Questioning if Banking is for me?
Hello WSO,
I'm a sophomore at a top 5 business school. Ever since I got to school, I've been thinking about a professional career in banking. Finance always interested me and the exit ops. pay, and the steep learning curve intrigued me about the industry. Lately however, I've been questioning if it is for me. I find my financial accounting boring as could be and enjoy my business analytics class more. I've always been more math-oriented (pursuing a math minor and have considered dropping the business school in order to major in math). Whenever I look for internships, I'm always intrigued by these business analytics internships at really cool companies. I feel like my brain and actual career interests would be a much better fit for a business analytics role than banking. Business analytics just doesn't have the same pay or exit opportunities as banking which is what initially attracted me to the field.
Can anyone compare and contrast the two fields? I've spent hours looking researching the two fields but can't come to an answer so I think it'd be better if someone offers their personal opinion as well.
I would definitely recommend switching to math if its what you really want. I didn't realize how much business degrees neglect the quantitative skills until I did an internship at a bank in data analytics. That's when I realized how important programming skills like SQL and Python are and how important it is to leverage higher level math with those programs. Math majors have places in banking in S&T and model development. The best part about a finance degree was learning about the products (FX, Fixed income, Equities etc.) which you can learn about on Investopedia. Half of the courses I took in corporate finance were glorified accounting courses. Math will help your critical thinking and quant skills more than a business degree will. Learning about the products primarily occurs on the job, not in school. If I could do it again, I would do at least a math minor.
So the path I'm on currently is major in Finance; minor in both computer science and math. My biggest issue with majoring in business is everything I feel that I've learned so far (which is like only accounting and business communication) are stuff that I can easily teach my self on my own time, will have to learn by preparing for banking/S&T interviews anyways, or like you said, will learn on the job. Also, like I mentioned, I'm not certain on finance or business in general. I just feel like math/CS gives me the flexibility that a business degree can't even come close to. I told my parents this the other day that if it wasn't for my business school so "prestigious" I wouldn't major in business. However, it is very "prestigious" and I just feel like its to good of an opportunity to drop. This is why I've also considered staying in the business school until I get my junior year internship and then drop the business school, but I don't know if that is even possible.
not sure what you're prerequisites look like but im sure that if you dropped a major your junior year that it would put you at least a semester behind graduating so keep that in mind. double minoring in math and cs is a bit redundant imo. Not judging. I just think that computer science classes don't go into enough depth about languages and leveraging them in creative ways (especially if you're only minoring in computer science) and focus a little too much on the MIS part. I wouldn't be too concerned with the prestige of the business school on your resume though. A management major with a 3.5 GPA isn't as smart as a math major with a 3.5 GPA (generally speaking). Most people recognize this. Kids with liberal arts degrees get hired all the time, b-school prestige isn't everything.
on a completely different path, if you can, double in math & finance or math & econ and get a PhD in finance/other business field, if academia has ever interested yo. business PhDs are generally more in demand and also higher paying than PhDs in other fields (even economics). I know for a fact that quantitative marketing (not consumer behavior) PhDs are becoming more hot these days, and they require a ton of math and analysis skills (with good pay)
In a perfect world, I would double in math and finance. The problem is that I'm already taking on debt to go to my school and I would have to take an extra year. No questions asked. I don't think its worth it to take on an additional 65k in debt.
I find Data Science stuff to be so much more interesting, intellectually stimulating, and exciting than the vast majority of stuff I've done for Finance. I'm a college senior, interned in IB, got the offer, but found it pretty boring so I pivoted, if that means anything to you.
Financial accounting (and even finance theory classes) are boring and not representative of the work you do in banking. Sure, you look at accounting statements, but it's just for 10 seconds to grab a few numbers to go towards a deal. The bulk of the work is in powerpoint (random design stuff), excel, etc. Pretty analytical especially if you move up into VP+ role
The best part about banking (way better than pay) is the opportunities two years out of it. If you're interested in data analytics, you could very easily recruit into a corporate dev at a large firm after 2 years - something which might take years to move up the latter if you started in that company's rotational program. You learn a ton of skills in banking and are very attractive to almost any industry.
Would also recommend you look into consulting, it's a mix of finance and problem-solving. Might get you that analytical angle while still protecting future salary (year 1 out of college salary is irrelevant - look at salary in 5-10-20 years)
Is it common to go from investment banking to consulting after 2 years?
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