YES, I do know various posts have been made about how much math you need for IB. Yes, I know the answer is a reasonably intelligent 7th grader could do it. The thing is, I always hear people saying that this or that recruiter say if you want to be in finance take as much math as possible. I've always assumed this is prove how smart you are but seriously...
Complete bs? I'm sitting here slaving over "stochastic processes" homework. All i can think about is all the poli sci majors i'll be interning with this summer. Is there seriously even the slightest advantage to knowing anything beyond intermediate algebra if you're not going to be a quant? I mean, it seem s that the second most popular major combo i read here after finance/accounting (accounting-SNORE) is math/econ. I'm not an econ major, but just how much of a waste of time is all this education?
If you want to do banking and only care about direct application to banking, its a complete waste of time.
If you do it, you do it for other reasons (usually). It would be impressive to see someone stick through all that math just because they thought it would help land an IB job...
Agree with qwerty25, if youre heart is really set on banking, then it's not necessary to have any math above calc (even that isnt really applicable in banking). If you want to do any trading though, it's a huge advantage, as you'll be more comfortable with numbers and calculations than the poli sci majors (even though you wont be using anything too high level).
What the finance recruiters SHOULD be telling students is to take as much accounting as possible. It's a million times more helpful to know the ins and outs of financial accounting than it is to know differential equations.
Dazedmonk:
Your stochastic processes problem set isn't a waste of your time. I agree with the posters above that math theory and math operations are not directly applicable to banking. However, a math curriculum does develop your problem solving skills (this will benefit you on the job -- whether or not anyone recognizes this during recruiting is a different story).
In my opinion, math majors typically face a more diverse set of challenges than other majors. This absolutely does not mean that math is harder, just that the procedural difference between tackling a linear algebra problem and a real analysis proof always struck me as greater than the difference between any two topics in accounting, two areas of history, two fields in economics, etc.
A rigorous, quantitative field of study can help you send at least one important signal. You are used to having piles of mundane, painful work heaped upon you with frequent deadlines and a lot of accountability. If you succeed at the major, a recruiter has one more reason to believe that you are not lacking in motivation, "attention to detail" or problem solving skills. Schumacher's accounting suggestion would also fit the bill here.
there are also alternatives if you want to use math and still stay in banking. i met a guy recently in a major bb's mathematical corp finance practice, where he essentially does modeling (both plug and chug and creates the models) to help big corps deal with corp finance problems. he also does this kind of stuff for complex m&a transactions, etc. he was a math major in college. obviously, its up to you. just saying that if you want to use the math, there are places to do it.
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