<p>Hey everyone, I'm a rising senior interested in Cornell. My career goal is to eventually to get a MBA and work on Wall St. as I really do find business interesting. The thing is, I'm interested in a more qualitative major in college, because I find it more interesting and quite frankly because math is most definitely not my strongest subject. (For reference, 720 on math SAT, and in Calc AB, Not BC, next year). Plus, I don't think I would even be able to get into AEM, to be honest...So would applying to PAM or ILR still allow me to work on Wall St.? If so, which of these two programs would be best for someone whose goal is Wall Street? Thanks!</p>
<p>I know some ILRies are “concentrating” on Finance.</p>
<p>good luck making it to wall street without a quantitative background.</p>
<p>Okay, any other opinions?</p>
<p>ILR is more oriented toward the labor side of business, although there are definitely folks that wind up on Wall Street from that school. PAM is a bit of a different major and gives a different background. Economics wouldn’t be a bad since it’s more directly related, and of course AEM is probably the best option for someone who wants to head straight into finance.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t think you’re as bad at math as you say. 720 on Math II is a fairly good score. And Calculus AB is merely one part of introductory college calculus.</p>
<p>Thanks for your response! I understand AEM/Econ. are the two best options but I’m still not completely confident in my math abilities. By the way, I should have clarified I got a 720 on the math portion of the SAT I, not the subject test, so my apologies. So I guess ILR/PAM isn’t the worst thing in the world, if you’re trying to avoid a lot of math? And, of the two, which would you say sends more kids into the “business world”? Sorry for all of the questions!</p>
<p>i wouldnt agree with poleandreel’s comment completely…</p>
<p>AEM is the best option for recruitment or for just learning straight up business, and some say it’s the easiest major to graduate from in the school, but the hardest to get into.
CAS Econ is probably tougher, but can also have great attraction on wall street etc. but be wary it will have more math than AEM albeit if you play your cards right and take easy calc classes, it probably will be challenging, but not too hard. This is a tough major to get into, and tough to get out of.
PAM is a different type of major, also having options for wall street and as you know less mathy but more psychology-y. Less preferable than the other 2, but easier to get into and definitely less math, but less business than AEM.
ILR is also very different with definitely less options on wall street than the last 3 (although you still can get a job with strong networking). Less preferable than the last 3, and it requires a math subject test, I would advise against it.</p>
<p>Thank you, that was basically what I was looking for. I suppose I am leaning towards PAM right now (assuming I don’t have a realistic shot at AEM). It seems that Econ is too mathy, and ILR not related enough. Maybe some other “insiders” could give me their opinions?</p>
<p>If your goal is finance/Wall St., you should start getting comfortable with math. If math isn’t your thing, you should probably re-evaluate your goals. Are you just going after money? Not only would Econ/AEM be the best route for Wall St./finance, to make yourself competitive for top firms you’ll really want to be as mathematical as possible. So they ideally want more than an AEM/Econ major, but someone whose coursework involved a lot of math. I’m not sure what your vision of finance is, but finance really is a lot of math/formulas (though nothing terribly tricky). I’d give math a chance since you won’t need to go too far up in terms of high level math. I think you can technically get away with Calc I, though I would encourage you to go through Calc III/linear algebra (which still isn’t that bad). </p>
<p>You can go the more managerial route with an MBA, but then you probably aren’t going to be applying your business skills in financial firms/Wall St., which is perfectly fine. If that’s the case, I would recommend Econ, ILR, or AEM. Econ will be the most flexible major in terms of career opportunities, but ILR and AEM should do the job too.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would explore the curriculums’ of all the programs you are looking into on their respective web pages and look at the courses for each. You can probably spend 10 mins per program and really figure out what really interests you just be reading several course descriptions.</p>
<p>I can only speak for Econ (since that’s what I gradated in), but you are required to take Intro micro/macro, intermediate micro/macro, econometrics, and then 4-5 courses of your choice, which for you I’m assuming would be Financial Economics, plus you’d probably want to take a couple AEM courses (accounting and management). Economics academically speaking is least related to what you want to do, but an econ degree is highly valued (I would argue more than AEM) in finance because it does involve a different way of thinking which firms usually like. Further, Econ puts you in CAS which means you get pretty different academic experience, because A&S has different academic requirements. So if you want a classical liberal arts education, and learn a discipline that gives you options, go econ.</p>
<p>First of all, thanks for the informative response, I appreciate it. It is not necessarily that I am terrible at math, it just isn’t my “passion”, nor is it my strongest discipline. I do, however, love the business side of things. I have been in DECA, and done well. I thoroughly enjoy it, and hope to continue it for a career. When I say Wall St. I don’t necessarily mean investment banker. I have done some research in things like consulting, which appeal to me as well. I just presented this question, because I know how challenging it is to get a job in this market, and am just trying to give myself the biggest advantage possible, because math is not my strongest subject to begin with…Thanks for the reply though!</p>
<p>Almost any major can do consulting. A career on Wall St. generally refers to a job in high-level finance. If you want to give yourself the greatest advantage in the job market, take classes/pursue programs that give you skills. PAM, AEM, ILR, and Econ will all accomplish this. I still encourage you to take as much math as possible. Even if it’s not your passion, it’s worthwhile to take at least Calculus, and ideally Calc III/linear algebra. If you have AP Calc, that’s 3 classes, otherwise it’s only 4 (ie. 1 class a semester through sophomore year which isn’t bad). Heck, you can even take the classes Pass/Fail so it doesn’t count towards your GPA.</p>
<p>Yeah, I suppose I’ll just take it course by course, and see how far I can get in math. Thanks for the advice, though.</p>
<p>So, I’ve looked on linkedin at the jobs that PAM majors get and it seems like few of them work in Front office Ibanking/Strategic consulting type of jobs. Is it because they don’t want to or just because of the tough competition with AEM/Hotel/Eng/Econ?</p>
<p>Also, it could be that the best go to grad school, whereas the people that get a 3.9 in AEM will go to wall street</p>
<p>Yeah, that’s basically the question I’ve been trying to get the answer to. Perhaps a few more people who have experience with these specific programs can enlighten us?</p>
<p>Also, there are not so many students in PAM (something like 50-80), which is great I think to get to know professors and do research. There are around 200+ ILR and 160-200 AEM students… Also, a considerable amount of people in PAM apply to law school or Phd in Econ (a little less than 50% I think). In the end, you only have like 30-40 students left that apply for jobs. Among them, there are probably 10-15 people with bad GPA or bad social skills like in any majors or any school (even harvard). In the end, you’ve got 20 people that could be ready for the job market and since it is a public policy program, nothing tells us that those guys want to do ibanking/consulting. Maybe only 5 or 6 students are interested in finance, who knows.</p>
<p>What I really want to know is the probability of success for PAM majors that want to get into Wall Street and that have a good GPA/good social skills/good r</p>
<p>Can anyone else chime in?</p>
<p>Anyone have any insight?</p>
<p>You do not need a quantitative background to break into banking. Most of the people on this board are high schoolers who don’t know what they are talking about. </p>
<p>Pick a major you think you can do well in, Econ or AEM or PAM, doesn’t matter. Of course, if you major in AEM, you better get at least a 3.5 because the classes are so easy they don’t need to be curved. A 3.7+ in Econ/Math is more impressive than a 3.7+ in AEM obviously, but at that point GPA shouldn’t be an issue, it’s what you do outside of academics to show your interest. PAM classes are also extremely easy, their version of intermediate micro doesn’t even use calc. </p>
<p>As an analyst in investment banking, you basically take dumps on excel sheets and be a data entry robot. It’s not rocket science, you just have to put in those hours. In S&T, unless you become a quant, you don’t need a quantitative background either; quick reactions and mental calculations is required to do well though (for trading).</p>
<p>Thanks. That is reassuring to hear. I just want to make sure that even though one can get a banking/consulting job out of PAM in theory, are PAM graduates getting these jobs in actuality…</p>