How much Finance do you need to know in Banking?

Career Opportunities & Internships
1

<p>Like seriously, I've heard too many people who didn't major in finance (and possibly have no knowledge of finance at all) get internships at the major banks. Because of that, I decided to not major in finance and focus more on strategy and operations, thinking that maybe these two majors might provide additional insight in financial services that a finance major couldn't. Plus I want to intern at a bank (like the Big 4) anyway and I already know some finance, so I thought maybe this could all work out.</p>

<p>But i was wrong. I've been wanting to get a banking internship for a while now and haven't even gotten an interview, except with one firm and they asked nothing but finance questions.</p>

<p>I know that in ibanking, they say:</p>

<p>"You don't need to know finance. Everything you learned in school is useless anyway."
"You learn so much on the job."
"All you really need it commitment to work ridiculous hours everyday."</p>

<p>While I believe all of these, now I'm not so sure. Have people been lying to me? Can I get an honest opinion here?</p>

<p>And what about commercial banking? I know you hours will be more manageable but how much finance do you need to know for that?</p>

2

<p>You don’t need to necessarily be a finance major to get a job in a bank, but it would be really really helpful. I’m an operations management & SC major and got an offer from a huge bank but turned it down. The money was good but I don’t think I would have gotten any good experience because it was middle office. </p>

<p>If you wanna go into banking, I would suggest taking finance and economics courses. Do extremely well in both if you want to get hired by a good bank and get paid well. I’m not sure where you go to school but if you’re wanting to work in Wall-Street there really is no possibility unless you go to a ivy league. I personally think that’s stupid because there are just as smart people in other colleges but I guess prestigious goes a long way.</p>