Bankers from Harvard/Columbia

I was taking a campus tour at Columbia today and realised that they do not have a business news school for undergrad. I went on my phone and realized that Harvard and some other ivies did not. If Harvard doesn't have a business school for undergrad, what majors do students study to get into Investment Banking. Wouldn't firms rather recruit from Wharton or Stern because they are purely focused on business. Sorry, I just really wouldn't want to study Plato when I'm trying to get onto the street.

 

This is talked about incessantly on here....search for it and you'll have more threads than you can read by the end of the year....

To summarize, though, Harvard kids do Econ/Philosophy/etc. They can do this because they got into Harvard. Yes, some firms do prefer Wharton kids, but it's not like the Harvard kids are struggling to get interviews.

 

If you go to a good school you have much more flexibility in choosing your major. Out of the 11 interns in my group right now, 8 are from Ivys, and all but 2 are lib arts majors. There are two art history majors from Princeton here...

Getting a job is far more a function of the individual than their course of study. Sincerely, A guy who studied Plato

 
Best Response

The typical Harvard student who goes into IB has an AB in Economics. Most of them are allergic to math and take the less math-based intermediate economics classes (known as Econ 1010) while math majors and other quant-oriented people (physics, computer science, etc.) who are curious about Economics take the series known as Econ 1011.

Slightly more intelligent kids who go into IB have a degree in Applied Mathematics - a concentration (a.k.a. "major") at Harvard that sounds impressive to people outside Harvard but is actually a bit of a farce (Full disclosure: This is what yours truly studied at Harvard)

The intelligent kids (the ones who deserve to attend Harvard) studied Math and they mostly go to grad school to pursue their PhDs. Every once in a blue moon, however, they abandon academia to go into quant hedge funds like DE Shaw, TwoSigma, etc. and make 2x to 3x what the the typical investment banking analyst makes out of undergrad.

The moral of the story: Grow a pair and major in Math, even if you don't have any aptitude in it, with enough determination and a little luck you can land a plum gig at a quant hedge fun, making 2x to 3x what you could in investment banking while only working 1/2 or a 1/3 of the hours, and then retire by the time you are 35.

 
Deo et Patriae:

The typical Harvard student who goes into IB has an AB in Economics. Most of them are allergic to math and take the less math-based intermediate economics classes (known as Econ 1010) while math majors and other quant-oriented people (physics, computer science, etc.) who are curious about Economics take the series known as Econ 1011.

Slightly more intelligent kids who go into IB have a degree in Applied Mathematics - a concentration (a.k.a. "major") at Harvard that sounds impressive to people outside Harvard but is actually a bit of a farce (Full disclosure: This is what yours truly studied at Harvard)

The intelligent kids (the ones who deserve to attend Harvard) studied Math and they mostly go to grad school to pursue their PhDs. Every once in a blue moon, however, they abandon academia to go into quant hedge funds like DE Shaw, TwoSigma, etc. and make 2x to 3x what the the typical investment banking analyst makes out of undergrad.

The moral of the story: Grow a pair and major in Math, even if you don't have any aptitude in it, with enough determination and a little luck you can land a plum gig at a quant hedge fun, making 2x to 3x what you could in investment banking while only working 1/2 or a 1/3 of the hours, and then retire by the time you are 35.

This.

"It is better to have a friendship based on business, than a business based on friendship." - Rockefeller. "Live fast, die hard. Leave a good looking body." - Navy SEAL
 

So you set aside the time to visit two college campuses yet don't even know what majors they offer?

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Oh slow August and how I hate you...

As for idiot above and its post on Harvard mathematicians, all Ivy econ programs req Cal 3 while most UG B schools require less. Also, anyone that's actually attended an Ivy knows that the Econ major is essentially a Biz degree but labeled Econ due to Liberal Arts uni tag. Compare the curriculums...

You'd think w all the Ivy League wannabes on here, this would be common knowledge.

 

On a more practical note, don't listen to the schmuck above me and take Deo et Patriae's advice. There's nothing particularly wrong with getting an econ degree from an Ivy League, but you will have so much more potential if you have a quant centric degree from an Ivy League. I wish I had that kind of opportunity.

 

Yale requires Calculus III, as "Calculus of Functions of Several Variables," is clearly what Calc III is.

To graduate with Latin honors at Harvard it appears that you need to take Calculus III and Math 1b (Differential Equations it appears to be) to get an Honors degree, I don't see why most kids won't just take those classes.

Not saying that Calc III is some sort of rigorous math class (it isn't), but your conclusion only tells half the story. I found all of this info just by looking through the links you provided. In any case, it doesn't hurt to do a more quantitative major because it will open up more doors for the future. You can always get a job with a Computer Science degree.

 

I usually stay out of this stuff but IvyLeagueVet comes across as such a prick that I thought it was amusing enough to chime in.

You look down on anyone who doesn't go to an Ivy or a target, saying asinine stuff like "all the ivy league wannabes" and "the idiocy in this thread smells like non targets." What a cool dude you must be, going to an Ivy.

Judging by your username, I would imagine it is safe to say you are a vet studying at Columbia. But vets are only allowed to apply to Columbia school of General Studies, not Columbia College. There are literally zero veterans at Columbia college. Columbia GS has like a 50% acceptance rate and doesn't even require SAT scores. I know veterans who failed out of high school and carried a 2.0 at a Community college and were still accepted into Columbia GS. Why do you think their are over 300 vets at Columbia GS? Because it is a cash cow and vets have that sweet G.I. Bill gravy train money. Columbia GS doesn't share an endowment with Columbia College, that's why all the students there have to take out massive loans. That G.I. Bill money makes vets attractive as all hell to GS admissions staff.

Does it feel weird taking out student loans to go to an Ivy league school while you have the GI Bill? It probably should, especially given the fact that if you were accepted to any of the other Ivys like Dartmouth, Harvard, Brown or Yale, you wouldn't have to take out a penny. I would know, I saw my financial aid awards from all of them which included extra money on top of my G.I. Bill.

Columbia GS is the backdoor to Columbia. I'm pretty confident any person on this board could take a year off of school and then apply and be accepted to Columbia GS.

Then they could sit around in a circle with you and laugh about how they are so superior to everyone else at a non target, all while drowning in the irony that they got into an Ivy through the back door cash cow program.

 

Whoa, that's very aggressive for my tongue in cheek humor. Judging by your profile, you haven't been here a while so let's give you a Mulligan.

As for your post, you're wrong on every acct and I know many GS vets who would take offense to your comments.

Wall St is very small and the vet network is 1 of the strongest on the street. There are very few enlisted vets @ Ivies and your resume hasn't come across my desk from anyone @ GS, BAC or JPM. I'm a believer in 2nd chances, so edit your post asap BC there are other vets on here especially 1s who went through GS VIP and other vet programs, which were started by vets that I know personally and engage w/ on vet initiatives in NYC. Would hate for a career to die before it had a chance...

 

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