Is CS a good choice for IB?

Hello,

I will be attending Georgia Tech and have to make the choice between computer science and industrial engineering, so which one do you think is the best option? 

My goal is to gain transferable skills for the industry, IB/PE and potentially fin-tech. Also, to have a good fallback plan if IB doesn't workout, going into MBB first then doing an MBA and afterwards PE (skipping IB in this scenario). 

Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated. 

15 Comments
 

Business Administration is fine. You could minor in computational data analysis. Aim for a 4.0 GPA.

No need for computer science unless you want to be a quant. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

This is bad information. Unless you are at a top target, all-else equal, top firms will always have a preference for those doing CS/Math/Stats rather than strictly econ. It shows that you are willing to take more intellectually demanding courses & at the very least you will have a more marketable skillset rather than a pure finance grad. 

 

CS is not essential. You still have to get a high GPA with these hard STEM classes if you go that path, so there is a risk.

He could double major in CS + Business optimally, but that is a hard path.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

have siblings at GT. GT, like most tech-heavy engineering schools, is known to be pretty brutal with weeding kids out during entry-level classes. so take that for what it's worth. GT has the best industrial engineering program in the USA, and they do have a finance concentration of sorts under the major, but it's still pretty challenging workload wise and GPA-wise. personally, since it doesn't seem like you have any short-medium term goals to go into anything coding/engineering related, I would major in business and take any coding/ie classes on the side (maybe pick up a minor in CS or IE if u wanted to). 

 

Yeah, I understand the value of a high GPA but GaTech being a non-target for IB, I will have to stand out in one way or another. So majoring in econ/finance at GaTech I don't think is the best option, especially when its a tech school (I won't be able to compete with the econ kids from target schools). But doing engineering and having a 3.7/3.8+ gpa with a finance minor will, I hope, compensate for the non-targetness aspect. 

 

My impression - and I expect that of others - is that Georgia Tech is an excellent STEM/CS school but isn't all that good for finance/econ/business. Ergo, majoring in STEM/CS makes sense; you can always justify that finance wasn't your original plan but X happened and now...

I'd agree with your perspective that it's going to be a lot easier standing out as a STEM student from there than with a more directly related subject. 

 

yes, exactly. Investing 200k in a tech school with #1 IE program and doing finance isn't very smart in my opinion. If I was at HYP or other targets then screw STEM, I would do econ or something less depressing. But I do like engineering and coding, so doing it at GaTech will give me a fighting chance for nyc IB.

Just what do you think is better, CS or IE? I really like IE, but CS just seems a little more versatile job wise. 

 
Most Helpful

nickatsisko14

yes, exactly. Investing 200k in a tech school with #1 IE program and doing finance isn't very smart in my opinion. If I was at HYP or other targets then screw STEM, I would do econ or something less depressing. But I do like engineering and coding, so doing it at GaTech will give me a fighting chance for nyc IB.

A high GPA will aid in you breaking into NYC IB, typically 3.8 - 4.0. The closer to 4.0, the better. And good internships.

If you have a 3.4 in IE, it might look fine for IE jobs, but less so for IB positions, so if you sign up for the STEM major, you really need to be a rockstar, as the subjects are generally challenging to ace.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

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