Chemist into ibanking?

Jeez, what's with all these science majors wanting to become bankers these days?

they wanna make money...

better a smart and hardworking sci major than a dumbass "finance" major

the hardest thing taught in undergrad finance is perhaps the capm derivation..which is a joke compared to pchem.

If they were smart, they would have chosen Finance in the first place, got a 4.0, partied 5 nights/week for 4 years and lined up a $150K job in Banking.

Now go memorize your periodic tables.

no, they wanted to actually add value to society. if finance was such a useful skill and so difficult to learn, the banks would probably actually see value in hiring finance majors from state schools instead of ivy kids with liberal arts backgrounds. in reality, finance can be easily learned (especially the glorified accounting that is IBD).

i actually found my science/math background to be immensely helpful during recruiting.

Yea, you and this kid here are the smarter ones. Instead of slaving away in some R&D division making $70K/year why not do ridiculously easy work in an IBank and be a millionaire by 30.

And if you really think that Chemistry majors choose their major with the aim of "adding value to society", I would say your view is idealistic to say the least.

as strange as it might seem to you having spent your time in a UG business school environment, some people enjoy science for the sake of it, not just to become doctors or as leverage for a finance job. without them, there would be no professors, no research labs, etc. they may not seek to directly add value to society, but i'd argue the positive externalities of their work are undeniable, relative to what i-banks do. i've seen both sides - have you?

Sure, I'm gonna be the one who starts the companies and raises the money to fund the good works of our distinguished scientists. That's my role in the bigger picture.

the financier's job is much easier than the scientist's. that said, im glad im going into wall street, but i think the larger problem is that a lot of smart people in America (the kids that were formerly studying engineering, science, etc) are thinking the same thing. The biggest recruiters at MIT now are financial services and consultancies, not corporate R&D departments. long-run, if you've taken macro, econ. growth comes from what engineers and scientists do, not what financiers do, and I think the US is in trouble if this trend continues.

I'm the first one to step up and say that Bankers add the least value to society. This Country was built on the backs of Scientists, professors, engineers and I respect their achievements.

But the fact of the matter is that in America today, the ambitious Engineers/Scientists etc will choose Wall Street over their profession because the payoffs from a career in their own fields is relatively miniscule. Today, only the most brilliant Engg/Scientists can expect to become multi-millionaires if they pursue a career in those fields.

Heck, everyone has a role to play in society, if we placed value solely on the quantitative types, America wouldn't be the financial behemoth it is today. Entrepreneurship in other fields would lag as it does in certain Asian countries i.e. India, China.

There are many ways to measure a person's value to society and not all of them relate to science/math.

Of course the financier's job is easier, why the heck do you think so many people want to go into this field? Highest return relative to investment.

Thank god we have the foreign students to fill the engineering gaps, though the government should definitely be working on getting more them to come and stay.

Engineers/Scientists/Doctors etc. should be paid more.

so should teachers.... but whos counting?

I have to say I think about this a lot and Im pretty damn happy, and we all should be, that we are so well compensated for something that we like.

since when is chemistry not math intense??? I have a quantum mechanics exam tomorrow and theres more calculus in that than I can handle. I was originally Chem Engineering, yet changed to pure chem b/c I found out that all engineering was basically plugging in values and churning them out... no thought on theory. I like chem because it makes me think outside of the box

Can we please stop with the value add discussions? Everyone in society adds value (except for criminals). Society will fall apart if janitors and garbage men did not keep it clean and if food workers did not make the food investment bankers and doctors need in order to pursue their occupations. Eeryone with a job adds value for someone, otherwise they wouldn't be receiving a paycheck

how bout just dealing drugs to ibankers? with your chemistry background, it would be a lot easier to get your foot through the door. Bankers would rather buy their goods from a clean cut white collar boy vs. some Bolivian street thug...

To the OP,

You should consider VC.

to the idiot that said engineering > chem for finance, yes, that's true, if you're looking to be the desk quant. engineering adds no special value in IBD, and merely qualifies one for s/t. end of the day, the guy who can do numbers at a reasonable level (engineering doesn't enhance intrinsic aptitude; there's an unbelievable number of people who can't multiply or do trig even w/ "advanced" sci/eng degrees) and can communicate will win out. imo, engineering doesn't really seem to prove anything if its not from a top school (MIT, etc)