Is it ACTUALLY good to be an engineering major applying for IB roles, or do people just say that?

Basically the title. I feel like people are always saying that a more "quanty" major like engineering looks really good (as long as you can keep up a good GPA of course) when applying/interviewing for IB. Is this really true though? Are there that many people coming from engineering/cs/physics backgrounds that are in IB? As I look at LinkedIn I feel like I see very few people with these majors in investment banking. Of course most of the people in those majors have no interest in IB, but do you feel like the people who are interested with a engineering/cs/physics background actually have an advantage? 

19 Comments
 

It's not really an advantage or disadvantage for IBD.

It's good because it opens up other careers like tech/quant as well. Also engineers/maths/cs/physics is preferred for a lot of trading roles.

 

Lol why do IB when you actually have tangible skills. Most of the industry will be replaced by tech in your lifetime son

 

I am one of those people. I do feel like I am wasting some skills (I could be SWE/PM at FAANG with less hours and more comp) but in the end I want to do GE or late stage VC, where tech IB sets me up a bit better for those roles. Plus, the skills would be helpful in those firms (sourcing or evaluating companies, building credibility with founders, for example) in the medium to long term, even though in the short term they are not relevant to IB. 

However, if you have no interest in GE/VC, go do SWE/APM at FAANG/MS/Uber/Lyft/etc. and then do a startup or join an early stage one. Don't do IB in that case. 

 

Around 180-220k including RSUs at SWE/PM roles. That's more than IB (150-180k I believe) for bulge brackets at least. Granted, I have with a degree from a school that's relatively sought after for engineers. PM would be on the lower end of the range, but SWE and specialized AI engineers are definitely pulling 200+ out of college if they are from a target engineering school and focus on landing a job at FAANG/Lyft/DeepMind/etc.

 
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I wonder how people studying engineering or history convince bankers in superday they want to do banking. In all my interviews I got asked why finance/ib? I would have had a tough time making up a story if i was studying neuroscience or some shit. BUT I have seen tons of non-finance majors at superdays but they all came from target schools. I think its total BS on HR's part when they say "we hire all majors", that may only be true for target schools. If you are at a non target I would pick finance or econ. Just my 2 cents. 

 

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