there are cases of people getting into ibanking with many different majors, but I would say that finance, or accounting would be the best route if investment banking is your goal. However, I'm sure an econ, math, or engineering major should be able to beak into the field as well.

 

stick to finance and start networking with your friends at GS, BL and ML so they can pass your resume around. Trust the major is so irrelevant - I have seen so many kids with math,econ, english, spanish, history etc etc..... just get your resume to hr most of the times if someone refers you within the bank you get an interview for sure.

 

I agree, an accounting minor might be useful, but in reality you really don't need to overload yourself with work. Get a strong GPA, but more importantly try to acquire leadership positions on campus and some kind of work experience. Having too much schoolwork takes your focus away from other more beneficial uses of your time.

 

"Having too much schoolwork takes your focus away from other more beneficial uses of your time."

That is so true. But I wonder whether the banks would take someone with 4.0 GPA and some little leadership position on campus, or someone with 3.3 GPA but being a successful president/VP in at least three clubs and societies.

 

I'm currently taking my first class towards my accounting minor and I agree with"aloki" that it is an unnecessary workload. Its geared more towards accountants rather than analyzing, so financial statement analysis would be a better course.

There are a lot of things that I've learned from it, but continuing would prevent me from having time for internships.

 

Coming from a non-target, it is extremely difficult to break info IBD, which I am finding out right now.

If I could do it all over, I would probably double major in Accounting with hopes to get into a Big 4 firm in transaction advisory services. All the Big 4s recruit at my school, but I have yet to see an investment bank.

Most of the Big 4s seem to want Accounting or Accounting/Finance double majors.

 

Not to hijack this thread, probably relevant to the OP too. Will taking Engineering/Comp Sci pigeonhole you to S&T or quant roles to an extent? Will it disadvantage you in any way for IB? All this given good GPA and decent level of networking.

 

As a guy who did math, I strongly recommend you do computer science. I find math way more interesting than both physics and CS, but being a strong programmer is perhaps the mostimportant skill to have, assuming you have the minimum quant skills you need. Math degree is complete overkill in terms of the quant knowledge, but it won't teach you to code. If you do decide on math, I recommend staying on the applied side. Do pure math only if you want to do a phd in math. With that said, if you are already a strong programmer or can be disciplined enough to learn it yourself, nothing beats a solid math education. It sharpens and stretches your mind beyond your limits and makes you an exceptional problem solver.

-MBP
 
Best Response

Those are all good majors.

I would pick Econ if you grew up speaking English and want banking (not trading.) You might also want to find a sport.

I would pick Financial Engineering if any of the above aren't true and you're good at math.

Columbia is an excellent school and has more in common with H/Y than the other ivies. Most of the students there were perfectly qualified for HYP but missed in the last stages of class building on stuff that was completely beyond their control. They deserved to get into HYP, but got rejected for something completely beyond their control. And then they're a short drive or train ride away from all of their friends who got into those schools while they study in Harlem for four years. I have a lot of respect for folks from Columbia and I've worked with some brilliant people who went there, but I think those four years have the potential to create some Louis Litt type personalities, too.

College isn't just about how prestigious your school is, but also about what kind of person you want to become. You can get into banking just as easily from Cornell or NYU as you can from Columbia or HYP, and when you land at Goldman Sachs or DE Shaw or Google, that's a bigger name on your resume than anywhere you went to school. Just so long as your college experience doesn't make you forget that, you'll have a perfectly good career no matter where you go to school.

But if it were me, I wouldn't have the maturity and discipline to not let all of that dynamic get to me at Columbia at my current age, let alone at 18. I'd have to choose a less prestigious school that was a little further away from the train lines.

 

Don't be a tool. Any of those combinations will be fine, provided you can get a high cumulative GPA.

Currently: future neurologist, current psychotherapist Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
 

Currently, I'm double majoring in Economics and Finance.

I would personally take Economics and CS since I prefer Economics over Finance (more stimulating for me) /CS is a nice skill you could use for S&T/Entrepreneurship.

However, keep a 3.7+ Gpa especially from a non-target.

 
J_monkey:
Currently, I'm double majoring in Economics and Finance.

I would personally take Economics and CS since I prefer Economics over Finance (more stimulating for me) /CS is a nice skill you could use for S&T/Entrepreneurship.

However, keep a 3.7+ Gpa especially from a non-target.

Does this mean that a majority of the training happens in internships? If you scroll down to the finance vs non finance major section in the following article, it says it is in my best interest to major in finance?

Would you agree? Also, economics is not a major in the business school at my school so I do not take the business core classes.

 

Best is to do what you enjoy. At least you will enjoy studying it, and hopefuly scoring A's.

No point doing a major that you dislike or one that is excessively difficult that makes you unable to get a decent GPA.

 

Women studies or basket weaving will be your best bet.

Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor. -Dr. Alexis Carrel
 

You're ignorant if you think CS will be dead by the time you graduate. CS enrollment continues to lag behind Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, not to mention incorporating a higher attrition rate due to students entering a CS major with false conceptions of what it is about. I suggest you don't major in CS because you will be one of those students. Anyone can learn to code in the same way that anyone can learn to perform algebra. I'm sure that means Math degrees were dead a long time ago.

 

Dude, you have UM right around the corner. Excellent education, top notch sporting events and an awesome social scene. Their business school ring a bell? What more can you ask for? The best part is you'll be paying in-state tuition. No brainer.

 

I don't have the credentials to get in there. Most of their applicants have way higher ACT scores and they probably have higher GPAs.

We spend a lot of time making the unimportant measurable while the important remains immeasurable
 

You can't say until you've tried. I know a guy who got rejected twice by his dream graduate school ( a master's at Oxford law, which is extremely selective), although strongly discouraged he opted to reapply thinking third time would be the charm, he got rejected, it was expected after all, luckily this time he submitted his application to a bunch of other universities, Harvard Law School included. He got in, his first reaction was: "Fuck Oxford" :) The most accomplished theoretical physicist of our time was accepted at Princeton for his PhD despite his major being in history, his maths being self taught and his age older than average. Just try.

 
Hegel:

I'd take economics and study some finance

I was thinking about doing that, but the school I'm most likely to go to (Michigan State University) doesn't have a finance minor, so I could major in finance and minor in econ or I could get a dual degree in both. Does Stony Brook have an economics department or a business school?
We spend a lot of time making the unimportant measurable while the important remains immeasurable
 

Yeah they have an econ department, they are ranked 39th, however it's a mixed public/private ranking, if we were talking about public only, they'd probably be 10th maybe 12th?

 

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We spend a lot of time making the unimportant measurable while the important remains immeasurable
 

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