Industrial and Systems Engineering?
How would this major look to recruiters at I-banks? What courses would I want to ensure that I take?
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It is a great major. Some schools offer a more "finance-based" track, so I would definitely recommend taking some finance and accounting as electives. When talking to some bankers, they really like the fact that a degree like this gives you statistics, some CS, and business knowledge.
I've heard good things about it as well. what loki said AND, looking at the curriculum, it gives a good foundation for the rest of your life. You are essentially optimizing everything. sure you can't optimize much stuff for investment banking, but think of all the aspects in your life that you can, and maybe in your career After ib.
maybe the easiest engineering, but most practical in todays world. got a couple friends doing it, solid degree. I'd say either go industrial engineering, or accounting. finance/economics too easy-mainstream.
The top majors/minors for high finance:
Major: Accounting, Statistics, Industrial Engineering,
Minor: Statistics, Accounting, Computer Science** (important to a degree), Psychology (mass psychology to gauge markets).
Double majoring IMO isn't worth it, waste of a time. Pick 1 major and maybe a minor or 2. I picked only1 major out of the above and concentrated my time on reading books and learning material on real world stuff.
You want to MINIMIZE the amount of time you are spending on academia, and maximize whatever you can learn about the actual day-to-day work finance professionals do. This would be the optimal way to spend 4 years.
You have to choose whether to get technical route - industrial engineering, financial route - accounting (boring but solid path), statistics - quant (if you want to go into like statistical investing, all that stuff) same for industrial engineering because of slight computer science element.
also learn excel, be an excel ninja no matter where you go. this is what I'm talking about when saying spend less time on academia, more on real world applications
I'll be entering this program at USC; here's what looks like the gist of the coursework: Probability Concepts Engineering Stats. Manufacturing Proceses Facilities & Logistics Operations Research Human Factors Database Systems Planning, Scheduling, & Control Stat. Quality Control Discrete Systems Sim. Work, Tech., and Organization Engineering Economy
Outside of the ISE requirements, I have to take: Two semesters of Physics Fund. of Programming Accounting for Non-Business majors
I'm also considering a minor in Mathematical Finance. Do these sound valuable? Business Finance Financial Analysis and Valuation Principles of Micro/Macro Micro/Macro Analysis for Business Decisions Intro to MATLAB or Intro to C++ (not sure)
Or, would another minor be more valuable? I have sophomore standing from 32 units of AP credit and would hope to take advantage of that by minoring in something helpful/interesting.
Dude, sweet deal. that minor in mathematical finance is awesome. wish I had that at my college, definitely do that.
btw please keep your gpa above 3.8+, if you have to drop the minor..do it, but 3.7+ at minimum....cuz you're at USC
Btw i think that's about enough, Industrial engineering and ONLY the maths finance minor. You said something else interesting for another minor? forget about it. The rest you do on your own time, don't take classes...unless its like a one-time 3cr scuba diving class, those are sick. spanish minor? nope. psychology minor? nope. trust me, just do all of that on your own time- want to learn spanish- do study abroad.
also whats your end goal? a lot depends on it, but you can stay a bit flexible since you're young (you seem like the quant type - programming and all) but let me know if you aren't.
Btw college....please play a sport, bet the USC girls are hot-enjoy, and be a really really good public speaker. If you aren't start working on that (and no, try not to minor or take classes)
Fyi, if you don't want to be technical like engineering, then accounting is the next best bet. ofc accounting is boring as shit....just rules on rules. but if you suck at math, or dont want to program/code (like me) then switch out ASAP.
I was capable of coding...but i hate it
accounting with the math finance minor would also be AWESOME. you can't go wrong
O and key thing. read 100 pages a day. NON-FICTION ONLY
seriously if you don't take anything else from what I said just take this - "read 100 pages a day." read 100 pages a day. read 100 pages a day. you get the point, just please do that. and NON-FICTION ONLY
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