<p>What kinds of degrees do those who work in high paying business/banking/finance firms (Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, etc) have? Obviously at least a BA or BS, but what about law degrees, MBAs, PhDs?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>MBA mostly</p>
<p>It depends from prestigous undergrads a person could enter with just a bachelor's. Like Wharton.</p>
<p>Bachelors usually gets you entry level positions (ie 1st yr Analyst) and some people leave after 2+ years to pursue a MBA, but more and more these days, if you know you want to do banking, a MBA is becoming unnecessary. These days people go to business school to change careers (ie physicist to Private Equity).</p>
<p>They do not care, with the exception possibly being an MBA with a focus on finance from a really high quality business school. It doesn't matter if you're a 48 year old with a doctorate in physics or a 25 year old with a bachelors in economics, you've never worked in finance before and you're going to start at the entry-level regardless of what other experience you have. I'm not going to say someone with a doctorate in a highly quantitative subject isn't going to look better, but you're not walking into a higher-tier position without prior experience.
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It depends from prestigous undergrads a person could enter with just a bachelor's. Like Wharton.
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This doesn't make any sense. Most people enter with just a bachelors, whether they're from a prestigious university or not. It's not like a kid graduating from Rutgers has to go get his PhD in theoretical astrophysics from Caltech before he can get some basic entry position.
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Bachelors usually gets you entry level positions (ie 1st yr Analyst) and some people leave after 2+ years to pursue a MBA, but more and more these days, if you know you want to do banking, a MBA is becoming unnecessary. These days people go to business school to change careers (ie physicist to Private Equity).
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From all the information the top business schools have been releasing (the stats I've seen are all from HBS, Wharton, Stanford GSB and Chicago GSB for what it's worth) that's not really accurate. The bulk of the MBA population are still people who work in business, although oftentimes they might be intending to change careers. For some reason that is beyond my comprehension hedge funds seem to almost require you get your MBA at a certain point, and they're generally considered meritocracies. MBA's are becoming diluted, but they're still an important tool for advancement.</p>
<p>It depends on what kind of analysis you want to do. An MBA or a BA (In Econ/Finance) from a fairly prestigious institution will usually give you a chance at entry into an entry-level analyst/associate position. If you want to do some of the more advanced analysis then a more advanced degree usually helps (or at least a BS In some kind of Quantitative Field like Physics, Math or Engineering).</p>