<p>I'm at U Penn (will be studying there next year) and I've been considering Economics as my prospective major for a long time.</p>
<p>Of late, though, I've heard many say that cracking a great job in finance/consulting/I-Banking requires top level QUANTITATIVE skills, which are not generally found in Economics undergraduate majors. Do these jobs really require a huge amount of advanced math for modeling, etc?</p>
<p>Should I major in Economics, or Engineering, or Computer Science? Also thinking about applied mathematics, but I'm not sure. I want to equip myself with the skills that employers (firms such as Goldman, McKinsey, Bain, boutique firms, etc) will find attractive, and I want to get my foot in the door.</p>
<p>I do plan to get my MBA later (hopefully from a very solid grad B-school).</p>
<p>What's the route I should take (generally speaking)?</p>
<p>Do what you love. If you’re good with numbers, gained expertise in your subject area, got great grades, and were involved in something you’ll be in the hunt.</p>
<p>I-banking requires very little advanced math–a degree in applied math is definitely overkill. But if you want to go into prop trading or something similar, you should have experience with statistics and probability. </p>
<p>For the most part, finance employers don’t care too much what your major was as you will learn most of the technical stuff on the job. What’s more important is demonstrating that you are smart and can think. Pick a major that will challenge you and be rewarding.</p>
<p>I believe the most important aspect of getting into I-banking is being connected to people with money. It’s not about complex numerical analysis - it all boils down to getting money under management.</p>
<p>That’s simply not true. I-banks don’t hire people for their connections. If anything, people who are hired because of their “connections” are hired as a favor, under duress.</p>
<p>Edited: As a technical point, investment banking has little to do with assets under management. That’s investment management and private banking/financial consultant/whatever the current euphemism is. The major hiring from schools like Harvard is in investment banking, sales and trading, and money management (including hedge funds), but in the latter case, it’s the investment decision making component, not the asset commitment component.</p>
<p>I stand corrected. I was referring to private financial management/consultant work where assets under management is the ultimate goal. I-banking is an entirely different animal.</p>
<p>Most good colleges, including Penn, offer several tracks through their Econ Department. So it’s possible to get a BA in Economics without a lot of advanced math, and it’s also possible to get the same degree (or maybe a BS) with a ton of advanced math. Another thing that’s common is an Econ or Finance track through the Math or Applied Math major.</p>
<p>That said, I concur with the advice to do what you love. I know a couple recent college graduates at one of the most prestigious consulting firms, and they majored in Sociology and History (with a minor in Painting), respectively. (Don’t let that fool you. They are both prodigiously smart, and had shown it 50 ways.)</p>