Majors and Education
Hi, I am currently working towards my bachelor’s degree at Rutgers University in their honors program and aspire to get into trading upon graduation. I am trying to decide between majors of Finance or Economics based on which would give me the strongest background and foundation to help me get started when I graduate (with the understanding that much of the skills I will gain will be on the job). I hear from fellow students that more banks recruit for Finance (simply because it is a part of the Rutgers Business School as oppose to Economics which is a liberal arts major). However, after reading books like Market Wizards I get the impression that having a worldly comprehensive knowledge that Economics provides is surely important in trading. On a side note, I intend to double major in Journalism and one of the aforementioned majors. Also, Rutgers not being a target school, even for Finance, usually BB firms recruit for Operations and back office positions in banks—Thus, I am not really picking a major based on what gives me the best chance of getting recruited; rather, what will give me the most appropriate and applicable knowledge. Traders, please let me know what you think and I definitely value and appreciate your opinions. Thanks.
Just to let you know, Rutgers is basically a target for Citi. I am a summer at Citi and they actively recruit from Rutgers.
Yeah, why not both? I know at my school, not sure about your school, where a number of finance classes is overlapped with economic classes.
can you do both?
Thanks for the input so far; I have considered doing both Finance and Economics, and am not shying away from the workload. But I did read in an article or a career book of some sort [I’ll try to find a link] saying that there is no point in trying to major in two seemingly related fields in an effort to impress recruiters; contrarily, if you were to double major choose two unrelated fields which is why I was going to have Journalism as my second major along with either Econ or Finance. However, I presumably shouldn’t make decisions based on a single article so let me know your perspectives. Thanks again.
if u can do finance with econ go for it. take advantage of the rutgers recruiting for finance. the econ major will actually make you stand out in the resume if not many finance majors do it. if it'll kill your gpa, stay away. if you can maintain a strong gpa, it'll improve your chances greatly IMO.
The more I have been reading and discussing with people about trading, it is becoming apparent that having a strong quantitative background is pretty important. With that being said, is this math skill mostly important for getting the job or is it necessary to succeed in the job as well? I have heard other majors even various liberal arts majors succeed as traders; however, I assume that they don’t have a very strong math background either. I have only taken Calculus 1 and still have a long way to go to get to Multivariable calculus, linear algebra and the likes. Is this high level of math necessary to succeeding as a trader? Thanks.
depends on the product. i read papers that involve fairly high level math...some trading roles not at all. numerical aptitude/comfort is a must though.
Which trading roles use the least amount of upper level math? Also, in rates, do you use math at the level found in Hull on a daily basis?
math is important. take some math to challenge yourself - econ and finance are pretty easy
Jimbo, Are you stochastic calculus-savvy?
ehh, not as much as i should be, but enough to do my job.
jimbo or anyone else, did you take math courses on the job or have you gotten along fine with the math prep you when you got in?
fine with what i head, then self taught. no formal courses.
Econ and Fin are important yes. I would suggest you learn how to program (VBA, MACROS). That's what will separate you from the rest.
I have taken 1 semester of both MS Visual Basic and C++. So you're saying this will help my chances of getting an intership/full-time? Also, how much programming knowledge do traders actually need?
Every question in the form 'How much [specific education, skill, pedigree, talent, qualification] do you need to get into [ibd, s&t, general]?' has been answered.
Re: How important is programming skills in S&T today? @ //www.wallstreetoasis.com/node/6758
Re: Computer Programming @ //www.wallstreetoasis.com/node/5237
Re: Computer Science Advantageous for S&T? @ //www.wallstreetoasis.com/node/2337
Re: Visual Basic, C++ to work in Banking? @ //www.wallstreetoasis.com/node/7450
I actually remember another thread where someone states his lack of programming usage but notes his work is in the less quantitative field of emerging market rates.
Sorry, if this has already been mentioned, but Jimbo, exactly how much math did you take at the undergraduate level? Thanks.
multi-variable calc, linear algebra, probability, stats, and game theory.
interested in this as well. Rutgers actually has completely different courses for econ and finance with very little overlap. Probably going to major in economics but take as many finance courses as i can (double majoring would kill me credit wise).
If you want to trade in general:
Major in Econ because it's pretty flexible. for Math take at least Calc 1 & 2 along with statistics (which you probably have to do anyway).
Take high quality finance classes and high quality accounting courses as well. (I highly recommend minoring in both). You never know what type of product you will trade and if you are trading credit accounting will help you out lot.
Focus on Macro type econ courses and Monetary and Financial Econ courses as well.
Also learn technical analysis--www.mta.org has good books about it. In the short term, these really drive movements in the financial markets.
you will need to demonstrate a quantitative aptitude but not to the extent of say topology or something like that.
If you want to be a quant: double major math & econ. take some finance classes as well and some programming courses.
Hi Vram,
I am a senior graduating from Rutgers and let me tell you that the Economic major is a joke. I am actually an Economics major and have learned things from only 2 classes here, which is covered within your first semester in the Business School. I do most of my learning outside of the classroom and really wish I picked up a more quant based major.
If you really are uncertain of doing Finance, then pick up a major in Math or Statistics (I'd prefer math although I'm a stats minor).
But I'm being completely honest, Rutgers does not get BB S&T opportunities. We get Ops, Fin, PWM, and IB for Citi. It will be a tough road to be a trader (I want to as well), but be optimistic and work hard and keep your grades up. Network network network, because I think honestly at the end of the day, if you're competent and have a great attitude, you can land any spot available.
Send me a PM if you ever want to meet up to grab lunch. Good luck
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