<p>I have read a couple threads and articles on line and I am getting mixed opinions on the undergraduate engineering degree.</p>
<p>Some people are saying these ibanks value the quant skills while others say don't bother.</p>
<p>I guess my question here is, would it generally be better to try and go into IB with a business degree like finance or a major like engineering? of course the answers always depends on this and that, but in general, would someone with an engineering degree have an advantage or disadvantage compared to a their counterpart with a finance or another degree in BA?</p>
<p>The quant skills are valued when they are top 1%, meaning the top students at MIT and Caltech. Ordinary good engineer math skills are not what we’re talking about.</p>
<p>As far as major, no one major is best. Someone brilliant with a Wharton finance concentration will get some jobs and a philosophy major from Amherst will get others. In banking, high GPA, scores and a challenging school still matters much more than major.</p>
<p>“meaning the top students at MIT and Caltech”
it’s not just MIT and Caltech, even lower ranked Michigan Engineering had our share. According to a VP alum at a BB I talked to, last year they extended 7 full time IBD offer at Michigan. 3 at Ross, 3 at Engineering and 1 in Liberal Arts and Sciences.</p>
<p>Not to mention we also have a lot of kids going into S&T at BB. Also kids going to top hedge fund like citadel, one kid went to blackstone, and a lot of kids heading to top prop shop like jane street and wolverine. Obviously you will have an edge being from MIT or Caltech Engineering, but I dont think it’s just exclusive.</p>
<p>I also heard from my friend at Berkeley that they have quite a number heading into high finance, more so at S&T but some at IBD. Carnegie Mellon Engineering gets less but still a couple in.</p>
<p>Engineering is selected because it’s high IQ. Ivies are selected because they’re high IQ. There is nothing magical about this. Banks want people who meet a minimum IQ and will then select based on other qualities.</p>
<p>I have tough time finding it anything but ridiculous to consider majoring in engineering for the purpose of going to ibanking. Do you even have any interest in engineering? Because some people major in something like engineering or philosophy and wind up in ibanking, people on here start to think that that is the best path to take. If you want to go into banking or business major in finance, business, econ or something along those lines. If you have interest in engineering it is a different story, but to say my goal in life is to be an investment banker let me go major in engineer is something I cannot understand.</p>