Intro.

Lemme introduce myself. Im a comp sci-econ student. I have interned at a BB IBD, and a top quant fund. I have been getting some private messages from aspirings about how I got in a BB IBD w/my forementiioned major, and other industry specific questions, so Ill try to answer some. I got this from an aspiring. Excuse the poor language/grammar/sentence structure, it's been a rough week.

Dear A Bathing Ape,

Hi, I'm applying to colleges and contemplating a career in IB and was wondering whether you could help me.

1. As a computer science major, do you feel at a disadvantage going into interviews? A:No, I didn't. The nature of the bulge bracket is that they'll interview w finance-unrelated majors (eg, eng, histo, phil, etc). This is in direct opposition to boutiques like grnhll, evercore, and lazard, who only interview w/finance/economics/accounting. I prepared myself thoroughly for my interviews, and so I was offered a position. The message I got from this experience, is that BB IBs, if you know your stuff (more on this later), you'll get the job. I should also add that some in the industry are weary of BS majors like anthropology, so if you're one of these, it'll need some pandering. If you're at a no-name (~30), a finance/quant/econ major will help you imensely.

2. Do you feel that the finance classes you took sufficed for these interviews and adequately prepared you for interviews? A: Simply, yes it did. But it's more than your major/courses that matter in interviews. Advice I'd give is to NEVER question yourself, even if you give a BS answer. Be able to think on your feet and improvise. Research known questions (why IB?, wat sets u apart) ahead of time, and think about them. Don't be drab, show that you can do something other than crank out comps.

3. Do you feel that it would be more wise to major in finance, or just major in whatever you like and take some finance courses? It would be wiser to take a finance major if you're at a non target, since if you're at Harvard as opposed to Drumond, they'll assume you're pedigree (they aren't always right). If you're at Target, firms naturally assume you are pedigree, so majors don't matter as much. That being said, being at Princeton doesn't give you a free ride to bankderdom, nor does it mean you'll have to work less.

4. If you're a non-finance major e.g French, should you list any finance courses you took/are taking on a resume? A: No friggin' duh

Regards, Random Dude