Canadian Monkeys Heads up
Following is what Ive been hearing. So this reflect my perception only. But
For liberal arts majors, I think it's important to take some finance and math courses. Reason why I'm posting this, is because many of my very high GPA lib arts friends from U of T or McGill haven't been able to secure even a consulting position (not to mention IB)
I spent past month talking with a bunch of finance profs at my school, some IBers in Canada (2 associates were friends of family), wealth management people, etc. And everyone told me that US and Canadian banking systems are very different.
To sum it up, US truly does not care about your major. The banks will shape you into what they want you to become. However, in Canada, the competition for VERY FEW spots in IB is insane, and sky - high GPAs are not enough to make you stand out if you are a non-finance/accounting major from top 3 business undergrads. In fact, it is apparently borderline impossible to get a job as such.
But what can help you (on top of extracurricular, and of course networking), on top of doing a finance minor, is getting some quant skills in addition to soft skills. Note, the math stuff isn't useful in IB, but they want a "better bang for the buck." They rather take a 3.5 with soft and quant skills than a 3.5 with "communication skills and emotional intelligence" Please take this with a heap of salt, because this reflects views which I got from a very small sample size.
Just to note... competition for US IB spots are pretty insane too...
This is just full of nonsense...
Math is meaningless in IB.
I attend a 'Canadian School' (think Western, Queen's, McGill) and generally speaking, people here don't give a flying fuck about Math majors let alone a few math courses. I wouldn't want to list who I've spoken to in order to arrive at such a conclusion, but it certainly goes well beyond wealth management professionals and finance profs.
If you're a Political Science major in Canada who is completely devoid of the will to hustle, suck-d until you can apply to Ivey or Rotman's MBA.
I would also seek out Canadian bankers on the street. There are a ton and can serve as an invaluable resource for you. I certainly made the most out of it and networked with a wide array of Canadians in all industries. Don't let your background be simply a weakness - leverage it as well to network with the people with whom you share an affinity.
The original poster's assertions are more convential common sense facts than hard coded requirements... It does apply more for HR purposes and resume-screening mechanisms, but then again, the same would also apply for American kids. The key to overcome the above obstacle is to network. You can have a 3.7 in Sociology but still easily get an interview over quant kids if you network well. Once you arrive at the interview, everyone has a fair shot. If you are a smooth talker or a cute girl or can converse intelligently about the markets/deals, the major most likely won't matter a bit as you can easily shoot down the "Why x major?' question with a crisp response and a confident smile.
Historically BBAs and MBAs make up bay street. Those are the main targets and interviews for Canadian banks are very very technical. They want to make sure you know your accounting and valuation. Yes as a polisci or arts kid you will need to hustle to show you have the abilities and know your stuff. As a BBA you just need a good resume and good gpa and you get interviews from there.
While they may not care about majors anyone on this side of the table likes high marks in accounting/finance/economics/stats courses, lots of people actually look at Major GPA mainly for finance majors since no one cares how you did in HR or your electives.
PS - I do recall a few threads surrounding this majors issue created by Canadians recently and I can assure you that this isn't a discriminatory Canadian-centric bias... Majors don't really matter in interviews for Canadians or Americans. The only area where it might hold you back is if you only do a resume-drop without networking. In that case, of course HR might screen for more quant backgrounds. But if you network, quant and non-quant majors have an equal shot (imo) of getting referred to get interviews.
Once you are at the interview stage, Americans and Canadians are on an even playing field. Majors won't matter because even quant majors typically get asked - "So, why [finance or econ or accounting] major?" If you give a cool and confident response (and don't act unsecure and sheepish), you will be fine. They will only forcibly dig deeper on the major issue if they don't like you and want to fuck with you... Usually, interviewers (especially bankers) make quick judgements and decide within 30 seconds of meeting you whether they like you or not. If they like you (i.e. prolific networker whom they heard about already or a cute girl), they will accept any response. If they don't like you (i.e. badly dressed or weirdo vibes), they will use the major as an excuse to drive deeper and force you to stumble...
Thank you guys for clarifying.Maybe finance profs have a skewed view because they are very academia - centered vs research - centered.
I agree but the stack is against you. Bottomline is liberal arts programs in the us are some of the best and top programs. In Canada not the same case, the BBA programs are where the top high school and provincial gold medalists end up. The guy who went to Ivey HBA who gets some Western kid's resume and see's BA in Sociology knows, how much easier that program was to get in, how much less hours of classes that person had, how much more they partied, how crappy some of BA profs at Western is so on and so on.
This is not an HR bias, its a employee bias. A BA from a decent Canadian school who wants to do banking better prove they sure are worth it. While the Ivey/Queen's HBA/Bcomm most likely could have got into a top 20 US school and ended up going to study a Canadian BBA.
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