Best major for breaking into banking from non-target
I go to a school that is not a target or a low target for finance (JHU) and I'm wondering what course of action will give me the best chance of getting a position at an IBank (preferably in Sales and Trading). Right now I've accumulated enough credits to graduate with a degree in either CS, applied math, or (pure) math. They're all about equally interesting to me.
While math is definitely the hardest major of those three, Applied Math has a lot of coursework directly related to finance. Would that sort of coursework help when looking for a front office position?
I know someone who graduated from JHU with a degree in applied math.... landed on a credit desk at GS. It's definitely possible. Granted they could lock you in a closet and make you pump out algos and stuff but having an applied math degree from JHU won't hurt you.
The thing is, I don't really want to be a quant. From what I understand of the positions, Sales and Trading seems the most interesting, perhaps followed by research.
From my own experience ...I've seen retards with BA's in Literature working at GS and MS -__- ...but those BA's are from Amherst and College of William & Mary.
"...but those BA's are from Amherst and College of William & Mary."
JHU is generally considered a peer of Amherst and W&M, so I'd like to think that a math BA from JHU will open doors, but I'm really not so sure about this.
Don't worry so much about the major -- just pick the one that will land you the highest GPA, relatively speaking.
Get relevant work experience, and network with alumni.
Your "major" won't be the make or break point of landing an internship, but a high GPA + relevant work experience + alumni connections will.
Study what you want to study and network. I interviewed at a bank with a JHU alumnus and she graduated with a liberal arts degree...
Do CS because it will be useful to be able to write your own little apps and scripts.
First of all: Amherst is not a peer to William & Mary... it's a peer with Williams, perhaps, but it's well ahead of W&M
JHU is also not on par with Amherst, but it's a good enough school to get your foot in the door, so just try and keep that GPA up and network your ass off. I'd say Applied Math would be the best major, though the differences are marginal. If you can graduate in Applied Math and CS that would be impressive.
By "better school", you mean in terms of recruiting right?
How much overlap is there between these programs you've completed? If it's possible, can you just declare all three of them? If you can at least declare two of them, I agree with Pymp that Applied Math and Computer Science would be a formidable combo.
If you can only declare one of them, the obvious question that needs to be answered is why the hell you completed all three. If you have to choose, you might want to go with whichever you have the highest GPA in as "Major GPA" can be a resume-worthy factor in your application (though not a substitute for "Cumulative GPA.") All else being equal, I would take Applied Math over Computer Science and both of those over Pure Math.
Good luck.
If it's S&T we're talking about, I still stand by CS. You'll get a decent discrete math background and learn basic proof writing skills, probably to the same extent you would in Applied Math. It's a lot less time consuming to learn the necessary probability and statistics for trading than it is to learn how to program useful tools using that math knowledge. If you're really set on S&T, just major in both or do an Applied Math minor with probability/stats courses.
If I go with CS is there any risk of getting shoehorned into the technology division and not being able to get interviews for S&T or anything else in the front office?
CS, engineering, physics, or applied math. Getting a degree in one of these fields with a decent gpa is much more valuable than getting very high marks in a business related field. However if you do decide to go the business route I would major in accounting. Just my two cents.
Zoid, idk about the IT thing. I don't think it's much of a risk if you come across as passionate about trading. Plus, prop firms like CS majors. You can just say that you're a double major on your resume. They won't know if you finished the second major until you actually have a FT job offer and by then they won't care.
Thanks for all of the advice. My situation is that I'm going into my junior year and the first two years are pretty similar for applied math / engineering / CS.
Does anyone have an opinion on a BA program in general engineering? Will that get a substantial boost for being closer to the liberal arts or will it be seen as less rigorous and lead to my application getting docked?
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