Should I major in liberal arts or hard STEM?
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thats a tough question and things change. try out your classes first and see what interests you.
Econ and English sounds like a combo for ER, but you could go many paths with that including consulting. CS and math probably good for quant roles. Up to you.
CS & anything. CS is the best major even if you don't want SWE.
CS will look better than econ 9/10 times
If you’re a CS/math/physics major, I immediately assume you’re very smart. If you’re a English major, I don’t. Take that for what you will.
Thanks for the snark, chief. I'm an associate 2, just haven't changed the tag because I don't care enough to do so. But have fun analyzing literature and immersing yourself in the humanities; I'm sure that will get you really far in finance.
Former attorney here. PM me about law if you wish. You’re young and have tremendous potential based on what you posted, there is no reason for you to go to law school under any circumstance. Best of luck with your college years.
Yes. There are too many checkpoints where you can be forced off this track, whether 1L, 2L interviews, the midlevel associate years, firm deequitization in your early 50s and you become unemployable, law has become as risky as high finance.
very, very few people intending to enter litigation have a full understanding of what the career entails absent parents who are litigators or multi year paralegal experience. Even then, they need to realize how little of what they will do entails time in a courtroom.
have you ever considered a classic degree such as medieval basket weaving?
Physics grad here, I wouldn't go into this subject unless you really like it. I also took a fair bit of upper level math (topology / analysis), and would say that most people I knew who did this stuff with me were like pretty into it. If you don't enjoy it or see the beauty in it, you'll probably train wreck your GPA (probably goes without saying, but avoid doing that at all costs) unless you're super gifted and can power through the theory without being interested in it.
I can't comment too much on Engineering / CS programs as I thought they were for nerds, but generally, the employment prospects were much better for those grads, and on surface level, I knew quite a few that claimed to just be in it for the job, not a passion for the field.
Shop around, freshman year is a great time to take a bunch of different classes and see what you like!
You're calling CS people nerds and you majored in Physics? Lol the lack of self-awareness...
my vote goes toward creative writing part of me wishes I did that or english lit instead of finance but I wanted to graduate fast so finance was the call
What school are you attending? If you're at Harvard / Yale / other liberal arts target it really doesn't matter what you major in. The most successful person I know majored in philosophy at a NESCAC school.
Why not just tell us what universities? It will make it easier to give you advice - majoring in English at Duke is not the same as majoring in English at UPenn.
I mean, that's the benefit of being at a target, right? You can pursue your academic interests and still get a top job in finance, because they don't care about your major. It's not like being an Econ or physics major will help you pass technicals anyways. I was in a fraternity full of idiots who were economics, history, creative writing, engineering, women gender studies, etc and anyone who wanted finance, got jobs at MMPE, MFPE, BBs, EBs, MBB, etc. If I had to recommend something, I'd recommend doing a quant major + English.
My guess is that you're going to be bitterly disappointed with the quality of liberal arts education at one of those T10 universities. It may not be the passion project that you envision.
Instead of reading the classics, learning about the pre-World Wars (Napoleonic wars, French and Indian War, etc.), and having healthy and open debate and discussion, you're going to be fed a healthy diet of 21st century woke garbage and ethnic hatred. You will walk away from an Ivy League (or other) degree dumber than when you entered.
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