This article from the WSJ states that 43% of college grads are underemployed in their first job, meaning that their jobs do not actually require degrees. Of those, roughly two-thirds remain in jobs that don’t require college degrees five years later. Furthermore, among the list of majors examined, the study found that 47% of business graduates' first jobs do not require degrees.
Do investment banking positions, at any level, require a college degree? Additionally, do you know anyone in investment banking without a degree?
Lastly, do you think your degree was necessary for you to achieve your goal of becoming an investment banker?
I, for one, do not know anyone that has been able to successfully break into the industry without a degree. However, I would absolutely love to meet someone who has done so. I could only imagine this individual's ambition, work ethic, intellect, etc. and would absolutely love to hear their story.
Being in college and having gone through the recruitment process, I could never imagine myself being able to break into the industry without having completed some amount of a college degree. I don't think its necessary, and I applaud anyone who has been able to do so. However, college has taught me a bunch of necessary skills that would have taken me much longer to develop on my own.
My girlfriend's father dropped out of college in his senior year to participate in an athletic event in a global competition. His team did very well in the tournament. He went on to play his sport at a semipro level after the tournament was finished and never went back to school. He is/was extremely smart and probably more well read than 99% of people that I've met who have completed college/advanced degrees.
After he was done with hockey he broke into the S&T side of finance. He was also a household name at the time and is still well known within the sport that he was a part of. He's also extremely personable. I'm sure those all helped a lot in the process.
He worked at a few fairly big name firms and did very well for himself. However, this was a long time ago and I don't know if someone could make the same jump in today's world. It was a VERY unconventional path.
Btw you nailed it with the "ambition, work ethic, intellect, etc" statement. He's on another level than pretty much everyone I've ever met.
Without a doubt there are people in IB with no degrees, albeit mostly senior level bankers. Prime example is Sergio Ermotti, CEO of UBS. He did not attend college.
nowadays I imagine it would be extremely challenging to enter IB, or any high finance role for that matter, without a degree. But to be fair, I do not think you need the "knowledge" you get from school to be a high performer. Most of what you do in IB is learned on the job. It is not rocket science.
The primary value of college in my opinion comes from the connections you make, the personal development and growth as well as the time management skills especially if you're well involved on campus. Excluding highly technical fields like aerospace engineering or physics, most of what you learn in classrooms is an absolute waste of time and money in my experience.
No degree for investment banking may have flown back in the 70's or 80's, but in today's talent market, banks wouldn't even go the length of reading a resume if there wasn't a college on it.
Even kids with degrees from schools aren't even considered. That's what you have to remember.
"First jobs in business" can refer to a slew of different industries and sectors and I wouldn't associate investment banking with this article in any way.
No - definitely not. Degree 100% needed to be competitive for a talent pool - otherwise it would be an easy ding.
College isn't about getting a degree, it's about developing as a person (professional and personal maturity) while building a skill set that is transferable to the real world. You need to develop critical thinking processes, professional writing syntax and structure, foundational computer skills (e.g. PowerPoint and Excel). Additionally, you have to develop the softer skills such as ability to work in (or manage) a team and public speaking. College also forces you to develop structure in your life in terms of meeting deadlines, prioritizing work streams and dealing with failure / rejection.
In terms of that 43%, I would blame that more on the students because they either i) don't recognize the value of the college experience to their development; ii) attended a college or university that didn't prepare them (i.e. online); or iii) they studied what they "like" in college and not something that could help them secure a job (so they are doing a job their degree does not apply to).
Moral of the story: Work harder and longer, challenge yourself more and be more competitive on and off the page.
I dont have a college degree and it worked out for me just fine but I am the exception I bet my background has to do something with it, however I did serve in the military and I have to admit it gave me soft skills I dont think I would have learned anywhere else, not even in college.
The military provides great experience.
Are you an investment adviser, or do work in investment banking?
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