"Noob" questions

Hello everybody!

I have few noob questions to ask. I've already checked the FAQs, and was able to find answers to many of my questions, but some of them remain unanswered.

First of all, let me tell you a little bit about me: I'm 15, I'm studying at a French high-school in Morocco, and in France, you have to choose a field to "major in" during your two last years of high-school (namely Sciences, Economics, Literature and many others such as plumbing) and I'll have to make this choice in 3 months, and since your decision leads you to a certain level of proficiency it also leads you towards a certain college major and therefore towards a certain kind of jobs. I came here to ask you questions about the field of investment banking, which I got interested into few years ago after reading "Monkey Business" and watching a documentary on oil traders.

Here are few things that I'd like to know in order to help me make a choice:

  • Which area of investment banking is the most "math-oriented"?
  • What's the best degree to get into finance?
  • Are European degrees well regarded in the industry?
  • Which is better according to you (not money-wise) : Trading or banking? I know, I could have had used the search function, but the results aren't that relevant
  • Any other advice? best languages to learn? skills to have? subjects to study the most?

By the way, I passed a personality test at my career counseling classes at school, and according to this test, the fields that suit me the best are : Finance (75%), Law (65%) and Healthcare (50%). But they don't know much about the field.

Thanks for you help!

 

1) most math based - working on a quant or algo trading desk. the math is CS based but still more math than anywhere else. 2) Finance, Computer Science, or anything at a top target school. 3) At European branches of banks they are fine. 4) Apples and Oranges comparison 5) Mandrian only if you can speak it fluently other than that Spanish or Portuguese

Follow the shit your fellow monkeys say @shitWSOsays Life is hard, it's even harder when you're stupid - John Wayne
 
notthehospitalER:

If you want to work in America...

Maybe if you want to work in Europe and are from there and study overseas, but that'd make recruiting tougher.

What about Asia?

 
dauphin:

My question may seem naive, but, I have to ask: can you get an internship at the american branch of an american bank while studying abroad?

You mean getting an offer from GS in NYC while studying abroad in, say, Paris? Yes, you can go to NYC after Paris. If you're American (don't need a sponsor) I don't see why this would be an issue.

 

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