What should I major in?
Hello everybody on the Wall Street Oasis forum. I am extremely new to WSO and this is my first post. The reason I am posting is because I need some advice from somebody who is currently working in Finance or has worked in Finance before.
Currently I am a Sophomore in college majoring in Business. The reason I am studying Business is because I would like to work for an IB, HF, PE, etc. I love the accounting and finance field however, my girlfriends brother-in-law was a math and physics student who graduated from NJIT and is now going for his masters degree in Computational Mathematics. He is an extremely bright kid who also wants to work as an Financial Engineer; formulating algorithms for HFT computers and such. Not necessarily because he likes business but because the money is considerably greater. He actually despises the Financial Industry. He is more of the Humanitarian type.
When I explain my situation to him he knows I am a bright kid and pretty much tells me
"Do not major in Business; it is worthless, you do not need a business degree to work in business. If I were you I would study something such as Actuarial Science, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science if you want to work in business; then you can always get your MBA and have a leg up on other people who just hold a business degree and maybe an MBA."
After doing some research it seems that Computer Engineers and Software Engineers make more than Financial Analysts or Accountants. Also I would not mind majoring in Computer Engineering since I love computers; also I have a 4.0 gpa as of now. I am a very bright and intelligent kid; and I also have my parents backing me financial so I do not have to pay a cent for any college tuiton, books, etc. Every professor that I have had loves me because I apply myself, and ask intellegent questions. What I am saying is that I can network very well with older people because they see that I am very mature for my age.
All in all does anybody have any advice for me? Any insight or input to this thread is greatly appreciated.
P.S ( I am not a very risky person, I have tried to day trade and I could not psychologically handle the fact of losing money, even if I would make it back later)
I'm a humanitarian type that works in finance as well. I'm also a charity and animal lover. Sadly the taste of meat is far too nice and I don't want to pay that much for it, and I'm not prepared to take the risk that comes with products that haven't been tested properly. Additionally, poor people, for the most part, deserve to be poor so I don't donate as often as I'd like to.
I'm also incredibly intelligent and want to make loads of money early on without incurring any risk. I know this is hard but I'm smart enough for it to work.
Take yourself down a notch or 2 dude, noone likes a smartass. ^ this approach to anything will get you alexei fame.
Lololol
Im apologize for sounds like that; I did not mean to. I am just trying to explain my situation for some advice. I did not mean to offend anybody
tl;dr
Listen to your girlfriend's brother-in-law. Major in STEM (science, technology, engineering, or math). You can always MBA later in life if you need.
And you should never just major in 'business'. Pick accounting, finance, or econ if you want a business degree. Business degrees are for people who can't handle engineering.
Statements like these make me doubt you can "network very well with older people." Brightness doesn't equate social or networking prowess.
I wouldn't listen to your brother-in-law. The concept that undergrad business school is useless is something people love to spew, but it usually comes from people who don't appreciate business in the first place.
Is it the most challenging degree out there? Definitely not. But if you're genuinely interested in business, and maybe even starting your own business, you can walk away with good exposure to all the essentials from finance to marketing to strategy. It leaves you open to a wide variety of jobs and exposes you to different areas of business.
If you're a quant then go do quant programs (engineering, mathematics).
Focus on what you actually want to learn about and where you want to end up. Quant work can be much more relevant to HFT HFs, while probably overkill for most IB, PE, VC jobs.
Major in STEM if you can handle it and have a high GPA. Otherwise, audible to whatever gets you the highest GPA possible and BS something during the interviews about being intellectually stimulated. The key here is the highest GPA possible (at least for IB, I didn't actually read your entire post because it was too long).
How can you know what fields you want to end up in if you haven't even decided a college major?
I guess what I mean is that I would like to work for a firms such as Goldman, or other IBs
Ok, so what draws you to GS? You need to answer this before you decide where you want to head.
You won't make it to IB majoring in STEM from a non-target.
what you think he has a better shot with a bullshit econ degree? Get off that cheap mexico weed son!
i don't mean to be snarky but the level of rigor in computer science classes is in a different league compared to business classes.
when you say that you 'love computers', what do you mean? do you have programming experience? since you are a sophomore now you may still be able to change majors and catch up, but keep in mind that you will be competing with people who've been programming since high school for fun (i was a math major and boy did i have a rude awakening in my first computer science class).
having said all this, i agree with your brother in law in that a degree is computer science is much more worthwhile. there are plenty of ppl with math, physics, CS degrees in all areas of finance (IB, HF etc.). there are virtually no business people in tech companies (even most 'strategy' type roles prefer ppl with a technical background.)
my advice would be to try out a few computer science classes this semester and see how you fare, and take it from there.
best of luck
What I mean is no I do not have any programming experience but I am learning now. If didnt have to work about money I would probably love building computers and such. Also during my college career I will have my girlfriend's brother-in-law's help and support all the way because he has been there done that so to speak.
you sound like a virgin to me
Guys all this advice is terrible
It's is a known fact you major in what ever you declare on your application to said college
You can't change your mind after you taken any elective classes
It's a fact
p s screw periods
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