BA in Mathematics

Hi all,

Finance major here at IU. Was never really great at math in high school until I kicked it into higher gear here in college and absolutely love it now.

I think a BS in Math would be overkill, but would a more flexible BA in Math look good/better for investment banking than just a finance major + something else in the business school here? Thanks in advance!

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This answer may come with some bias as I went double applied math + Econ and ended up in quant with a garbage GPA because I smoked pot, drank, and went out 5 nights a week, but you are viewed differently if you majored in something like math or physics. If you do math, don’t memorize the process of solving a problem — understand why those processes work and how the approach can be different based on the multiple situations that may change said approach. Knowing advanced probability (up to measure theorem) and deep calculus will benefit you greatly in certain fields within finance. Modeling with excel proves to be enough for many divisions, but if you end up as a trader you will GREATLY benefit from knowing advanced mathematics. Now, if you want to go into IB or a field along those lines — you probably won’t get much use out of a mathematics degree outside of the way it changes your thinking and approach to problems.

 

Hey, I understand that this question is being asked a while after the thread took place but I was wondering if you had any insight on choosing a BA vs BS in applied math for a dual degree with Finance? The BA at my school is a pretty decent amount of coursework less than than the BS, and I'm intent on still graduating within 4 years, and I'm only in with a years worth of credits. Is there that much of a difference between the two to warrant an increased amount of course load? Thank you in advance.

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