Breaking Into IB as a Humanities Major
I’m going to Columbia as a humanities major, and I’m wondering about what I should do to best enhance my chances of breaking into the industry. I’m also going to take classes in computer science and statistics to compensate for my lack of a quantitative background.
I’m planning to get a freshman summer internship and a few internships during the school year before recruiting starts, but I doubt that will be enough to mitigate my predicament. What should I do to maximize my odds of breaking into IB? I’m also looking to move over to a quant fund after a few years in banking… Any comments are appreciated!
Change your major :|
Breaking into IB from Columbia with a humanities degree won’t be the issue; might raise a few eyebrows at a quant fund though.
Would it help to get some buy-side internships during the school year prior to applying? I’m planning on interning in school after my first year, and I intend for all of them to be in finance.
For banking? Are you diverse? Not needed but can be helpful. Non-diverse? Having multiple finance internships under your belt have seemed to be necessary to be a competitive candidate
The beauty of going to a target is that your major doesn’t major if you want to recruit for IB, PE, Consulting, etc. Different for Quants though.
HOWEVER, you shouldn’t expect being able to do IB->Quant. That simply isn’t possible as they’re very different career paths from the beginning.
I should mention that I’m going to Columbia GS… I know the recruiting and internships are essentially the same, but it’s vital to get it right since interviewers will already have some doubts. Do you think I could compensate by taking advanced math and comp sci classes?
Those classes would help ease doubts for quant positions, but won't really help you for IB/PE/MBB/etc. At best, it just shows you're not dumb but your GPA should reflect that anyways.
I studied political science at Columbia and now work on the buyside (public markets). Has never been a problem for IB/HF/AM/VC interviews that I've had
I'm studying anthropology at a school that isn't as well regarded as Columbia (still a target), still got a T1 RX offer (non-diverse, play a sport though so maybe that helped?). I don't think any of that stuff matters as long as you can showcase that you have industry knowledge/get technicals right, and at the end of the day, those technicals are prob easier than the average calc class in high school: they just take time to learn. I recruited only for RX, and even with those groups, most of the interviews were behavioral. I don't even think you need to take the quantitative classes on the side, unless they interest you intrinsically.
do u mind me asking what’s t1 rx (ap am fti)? Also, mind giving some hints on the technicals involved in rx interviews?
Thanks a lot!!
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