Econ Major v.s. Finance Minor for IB
Hey all - debating whether an Econ major is better than a finance minor for Investment Banking. For reference, I'm early in my undergraduate and want to slot courses for a four-year plan to give me the best profile for Defense/Aerospace IB. I'm already on track for an international studies major at a small D.C. non-target (focus on foreign policy and econ), and want to add on top of that. If an econ major is better, is there an online course I can take to teach some of the modeling concepts taught in a finance minor? Thank you!
Is there a reason you can't do a finance major? Unless your school doesn't offer it, finance major is by far the smartest idea for a non-target. Teaches you a lot of the concepts + checks the box for recruiting. People will definitely question you a bit with international studies as that is not a technical major
Also most schools don't teach modeling, it's more conceptual financial and accounting concepts. There are some short recruiting prep courses but it's going to be hard to replicate multiple years of finance education
That said if these are your only options - finance minor definitely. Double major is a lot of work and econ doesn't add much. Spend the extra time doing offcycle internships and networking
Lastly aerospace and defense is a truly tiny part of IB. Obviously DC will help you but very few banks break out the group + run out of DC + recruit separately. A lot of banks run A&D with industrials and the office sits in NY or somewhere else that isn't DC... so you'd have to go through generalist NYC recruiting and hope you land industrials way after you get the offer. Just might want to keep your options open
Some banks have dedicated A&D groups, actually headed to one myself next summer.
it's very very few though. narrow area to recruit for if you're not trying to go through industrials / placement
The US is so weird man, why is it strongly preferred to have a finance degree? Just a bunch of people who are all the same who have no personality. In the UK spots are primarily filled by Econ graduates, and plenty of people from law, engineering, physics, humanities ...
it’s the same case in the US, I don’t think any ivies even have a finance degree
Wharton might.
"Why is it preferred that new hires study the field of the position and not some random ass shit" -WSO Teller in IB-M&A
Shut the hell up.
US has a lot of non-targets making it into banking - finance degree is really how you show interest. The UK is much more based on what school you go to and spring weeks. If you're at an Ivy in the US you can study whatever random thing, but if you go to U of Northeastern Iowa you probably want to show some finance knowledge...
Check out Lazard LA for solid A and D
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