Does Course Matter at Semi Targets? (UK/London)
I sorta asked a more specialised version of this question a couple days ago but didn’t really get any conclusive answers so I thought I’d make it more general. Obviously at target unis the view typically tends to be that the course choice really doesn’t matter and a non related degree for finance is fine as long as you are able to get relevant extracurriculars. However I was wondering how true this holds at semi targets. Do you have to do an economics/finance related degree at a semi targets to be able to have a good chance at getting into things like SW & SA positions, or does something unrelated like Geography/History/Sociology etc still give you a good chance?
I think regarding this, HR might be best placed to comment. Otherwise it's just going to be conjecture.
I say this because there might be a selection bias amongst people at semi-targets whereby those who mostly do get into IB are those who choose to study Econ/finance, and people studying other disciplines just don't have an interest in it so don't apply, so what ends up happening is that semi-targets overwhelmingly are represented by Econ students, but that's not necessarily to say that you have to have to study Econ to get into it.
I fully understand and agree with your point about selection bias as obviously people who study econ/fin are far more likely to actually apply to IB roles. From what I’ve read stem degrees at semis won’t lead to an application being disregarded but can’t seem to find much regarding less quantitive degrees from ST’s like humanities.
Yes, that's why I would recommend reaching out to HR of a few companies, or at least networking with some alumni etc. I scoured LinkedIn a bit to see where alumni from my university ended up (semi-target), and the vast majority of IB people are Econ grads, with some PPE people here and there - which obvs is a humanities type of degree. But, again, I very much suspect this purely be down to selection bias because when I was at uni, none of my friends who didn't study Econ/Econ adjacent degrees (and sometimes maths) would be interested in IB.
I did some searching on LinkedIn a few days ago just to check how many Geography (non Econ subject I’d likely want to pursue) grads were in the UK branches of big IB firms working in Finance like GS, MS and JP and it was a tiny number (around 30 to 70 out of a few thousand) although from a range of target and semi targets. Therefore I’m finding it hard to figure out whether this is self selection bias or HR rejecting Geography. Just wondering how would I go about reaching HR to find this out? Sorry if that’s a basic/bad question.
Top 3 BB. I just scrolled through our entire internship class, unis and degree. Based on my scan there are <10 people with non STEM, Econ/Finance/Management, or Law (mainly legal and compliance) degrees. Most, if not all, were target kids.
One data point, but telling. Anecdotally have also heard this focus from management.
My advice is don't do a random degree unless you're going to a target, ideally Oxbridge.
Thank you for sharing that data honestly really helpful to see actual, recent stats. Would you say that this pattern is similar in smaller BBs or ‘T3 firms’ and could you also go into what you’ve anecdotally heard from management?
I have no idea about any other banks, don't have access to that sort of data anywhere else.
As for management commentary, I won't elaborate, but let's just say the commentary aligns with the outcome.
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