<p>Hey I was wondering if for i-Banking if it would be best to major in Accounting, Finance, or both as double major? I go to the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL if anyone needed to know rankings or whatever. I just recently switched from premed and exercise physiology so I am totally new to all this. Any advice would be very helpful. Thanks.</p>
<p>Do which will give you highest GPA. The accounting needed for i-banking is only basic stuff, which you’ll probably get either way. Also, make a backup in case you cannot do i-banking.</p>
<p>You should probably see if anyone from your school ever gets jobs in investment banking. If it essentially never happens, which I would guess since I’ve never heard of your school, then you should have another plan. By all means apply to any IB jobs you can find, but if you don’t want to do audit, tax, or some other standard accounting job you should probably not major in accounting. Look at the kind of jobs finance majors get at your school and decide if you want to those, too.</p>
<p>You’ve never heard of the University of Miami? Really?..</p>
<p>Anyway, GPA/test scores, strong leadership experience, connections, and internship experience are what get you into IB. U. Miami is not a target school for IB, but with the right background and connections you could certainly break in. Accounting vs. Finance is not really going to matter. Investment banks are not looking for people who already know it all, and no undergraduate does anyway. They are looking for intelligent and competitive leaders to train and turn into analysts (read: slaves) for a few years. </p>
<p>You mentioned you were pre-med before. If this is just your next “prestiguous” career goal, you may want to give it some more thought. If you are not the type of person who thrives on competing with other very competitive people and putting in whatever amount of effort it takes to do so, IB may not be the best fit for you. It’s certainly not a career you just wake up one day and decide to pursue after being told it was higher paying and noteworthy. Focus on doing well in your classes, getting finance related work experience (assuming you are actually interested in finance), networking, and assembling some strong leadership credentials. Jobs will fall into place later.</p>
<p>Do both. </p>
<p>To Engineerjw, you need a lot of accounting in investment banking. Have you ever seen an operating model? Granted most of the knowledge you need can be picked up in the first three months on the job, but I have never heard anyone say they took too many accounting courses in undergrad (whereas I have heard plenty of people say they wish they took more).</p>
<p>Our Finance program actually sends a very respectable amount of students to i-banking so I am not very worried about that. The connections here are phenomenal. I met with my advisor who told me to talk to the senior finance professor who has a scholars program just for i-banking where 95% of the students from her program go into i-banking. I am thinking of a finance major with accounting minor. So that should be good. </p>
<p>Also @InPursuit, I hope you didn’t misunderstand me man, but I was doing pre-med because my dad wanted me to. I was not afraid of the competition, I figured that i was doing pre-med to impress my dad. I wanted to do something in business and I have an uncle who works on wall street as a day trader. So I looked at what he does for a living and the competitive and high pace work really intrigued me.</p>
<p>Alright, sounds solid! If you have an uncle to talk to that’s great, and a good connection to boot! Good luck! =)</p>
<p>Thank you. I just met with Goldmann, Sachs Co yesterday for a info session they held at our career center. Turns out that the new hire (a senior at the moment) is someone i played pickup soccer games with a lot fall semester. He will be starting as a Financial Analyst. So he is also another good contact I made. Within the time I graduate or apply for internships, he can definitely put in a good word for me.</p>
<p>Your soccer friend will likely just be transitioning out of GS in the Spring of your Jr. year when you are interviewing for Summer Intern slots at GS. He will be a GREAT source of intelligence, but won’t have any influence on which of the 150+ resumes becomes one of the 20 interviews, which becomes the ONE (1) summer intern out of Miami in two years.</p>