Physics vs CS vs EE

Hi all, new user, but I spend a lot of time crawling around here. I am interested in going into Investment Banking as a career, and I am currently in the process of exploring college (Current Senior in HS). I am pretty good at math, I enjoy programming, and I like physics. I am also fascinated by finance (hopefully obvious). I have been accepted to UT Austin for Electrical Engineering, and believe I will be accepted to UIUC (If not CS then Engineering Physics). If I do EE it will be with Software Engineering and Systems Engineering technical cores. If CS then Algorithms, and if EP then Business concentration (400 level Financial Engineering and VC Marketing/Entrepreneurship electives). In either CS or Physics I will minor in the other and business, and the EE I will do Business Foundations minor. I am super interested in finance, and if I don't break into banking I would like to go into prop shops or insurance. I would like feedback on which majors/college would be most beneficial to pursuing this career.

Side note: I was deferred from Ross and Sloan, so my true target schools appear to be out of the running.

9 Comments
 

I know literally everyone on this forum says this, but slow down. Your major isn't nearly as important as you might think it is. The school you attend isn't either because UT-Austin is a great school (wish I went there). You don't know if you want to do investment banking. You might figure out in college that you want to do product management, software development, consulting, trading, Asset Management etc.

Go to the school you like the most. Make these sort of decisions later. Good luck.

 

Rethink before selecting because it's possible that you select a field X and end of being unemployable because the eventual field you want to enter requires some field Y.

Can't go wrong with CS though. Consulting, Tech, VC paths are attainable

 

UT Austin by far with the ones you've listed that you've been accepted into.

I'd go CS (EE is just a magnitude harder than CS) and still aim for a super high GPA. Honestly though at UT Austin getting into McCombs pretty much will guarantee you a job 'somewhere' if not somewhere great.

"It is better to have a friendship based on business, than a business based on friendship." - Rockefeller. "Live fast, die hard. Leave a good looking body." - Navy SEAL
 

Not really. CS and CEngg are slightly different fields. CS is probably rated higher by firms these days (inflated requirement of programmers because of IoT companies)

 

Go with EE, it's an engineering major and shows you know how to problem solve, work hard (if you get a high GPA), and have an attention to detail. I went from Aerospace Engineering to IB using those 3 attributes that every engineer will have. Just make sure you got at least a 3.5 which should impress them given you're in engineering (which is a hell of a lot harder than business).

 

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