<p>Hello. I was accepted early decision into the class of 2015 at the Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences. I am wondering what kind of opportunities are available to get a job on Wall Street, such as Investment Banking, from Cornell. What kinds of opportunities are available if I major in computer science? I have heard that to become an investment banker, you need to get a high GPA in math or a math-based major such as physics. Thanks for helping me out!</p>
<p>Good luck to you.
I have heard that the Wall Street firms do recruit specifically from Cornell’s College of Arts & Sciences. A math background could be good, but I think most any liberal arts based education like that of the other ivy league schools will be good.</p>
<p>Check this out regarding your question: [Cornell</a> Chronicle: Liberal arts students get advise from alumni](<a href=“Home | Cornell Chronicle”>Home | Cornell Chronicle)</p>
<p>all of the major banks plus a few others smaller firms with alot of alumni connections come to campus to recruit (they recruit from all schools, not just arts and sciences).</p>
<p>Blackstone is recruiting for two slots at Cornell, so is Bain Capital. In addition, Barclays JPM Citi BAML GS MS all recruit from there for banking and trading. </p>
<p>There are also postings from DE Shaw etc… And Mckinsey for consulting. On the Hotel Side you have Oliver Wyman.</p>
<p>There are many Cornell Alumni on the Street ( heads of BlackRock Fixed Income - Cornell; Trading desks, MDs etc… ) Also, there are a number working at Carlyle.</p>
<p>Math/Econ is the traditional route. But just having Econ + a language is good enought. Make sure to have a good GPA ( 3.7 is good enough - too high makes you look weird ) Also, do some extracurricular stuff - Business Frats Help (DSP, AKPsi etc… )</p>
<p>Thanks for helping me out guys. Is it very difficult to get a job at a top firm like Goldman Sachs from Cornell? If there’s only one or two slots per class, it doesn’t seem very promising, as I’m sure there are many people looking to go into the field.</p>
<p>“too high makes you look weird”
really?</p>
<p>MUnited said two slots at Blackstone, NOT Goldman Sachs. Blackstone is one of the hardest tickets to get.</p>
<p>Do they recruit from college of engineering? What is the gpa needed?</p>
<p>Why would you do even consider the college of engineering if you wanted to major in econ / do anything econ related. It seems as though as long as you have reasonably good grades, you can get recruited if your major is along the lines of that type of industry and you have had such experiences or you can demonstrate that you are a promising candidate in the business world.</p>
<p>Straddle between engineering and econ and see if you can survive. Why not throw premed in there too :)</p>
<p>Many engineering majors get their MBA in business. I don’t think engineers ending up in finance is unusual. These students have proven themselves with rigorous course work.</p>
<p>Hm you have a point. But it seems like once again if you demonstrate that you can do relatively well in engineering, it’s the business related skills that matter in the business world, and it’s what you have to demonstrate.</p>
<p>Wall Street recruiters look for physics, math, and engineering degrees for the applicants for certain jobs because the jobs require strong mathematical skills.</p>
<p>What would one do to get recruited out of ILR? I know it would be easier out of AEM, but I think ILR is a better fit for my interests.</p>
<p>My daughter went through Cornell’s career center to get her summer internship when she was a junior, as all of her friends who got hired. She had friends from CoE, Hotel and ILR who went through the same process, and got jobs at GS, DB and JP…</p>
<p>What’s good about Cornell is almost every Wall Street firm recruits on campus because of its size. The career center is quite organized that they get all of those firms on campus almost on the same week, and it’s usually the first 2 weeks of spring semester(I think it is this week). My daughter had over 10 interviews in a week, and at the end of week she already had few offers without leaving the campus. Another thing Cornell does is to get alums at WS firms to organize “Cornell Day” for students over the winter break to get them meet and greet senior people at their firms. It gives Cornell students a leg up when they interview. Because Cornell has very strong alumni network, they also push very hard to get Cornell interns to get permenant job offers.</p>
<p>Most of those firms require min 3.5 GPA, some will go as low as 3.2 or 3.0. You’ll see that on the job posting. If you are a math, physics, or engineering major, they will allow lower GPA. If you are in AEM, the expectation is GPA should be a lot higher.</p>
<p>^Out of curiousity, what types of ECs/GPA would you recommend to be a competitive candidate for the top Wall Street firms; you seem to know a lot.</p>
<p>Btw, I am a potentional Economics/History major at CAS.</p>
<p>oldfort, why would the GPA expectation of those in AEM be a lot higher? Is it easier than other schools?</p>
<p>oldfort: If I transfer from a great school like Vandy, how will my GPA calculated when I apply for jobs? Do firms care about my GPA at my previous school?</p>
<p>They like students who are active on campus, especially people who have taken leadership roles - Greek life, student government, sports. What’s important is job experience, but not every job needs to be at a finance firm. Unless you are looking for a quant job, they want people who are social.</p>
<p>AEM is not as hard of a school as Engineering or math/physics in A&S. There is also a higher expectation of AEM students to know more about finance. My daughter as a doube major math/econ had 3.55 GPA when she was interviewing (surprisingly it has gone up quite a bit since then), but she still got a lot of respect from the interviewers. They also asked her a lot few finance questions, but more math related questions.</p>
<p>babyboom - your GPA from another school will be calculated same as Cornell. Even if you took courses from community college over a summer, as long as Cornell takes those credits, those grades will be weighted the same. </p>
<p>I V - econ/history are good combination. I would encourage you to take some finance courses in Hotel and AEM to show you could handle those courses, and have a basic understanding of finance, especially accounting. </p>
<p>My daughter found freshman year course were quite difficult (weed out classes), especially math, be careful not to overload, and not to party too much.:)</p>