that GPA/Math SAT score>Work Experience>Major. A 3.7-3.8 English/Gov/Psyc/History major with a 800 Math SAT is much more likely to get an interview at a BB/consulting (especially consulting) than a 3.5 Econ/Math major with a 650 Math (granted many kids at these schools have 750+ but you get my point). It's really silly that firms care about your SAT score, but the bottom-line is they do. The only exception, in my opinion, is engineering, which is known to be notoriously difficult. Even then, I have many friends with 3.6s in Engineering that lost out to 3.8-3.9 history majors for getting interviews.
Your major may matter a slight-bit more for internship recruiting, as it is generally a bit more competitive for FT and no one really has any good finance work-experience before then. For full-time recruiting, however, no one is going to care about your major if you have relevant experience. If you're an art history major with a great finance internship (IBD/S&T/F500 FLDP) and good SAT math score, no firm is really going to question your "quantitative ability".
FYI, this is all for on-campus recruiting; I have no idea how the process is for non-targets.
That's interesting, therock. At my target's career center, they don't even tell us to put down our SAT score on our resume, and at my 10+ interviews for SA recruiting, not a single bank asked me for it even once. The only thing that really matters (at least in my experience) is your GPA - they really expect it to be 3.6+ for you to have a realistic shot at interviews/subsequent rounds.
The SAT thing is generally bigger with consulting firms, versus banking. I don't remember my SAT coming up in banking interviews, but its something definitely asked for on every consulting application.
No... Just no. Nice try though.
You made a post last week asking when OCR started. Shut the fuck up.
& I may have asked this at a previous post, but people say that it's easier to get into Ivies with STEM. Is this true?
Well a lot of Ivies don't have undergrad business programs, hence no Finance majors. So you can do either STEM, or Economics if you want to be remotely close to Finance/Accounting.
im EA to Harvard, so I'm debating STEM or Econ :/
What does your resume scream? STEM or Econ? You should apply whatever is close to all the efforts you put in HS. Otherwise it might just look like you are trying to find a easier major to get in. Have you thought about undecided? (never applied to Harvard so not sure if that's an option)
yah i think you can do undecided, but I'm just afraid they'll bias against me. & yah im a bit more towards STEM in my high school experiences but i really like the whole experience of investing & (at this point in my life) money management sounds like a viable field for me to go into
It doesn't matter what you apply as. There might be a marginal difference, but honestly, that will be the furthest thing from a deciding factor in your application. I'd echo iWork and tell you to go with whatever your activities/classes are geared towards.
for finance or consulting, what you major in doesn't matter at all. I work at a large consulting firm and half of my co-workers majored in something random, such as sociology, biology, poli sci, history, etc.
STEM degree is helpful for getting jobs in research, risk, or trading.
In your Harvard application, you should choose whatever concentration makes the most sense in the context of your overall story and/or whatever strengthens your story most. What you choose in the application will have no effect on your ability to declare whatever concentration you want as a sophomore, assuming you get in. I understand your questions, but you do not need to commit to a concentration today and should take your time to think about this.
Also, it's worth noting that Applied Math / Economics is a popular choice at Harvard that many finance-oriented friends of mine chose. Could be a good way to bridge your interests. Don't forget about secondary fields as well.
Major won't really matter, but you should have internships that at least show finance interest
at any Ivy League/Little 3/HopkinsDukeStanford, ur major doesn't matter. You are assumed to be a connected genius, and have a much better chance than 4.0 finance/acct/econ majors from everywhere else.
BUT you do need to take courses which show ur quant chops, and for God's sake, know Microsoft Excel.
I guess this guy went to Hopkins...
haha agreed
Major does matter (kind of) - I attend one of the listed schools and have close friends at HYPS. If you major in STEM, you get asked why you did so (especially with sciences, comp sci, etc. - less so with math/applied math), and hopefully you'll have a good story linking it all back to your love of banking. This appears to be more prevalent with pure finance jobs (S&T, IBD) than others (management consulting, ER).
People are definitely more understanding of lower GPAs with STEM majors, but not much. If you can't get a decent GPA in STEM I'd highly recommend just doing economics.
On another thought, if you're a science-y STEM major with two finance internships you'll also be fine, and nobody will question your interests. And if you do well you will find those two finance internships.
I go to UChicago, and there are polisci, linguistics, et al majors who get banking jobs on Wall Street and other high-profile cities. Once you're in the top 10 schools or so, your GPA, soft skills, and hard skills matter much more than the major on your resume I think.
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