Double major with math an advantage?
Hi. I currently attend the University of Chicago and am thinking about trading as a possible career option. I am for sure going to do the economics major, but I was thinking about math as a possible second major. However, I'm afraid that it will wreck my GPA for recruiting and also consume time for coursework that I could otherwise use for networking, interview prep, and on-campus leadership. Provided that I maintain a 3.5+ GPA, will having the math major be beneficial in showing that I'm a hard worker with good quantitative skills for trading? I will for sure be taking classes in corporate finance and investments over the next year. I'll also be taking a few easy fluff classes as a GPA insurance. Although these guys are the exception, rather than a rule, I know a few guys who landed BB trading and IBD internships at Credit Suisse with 3.2. These two were not minorities nor athletes, and I don't think they had family connections either.
Just a thought:
Around when do you submit your resume with GPA for recruiting? I've heard around January-February during 3rd year. Does it differ from bank to bank? Maybe I could put off the harder math classes until after that.......
Right. CS takes people with or without high GPAs. It's all about networking over there. They take a lot of Wharton people for instance because of the other, high, number of them over on the their trading floors.
It's funny that such a prestigious university is so woefully underrepresented on Wall Street. There's tons of UoC kids in Chicago, where fyi a lot of tradering occurs, but it's simply a networking thing -- a form of self-selection due to the lack of numbers that leads to less networking opps.
Anyway, the answer is Yes. Definitely, they're looking for math majors in trading. But be aware, trading is not what it was. It's much harder to break in than 2008, and that's saying something. Be open to other opps and working in Chicago.
fyi, I'm from Chicago.
It seems to me that every year, more and more students from UoC get onto wall street. While there may be more entry-level bankers, I've noticed that there are still very few senior bankers, with the exception of the CS CEO Brady Dougan. I think this is due to the university's disproportionate amount of students who are focused on academia/PhD's and less on business.
Also, I'm thinking that maybe a Stats minor, as opposed to math major, would be better for my schedule regarding job-specific interviews, networking, technical skills, etc. What do you think?
Why not just a math minor then?
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