Computer science majors

<p>Is it harder to get an investment banking job offer as a cs major as opposed to business/finance/econ? Cs majors tend to have lower GPAs than business/finance/econ majors and I'm wondering if recruiters take that into consideration during recruitment? How would a 3.5 CS major fair against something like a 3.7-3.8 related major?</p>

<p>I go to UC-Berkeley btw, which is a regional target. My CS major will be competing against Haas students I assume.</p>

<p>All else equal, I would think it’s harder. Potential nerd stigma as well.</p>

<p>At Berkeley, it is harder because Haas students are much better recruited than non-Haas students. At schools without an undergrad business program, all else equal, it is easier because CS majors stand out from the crowd of boring econ guys and are respected for studying something difficult.</p>

<p>As for GPA being discounted, it depends on the person reviewing your resume. In general, GPA’s are not discounted - a 3.8 in anything is better than a 3.5 in anything, but some people give more leniency to difficult majors like CS.</p>

<p>The lesson here is to major in whatever you’re most interested in, or major in something easy, because banks don’t really care as long as your GPA is high.</p>

<p>I actually disagree. Employers definitely know difficulty of different majors. It’s not that difficult to get high GPA in finance or accounting, high gpa is more difficult in math, physics, engineering. Humanities courses are even easier to get As. To be competitive as a cs major, or any non finance major, is to take few business courses to show you have aptitude. </p>

<p>Most firms require min 3.5, but that’s not always the case. GPA only gets you an interview, after that it’s how well you do with brain teasers and how articulate you are. Most CS majors are meticulous, very analytical, good problem solvers, all good qualities that IBs look for. If you know how to dress and don’t twitch when talking to people would be a plus. </p>

<p>My brother had a CS degree from an Ivy, went into Bond sales. His best friend with engineering degree from MIT became a trader.</p>

<p>A CS major shouldn’t prevent you from getting into banking as long as you know your finance stuff for interviews and your GPA isn’t crap. The real bottleneck is that most banks just don’t recruit very heavily from UCB</p>