Computer Science and Finance?

Hi CC, so I really want to go to school for finance and investing. However, I have learned and heard from many in the industry that it is critical that finance majors learn computer science. I’m wondering if I should minor in computer science. I don’t have a lick of coding/programming skills either, so I am worried about the classes being too difficult in college. Should I pursue minoring in computer science along with my major in finance, and what are some good schools that offer good programs in these areas.

-From MA
-Rising senior

Michigan has top programs in both and offers dual majors, or a major/minor. You can take CS though LS&A or Engineering, and business through Ross (competitive admission in Sophomore year - try to apply preferred admission as a freshman). There are tons of on-line CS resources available, I’d start with Java and Python which are the most commonly used languages. I’d match your stats with the better finance schools and see which offer a decent CS program (most offer something).

I agree with @TooOld4School - however I would caution you against majoring in CS if you are interested in something like Investment Banking. IB analysts do little, if any, programming. Not to mention IB recruiting wants high GPAs, and CS is definitely not an easy way to get a high GPA. If you manage to get a great GPA in CS, you would be very attractive to IB recruiting, since you would have proven math, critical thinking/reasoning, and analysis skills.

If you are interested in Proprietary Trading or becoming a Quant, then CS may be a good fit.

If you are interested in sell-side Sales & Trading, a CS major (with great GPA) may make you attractive, but a major may not necessarily be required (I think a minor or some good CS foundation would suffice for most of these roles).

University of Waterloo offers a program in Computing and Financial Management. It’s the only undergraduate program that incorporates both comp sci and finance that I’ve seen. https://uwaterloo.ca/computing-financial-management/

S14 was scared away from computer science - because he wants to get into law and he needs that high GPA. As a junior, he dropped out of his high school comp sci course in the first week. He took a really basic CS course in his second year of university, because it is required for his major, and was top of his class (of several hundred). He’s now taking the next course in the sequence (still introductory). He’s finding computer science classes are an asset to his GPA, rather than pulling it down. If you plan to go into something mathematical like finance, computer science should not be a GPA killer.

@bouders

I disagree. For most people studying finance, Computer Science will definitely be a GPA killer. Finance, as a major, is hardly mathematical (unless you are talking about financial engineering, financial mathematics, or things of that nature). Computer Science is a whole other level of quantitative reasoning and mathematics. There is no comparison. Computer Science is simply more rigorous.

This is coming from someone currently studying Computer Science and who has interned and is interning at finance/consulting firms.

Finance and investing is an excellent career choice. Finance professionals need to know spreadsheets and analytical packages, statistics and accounting formulas. This is all computer based but it is not academic computer science. More math would be helpful to the finance guy who needs to understand the models but not necesarily program them.

I agree @user4321 .

Any “programming” most financial services professionals do with their spreadsheets/analytical programs is light compared to the programming done even in an introductory university computer science course.

@user4321 @yikesyikesyikes I attended Wall Street 101 at Bentley this week, and we met with several portfolio managers, and the one at State Street Corporation said that the most important thing for finance professionals to do is learn computer science for the future. I trust his opinion, but I want to major in finance. At most, I would minor in CS because I still want that intensive, deep study of finance.

@mclaughlinm34

I suggest you take a CS class and see how you do. If it “clicks”, go for the minor. Depending on your school, even the CS classes in the minor can be brutal (at Michigan, this is the case).

The major is a very bad idea if you want to go into financial services (at least if you want to do it the easy way), unless you are interested in prop trading, algo trading, quant stuff, and things along that nature.

@yikesyikesyikes Yeah, I’m just worried about taking CS classes in college because I’ve never touched coding and programming before. I’m taking a C++ elective next year, but I doubt that I will learn anything beyond the bare basics.