As the title suggests.
Every bank emphasizes that strong quantitative skills are an absolute necessity to be a sucessful banker. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Excel do all of the proverbial math bitch-work? I've also been told that the formulas bankers use aren't any more complicated than stuff you use in Calc I. So what's the issue?
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quantitative skills means being able to detect problems in a model by just looking at the numbers. it means being able to understand the entire model... if an assumption changes, you should be able to eye ball the change in the results.
there is no job where you will ever do hard core formulas... all of that is taken care of by software. even in engineering and science, they use matlab or sas... its about setting up the model and understanding how it works.
i agree with niles, in terms of the quantitative abilities you actually need on the job - it's about being able to eyeball a model and see what makes sense and what doesn't. from an interview standpoint, the most "quantitative" questions was no harder than stuff you'd see on the GMAT's -- nothing really beyond basic probability, statistics, and high school algebra 2. i never was even asked a question that required elementary college math, such as linear algebra or ordinary differential equations.
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