Does Degree Really Matter for Wall street Jobs?
I have been considering majoring in Economics for the past year now. Its a subject i like and i hope to land a good job somewhere on wall street with it. Now i am just trying to see if its good enough i hear most people say anything with Math,Econ,Finance,Business Administration,& Comp Sci is usually a good field. I am looking to land a job with Investment Banking,Trading,PE Hedge funds and all those other good jobs, So if anybody knows what degree will help maximize that i would appreciate that. Also i will be interested in the Right Dual Major or Major/Minor. Thank you
Econ/math is great so is Econ/Compsci. To be honest econ and finance degrees are great for wallstreet couple that with quantitative minor and you're a nice candidate.
short answer: go to a target school (Ivy League and the like) and no one gives a fuck about your major. You can be sold to a client. Go to a semi-target and if economics and finance are in different schools (liberal arts vs. business), go with the one whose school is more selective (usually business schools are more selective so you'd likely go with finance). Why? Because Wall Street wants selectivity for selectivity's sake. Go to a non-target and you'd better either be a genius diamond in the rough (with a good reason you went there), know someone with power and pull, or get really effin lucky
Yep. I interned this summer with a kid from Princeton who was majoring in World History. This was a venture capital summer analyst position.
Exactly what the post above me said. The school will matter a lot - doing econ at UPenn is much better than doing econ/comp sci at Pace University for example.
Do majors matter after the first job? (Originally Posted: 07/16/2007)
Will future employers even care what you majored in? Or just GPA?
They might not care about either. What kind of first job? What kind of future employer?
ibanking, first job
sayyy hedge fund or pe for second
How important is your major in college? (Originally Posted: 04/05/2013)
I'm interested to know how a Poli Sci degree is looked at compared to an Econ degree in terms of getting a entry-level job in finance.
If Econ's better than Poli Sci, how much higher would the Poli Sci GPA have to be to negate the difference.
I'm especially interested in the perspective from Asia (e.g. Hong Kong & Singapore). I go to a top school, and I-Banks in the US have generally said to us that major doesn't matter for banking. But having lived in Asia, I know academics are taken much more seriously there. Would I suffer a greater "penalty" for my Poli Sci degree?
Your major demonstrates two things. 1) interests and 2) knowledge. A finance or econ major will have a much easier time proving that they are interested in working in finance and know the basics of finance, markets and economics. As a poli sci major you start in a hole in that they have no idea whether you're truly interested or knowledgeable of markets/finance or are just a bright, directionless kid applying to investment banking just because.
In terms of GPA from what I've read your major does not impact GPA screening. A 3.8 art history major is much more likely to get an interview than a 3.3 engineering major all else equal.
Just do engineering with a 4.00 and you'll be fine.
The way I see it is if you get the Polisci degree, thats what you're really interested in. So why do banking at all? For the money. Just suck it up and give up on your interests now and do a econ/finance degree. Or follow your interests, its your life.
Hey it all depends what you want to do. If you're looking to get into politics and get a law degree, well, poli science is a great background. Should you take any Poli Science classes MAKE SURE to take a class about the constitution and don't forget how your rights came to be about :). Second, if you're looking to be in finance, than take the poli science class still and major in finance because your financial skills are imperative to your success.Well to put it in perspective you need to know all the jibbershi and bullshit wall street talks about. Enjoy
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