Degrees sutiable for Hedge funds
Im majoring in Accounting and Computer Science, are these appropriate majors to break into hedge funds? if not, what are majors to tailor made almost to break into hedge funds, and really have a place on wall street assuming not ivy league?
If I had to do it all over again, I would major in accounting and comp sci. Therefore solid choice dude.
I majored in Philosophy and although I enjoyed it, had I majored in something else, the path to joining a HF would've been a lot easier.. sigh lol
I think most people who pick interns/analysts would agree that they don't care about your major, they care about if you know what you're talking about. That being said, the only reason there aren't more philosophy majors on Wall Street is because the resources you have to spend to find 5 successful analysts from a pool of philosophy majors at a university is a lot more than what you would have to spend to find 5 analysts from a pool of econ or business students.
So accounting and comp sci get you past the first screen, but beyond that, if you want to work at a HF, you need to actually understand accounting relationships and what makes a good investment. I would hire a philosophy major who took the time to study the material on his own and learn how the game works over an accounting major that just recites equations and numbers without understanding what they mean any day.
To answer your question, accounting and comp sci fall under the umbrella of majors (acc, finance, econ, comp sci) that aren't a total waste of time to hunt for analysts in, but don't rely on your classes in those fields to teach you what you need to know- I haven't encountered too many people that truly "get" what accounting means just by going to class.
Best of luck though
Yea, accounting is great, comp. sci if you want to do some quant work. I'd recommend finance w/ accounting if not interested in quant.
Within graduate, Computer science/MBA would that be the Golden Ticket? or some financial mathematics degree?
Within graduate, Computer science/MBA would that be the Golden Ticket? or some financial mathematics degree?
Dude. There is no 'Golden Ticket'. Work your ass off and maybe you'll end up at a decent hedge fund. Maybe get off this forum and learn something useful. The things you'll find on this site are all pretty available, and no matter how many times someone asks the questions, they rarely change.
If you want to get into a L/S hedge fund, your best is to get into a top IB analyst program, or some kind of research. Or you could try and get an analyst position at one of the funds that recruit undergrads.
Get good grades in a major that you are good at, network your balls off, and impress the hell out of anyone you meet/interview with.
Good luck.
This.
Also, I've read your other comments on the board and you haven't even made an effort to educate yourself. Do your own research on the subject and go back to the classroom. You dont just "get in" to a hedge fund because you have credentials. Work hard. If you were serious about making it to a HF you would research the subject thoroughly on your own.
I mean I agree with finance/accounting/comp sci/mba thing, but I hear finance jobs entry level are at $9/hour. in some states here in the U.S. unless with finance, the fields in that major that are open would have much job opportunity. I thought Finance was dying like Econ is
Major for a career in HF? (Originally Posted: 04/04/2017)
To start this off, I'm still just a junior in high school, but I've always been fascinated and very interested in a career in finance. I've still not quite decided my major however, but it's between finance and economics. I want to know what your opinion is on which would be more beneficial. If it helps at all, I plan on attending Indiana University since that is in state and thus more affordable for me. Thank you
My two cents: I am struggling to see how an econ major will be beneficial at all for an entry level position at a HF.
I am not that informed on which would be more beneficial. What is your reasoning behind that?
There are many different types of HFs. Some of the main ones are:
Long/Short
Distressed
Arbitrage
Macro
Quant
The "best" major depends on the investment strategy of the firm. L/S, Distressed, etc are mostly value-driven so background in Finance (and maybe some IB experience) would be good. Macro/Arbitrage are more similar to the analysis you do in Economics. Quant is more math/CS/statistics/econometrics.
Just study whatever you're interested in man
Two things:
1.) IU Kelley gets great placements onto Wall Street. 2.) IU has a pretty darned good CS program.
If you can, you may want to consider a double major in CS and Finance.
Honestly, I would steer you toward anything that gives you a solid basis in statistics. Could be math, physics, chemistry, econ, psychology, engineering etc. Just make sure you fcking master statistical concepts and their underlying assumptions and you should be able to extend this into a finance context fairly easily.
I also have a sneaking feeling that hedge funds are going to become more interested in history majors in the not too distant future. We've seen basically "steady state" economics for the past 65 years, but I suspect we're going to need people who can understand large geopolitical event risk in the near future. Wish I had taken something other than African history in college lol...
Also don't forget to have fun... your first two years you should smoke a lot of pot and go to a ton of live music. That's my advice.
Can confirm. I am a history major just hired FT HF. Literally took a class called History of Economic Thought which has been an interesting talking point.
2nd the statistics understanding. Really underappreciated skill-set in general to have, but it's essentially two for the price of one in terms of both helping you to come up with theses and preventing you from saying something dumb.
1) Finance is more advantageous as it is in Kelley and business schools generally tend to have more alumni in Investment Banking/ Hedge Funds/ PE etc. The only useful econ classes at the undergrad level are Intermediate Micro and Econometrics so take those if you can. Other Finance and Econ classes generally slightly overlap in terms of content. 2) If you can, do a minor or a second major in math (depending on your quantitative aptitude, interests, credit load etc.). This would prepare you well for Masters and Phd Programs in Financial Math/Engineering etc. which could be beneficial for applying to Quant Funds.
MD
Pinpointing the right degree for HF (Originally Posted: 09/15/2016)
Hi monkeys,
So I'm currently a sophomore at a private liberal arts school in the Southeast double majoring in finance and economics. Grades are solid, I completed an IB SA stint at a boutique bank in my hometown up in the Northeast after my freshman summer, and I'm looking forward to the future. As some threads suggest, the MSF offers certain non-target students who don't break into IB their junior years the opportunity to rebrand themselves and work their way into FT positions after the 1-2 year MSF.
After doing some research and what not, I want to just have the MSF/other programs organized so I know what to look forward to (just in case I can't manage to land the position I want). Ideally my short term goals are to break into either IB or equity research, being that I personally like both and they do place fairly well into HF. I'd ideally want to be in L/S funds up in NYC or out in SF, and I do hear that certain MSF's are fairly geographically "biased."
I've read a bit obviously about coveted programs (MIT, Princeton), but how are programs like UT Austin, Nova, Vanderbilt, WUSTL? What about MS Fin Econ at Columbia with the solid brand name being in their business school? What are the post-UG options for a kid looking to make it into HF long term (and perhaps ER/IB short term)? Are there any other programs worth noting? Are MFE's solid approaches too?
Thanks for any insight!
good story, just keep searching other posts at WSO. your question isn't rocket science for other posts I read on WSO.
Best degree to be a Hedge Fund Investment Analyst/Associate? (Originally Posted: 09/27/2015)
What are the most common degrees for becoming a Hedge Fund analyst/associate? What about Master of Science in Quantitative Finance? Is there a big chance?
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