<p>Can someone comment on how IB-recruiting at Columbia stacks up with HYPWharton? And are there actually as many internship opportunites available as the admissions office claims?</p>
<p>Thanks a bunch.</p>
<p>there's a ton. I couldn't speak to what HYP has access to, but I think the difference in prestige level is made up for by the proximity - i.e., bankers are more willing to look at more Columbia candidates since they don't have to pay airfare + hotels, etc. There is an extremely strong Columbia representation on wall street and I would expect that to continue.</p>
<p>I can say that I know a lot of engineering students going into banking after graduation. It's pretty crazy because they make so much more than engineers.</p>
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It's pretty crazy because they make so much more than engineers.
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<p>That's precisely the explanation for your first sentence.</p>
<p>what other majors are a good gateway to investment banking? One of my main reasons of applying to Columbia is its proximity to Wall Street</p>
<p>do a search for investment banking, there was a really good thread about it a week or two back. it had lots of info both on what you asked and what the internship scene and i banking lifestyle is like.</p>
<p>Banking firms like to hire quantitative students, whether it's engineering, math, IEOR, etc. There's still a lot of positions to fill without a quantitative background but it might be harder.</p>
<p>quant job are indemand but also very competitive since less positions are availble. where as normal i-banking jobs are pleniful (check last month's listings) the advantage being engineer is that you can choose either.</p>
<p>most oncampus recruiments are either financial related or technology related aimted toward sophmore/junior.</p>
<p>internship opportunities are plenty but you are up against some pretty good compeition too.</p>
<p>All the Ivies are competitive. I honestly haven't seen any advantage (recruiting wise) at Columbia vs. the other Ivies. The banks pretty much recruit at all of them.</p>
<p>I just read in a Princeton thread that OR majors must apply to the FE program. Can anyone at Columbia give any light on this matter. Can a student just major in FE or must he/she declare OR and then apply into the FE program after a couple years there? Thanks!</p>
<p>Okay....I found it on their website...</p>
<p>"Students who are interested in pursuing the rigorous concentration in Financial Engineering must demonstrate consistent strength in calculus, computer programming, linear algebra, ordinary differential equations, probability, and statistics. This option is available to the class of 2008 and later by application only."</p>
<p>Hmmm.... Now I'm wondering how this effects 3/2 people.</p>
<p>Some of my engineering friends make fun of the Financial Engineering major. They think it's not really engineering and should not be labeled as engineering. I personally don't know too much about the FE major, but look at these Master's of Financial Engineering pre-req questions:</p>
<p>All of the math questions are at the high school level.</p>
<p>From what I've heard, at the top BB firms, Columbia's behind those schools in the pecking order. They all recruit on campus but you'll find a lot more Harvard/Wharton kids getting slots in programs from what I've heard. Keep in mind this is all second hand.</p>
<p>I know this is from a long time ago, but...</p>
<p>Is it common for IB firms to accept interns during the school year? I know Columbia is great for those who want internships during the year, but if you want an internship for IB, is it ok to just have an internship just on Fridays?</p>
<p>its not that common but they do exist and every year some ppl end up doing internships throughout school year. it's a pretty hefty load if you work 20+ hr a week and go to classes</p>
<p>A couple of things:
- Can't really say whether Columbia's recruiting is on par with HPY since I don't go there. I'd say its definitely not on par with Harvard or Wharton, though no school really schools other than that. Having said that you can definitely get a finance job if you put in the work. Unfortunately some people think if you just go to a target school then you're going to get a banking job. That is NOT the case. The average 3.5 Financial Engineer major will not get a summer internship. The average 3.6 Econ major will not get an internship. There are simply not that many that go around. If you have a 3.8+ and good extracurriculars, you will most likely find a job. The most important thing is to get involved early. If you find an internship sophomore year, then it's going to be a lot easier to get a job your junior year. </p>
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<li>We are going into a recession so recruiting is going to be cut back significantly. This summer and last fall were terrible for recruiting. Make sure finance is really what you really want to do because its just getting more difficult to get in.</li>
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<p>I had a couple of PMs a while ago about major selections and career services in general and have pasted the messages below to help those wondering about investment banking. (the messages were directed towards someone wanting to choose between Econ-Math/Stats in the college or OR/FE in SEAS so it might not be applicable to everyone).</p>
<p>If you are planning to do the OR-Financial Engineering concentration then that's a great path. The kids in the program are targeted more so than others even in things like investment banking and equity research. Also, SEAS isn't much more difficult than CC, and the Operations Research curriculum is actually not that difficult and has a nice scale. people in the program have higher GPAs than other majors at SEAS, and the only reason that SEAS has a lower overall GPA is because there are a bunch of english/history majors in CC that give people a boost.</p>
<p>If you are in the college, there are joint programs such as Econ-math or econ stat that are nice because they combine two majors and give you a good background. I'd recommend econ-math with a concentration in stats. Another good thing about the college is that there is an Econ-OR joint, which half the classes you would be taking would be in the OR curriculum. </p>
<p>Recruiting is generally even from CC to SEAS. CC has a lot more people, but when I go to the career center I find that there seem to be an equal number of CC and SEAS kids. SEAS kids tend to be more quantitative, and banks definitely like that. Also, Financial engineering will get you many interviews... all the banks recruit here; gs, ms, ml, leh, cs, citi, lazard, even smaller ones like jeffries, peter j soloman, wachovia. the quant firms like DE shaw and Jane Street also recruit. Unfortunately we miss out on a couple of elite boutqiues such as Greenhill and Evercore (those firms recruit only at H and W), but they are impossible to get anyway (though blackstone pe and cerebus had resume drops for full time).</p>
<p>I personally am an Economics-Mathematics major in the college and will be starting in investment banking full time at a top bulge bracket(had some other offers, but because i did the summer there, liked the people there the best). my personal advice would be to stick with financial engineering because there are more options within finance. for your information, my friend is near the top of his class in the Fin Engineering program and not only did a summer at GS TMT, but is returning there as well.</p>
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I know this is from a long time ago, but...</p>
<p>Is it common for IB firms to accept interns during the school year? I know Columbia is great for those who want internships during the year, but if you want an internship for IB, is it ok to just have an internship just on Fridays?
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<p>For investment banking it is impossible. You will however be able to find finance internships in general that are once a week during the school year. The more you learn about investment banking the more you realize that it'll take up a lot of hours, and they're not going to flexible to your schedule. </p>
<p>With that said if you are a junior, Merrill Lynch has a night analyst program where you can take 2 or 3 nights a week and work there part time (from 8pm-around 3amish). That's a lot of work but some of my friends did it and secured jobs there.</p>
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I just read in a Princeton thread that OR majors must apply to the FE program. Can anyone at Columbia give any light on this matter. Can a student just major in FE or must he/she declare OR and then apply into the FE program after a couple years there? Thanks!
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<p>You have to be in SEAS and declare OR as your major. FE is only a concentration within the OR program. You apply sophomore year and are basically guaranteed entrance if you have above a 3.5, and generally even those with 3.4+ go in. The best part about the program is theres an Advanced Masters Trak, where you can take a bunch of Masters classes and finish up your masters degree once extra semester after graduation (security blanket for not finding a job). However, FE is an INTENSE major. Don't think just because it has finance in it it'll be easy. It is extremely quantitative (way more so than any Economics-Mathematics combination) and generally if you weren't considering at least a math or stats minor, or don't feel that you are capable of fulfilling one, you won't have too fun of a time.</p>
<p>is economics a good major for I Banking positions?</p>
<p>"is economics a good major for I Banking positions?"</p>
<p>there's no right major for junior level I-banking positions, they don't require extra-ordinary academic skills, just boat loads of hard work, chutzpa and a thick hide. econ as an discipline will be good, but most of the stuff you'll learn in econ (apart from broad concepts) will be useless.</p>