How to best answer the question "Why did you do masters in Economics instead in Finance for IB?"

I recently got asked this question when I did a quick call with an alumni working at BB and it seems like this question might be asked again in future interviews. I feel like I did not answer it in a very convincing manner. Do you guys have suggestions on how to best answer this question?

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I feel like this is a bit of a mean question to ask, so the reception of any answer might depend on the interviewer. But (and I studied Economics), I feel like an answer might be either:

A) You weren't sure what investment banking was when making university course options at high school, nor sure what you might want to do with your life - not everyone comes from a background where they have the priviledge of being exposed to these kinds of industry. You were, however interested interested in business, trade, and global economics, and saw Economics as a course as a sensible way to access that.

B) You understand that some of the concepts in Finance course (Brownian motion, Modigliani-Miller, etc.) are quite academic and not used frequently on the job. You understand that you'll have a whole career to learn about Finance, and access it through professional qualifications like the CFA. So university might be the last opportunity to academically indulge yourself in other topics you find interesting, while still being very tangential and useful for a career in investment banking.

 
Count WACCula

I feel like this is a bit of a mean question to ask, so the reception of any answer might depend on the interviewer. But (and I studied Economics), I feel like an answer might be either:

A) You weren't sure what investment banking was when making university course options at high school, nor sure what you might want to do with your life - not everyone comes from a background where they have the priviledge of being exposed to these kinds of industry. You were, however interested interested in business, trade, and global economics, and saw Economics as a course as a sensible way to access that.

B) You understand that some of the concepts in Finance course (Brownian motion, Modigliani-Miller, etc.) are quite academic and not used frequently on the job. You understand that you'll have a whole career to learn about Finance, and access it through professional qualifications like the CFA. So university might be the last opportunity to academically indulge yourself in other topics you find interesting, while still being very tangential and useful for a career in investment banking.

OP is asking for MSc in Economics. Therefore answer A is not optimal. If you have studied university for 3 / 4 years and don't know what you want to do and then study MSc Economics I would ding personally.

 

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