Undergraduate Senior Thesis- Worth it?

I wanted to ask about senior theses on the undergraduate level.

On an intellectual/personal level, I am kind of torn. I have a difficult courseload next year for my major (Math/Econ) but I do think writing a thesis could be a pretty cool experience overall. I guess what could help sway my decision is its influence on a resume/prestige.

I have a good summer internship lined up (I am a rising senior) and wanted to know if writing a thesis would help with b-school opportunities or just generally making my resume look better. And if so, to what extent (as compared to work experience, GPA, GMAT, etc.)

I go to a top LAC (not a target), and have a GPA a little above a 3.5 (which I fully expect to rise after this semester). I also would like to be silly and enjoy my senior year to some degree which I feel like the combo of my schedule and thesis would not allow for.

Thank you.

 
Best Response

I'm a current senior and the only thing I am still working on right now is my thesis and I really regret it. At my school you need a thesis to graduate with honors which is why I'm doing one (in math). I know that in my recruiting experience the thesis did not change anything at all. I have a strong resume (above 3.8 gpa) besides the thesis though. In contrast, a friend of mine with a lower gpa who is going into energy-focused consulting got a tremendous boost in his interviews by talking about his thesis (business major thesis on exxon).

I'm interested in hearing what others have to say about this, also how much does Summa/Magna Cum Laude help? But if I could go back to a year ago and not do a thesis I would in a heartbeat. I've totally lost interest in it and wish I had the time for other things. IMO if you're going to legitimately enjoy a thesis do it but don't do it just for a resume boost (unless you're thinking grad school down the line, not an MBA). Again, I'm just a year from where you are now so take it with a grain of salt. Also, I hate LaTex now.

 

Seems like a lot of jumping through hoops. If you already go to a LAC, you probably know how to crank out some good essays. Unless you want to get a non-professional masters degree or a doctorate, it's a waste of time. Those skills you develop won't be useful at all in finance.

 

double-check to see if writing a senior thesis has any bearing on the latin honors you receive. It looks like you may pushing on magna but then again this stuff is very school specific and honestly I have no idea how big a deal it is long-term

 

If you have Magna then I wouldn't worry about it. On the other hand, if you don't think you'll make it, then I would strongly consider doing the thesis

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 

I'm no expert. But if you are actually interested in special situations, isn't getting the opportunity to write a thesis on it like a chance to hash out your strategies for academic credit? Your prof will be able to question and challenge your theories and assumptions.

 

It's definitely a valuable opportunity to evaluate my own investment strategy. But keeping in mind a thesis will take significantly longer overall than learning for an exam, what I am trying to determine is whether it is more valuable overall than the other things I could spend that additional time doing.

Right now my impression is that it would be worthwhile, as it would enable me to have a far more well-grounded rationale for my investment theses, which would help both in my personal investments and, I'd presume, in hf interviews when they come around. Just wondered if any of the HF guys around here could comment on how they'd look on this in an applicant.

Edit: To be specific, the thesis topic I'm interested in pursuing is looking at what the drivers of spin-off outperformance are. There are a lot of stats out there on the outperformance of the market index by spin-offs, and there are a few papers suggesting possible reasons for this, but none have compared different possible reasons and run the regressions to determine which appear to be most important.

 

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