I'm looking for advices

Hey guys,
I´m a german senior and do not know which field of studies I should choose for Investmentbanking.
My GPA is translated ~3.0 (In my highschool I`m top 10%) so I can almost choose every University in Germany.
I´m really interested in politics, trading ( I sometimes trade with my own money), business, economics and physics.
So I have a selection of this courses:
- Industrial Engineering ( RWTH Aachen University, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, TU Darmstadt)
- business ( Goethe University Frankfurt) (Maybe WHU, but my parents do not want to pay for the WHU, because I can get education for free in Germany)
- economics ( University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, LMU Munich, Free University Berlin, Humboldt University Berlin)
- Business Information Management ( University of Mannheim, TU Darmstadt)
- Business Math (University of Mannheim)

My Math skills are quite well (around A-), but I´m afraid that I will suck at maths in University because I got from grade 5 to grade 10 always an C. Does math in school is comparable to math in University?

What do you think is the best course for a career in Investment Banking or Sales&Trading? (I`m aiming for London or Frankfurt)
What is the best university?
Do my Highschool GPA matter for Investment Banking?

Thank you :)

 

University of Bonn and University of Mannheim are the only schools I have heard of in Germany and both are really good in Economics. I think Mannheim is good for finance in particular.

In regards to math, Universities will prepare you will all the knowledge you need for their courses. Why not take a look into the classes you will be taking?

You will definitely have a chance for IB in Frankfurt but it will be really hard for London.

 
Best Response

This is a very subjective matter to be honest. I did not want to study anything with two subjects in its name, e.g. business maths, business information management, business engineering, etc. I found that these courses tend to be very narrow in focus and fairly specific to a certain field - generally not investment banking. This obviously excludes courses such as Banking & Finance or Accounting & Finance, which I think are more common for Masters degrees. My recommendation would be to focus on the 'traditional' courses (business, finance or economics) at generalist universities (Goethe, Mannheim, Bonn, LMU Munich). To answer your questions: No, maths at Uni does not compare to maths in school. You most likely won't have someone teaching you, but rather telling you what you are expected to know for the exam. You will need to apply yourself to get good grades (corporate finance chair (e.g. Mannheim). Economics will be more useful for S&T or research, but probably still less so than business or finance. This is more so in Frankfurt than in London, where your major doesn't matter quite as much. In my humble opinion and from my experience, Mannheim is the best university to get into investment banking (I did **not **go there). Your high school GPA will sometimes be asked for, but no one will really care.

 

Thanks for your answer.

I tend to take as my main course economics and as a minor business at Mannheim (My problem is that my GPA is too bad for business in Mannheim, but economics won't be a problem). I think that's the best possibility for me :). After my Bsc, I'll probably take a Master in Finance. (LBS, HEC, HSG, Bocconi, IE, Oxford) I hope that this increases my chances at London/Frankfurt.

 

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