<p>I'm currently a freshman at the University of South Carolina and I'm double majoring in International Business and Finance. USC has the #1 Int'l Business school if that means anything. But I'm really interested in investment banking and I understand that my chances are terribly long to get into the field from a non target school so would it be best to drop Int'l Business and just do finance? Or should I go with something like Finance and Economics?</p>
<p>Opinions are really appreciated</p>
<p>Wall Street hires plenty of philosophy majors.</p>
<p>Quoting someone I know who’s at BarCap IBD(who broke in from a mid tier UC), your major doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>Ideally BB and MBB both look for someone who graduated at or near the top of their class, double majored and minored and has solid work experience along with high SAT/ACT or GMAT/GRE.</p>
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<p>What’s your source?</p>
<p>MBB recruiters who claim they don’t look for specific majors
The educational backgrounds of most F500 CEOs(Soviet Literature much?)</p>
<p>Just have a 3.8 GPA out of HYPSW with a few internships at big companies(F500 anything, elite boutiques, etc.) and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>From someone coming from a relatively unknown state school major might matter slightly more, but even then, “business is business”. A major is not quantifiable and is non-comparable across institutions. How am I supposed to know if International Business with a minor in Economics at XYZ University is any better than Applied Econometrics at ABC College or Business Administration with a Finance concentration at Podunk Tech?</p>
<p>But should I stay in International Business or double major in something else</p>
<p>Do whatever you feel like as long as it doesn’t ding your GPA or take up too much time. You won’t be dinged for having an “International Business” background, if anything talk about how it expanded your view of the macroeconomy or something like that. Do what YOU want. Be passionate about it and make sure you DO IT WELL(as measured by GPA). </p>
<p>Your GPA and your Work Experience matter more than your major at this point. Past that the interesting things that you’ve done all contribute (foreign travel, varsity sports, marathon running, running a startup, taking a leadership role in a club or two on campus, etc.)</p>
<p>read up on competitive careers at Wall Street Oasis, Management Consulting, CaseInterview, Mergers and Inquisitions, etc. You can google them.</p>
<p>xelink,your originally statement is Wall Street hires a lot of philosophy majors and then you mention MBB recruiters and Fortune 500 CEOs. However, MBB and Fortune 500 companies are not Wall Street.</p>
<p>To the OP, FWIW you are not attending a target school for investment banking. International business is too non-specific and most business related job ads ask for finance or economics or accounting backgrounds.</p>
<p>At a non-target, you should stick with finance or econ. If you were coming from a target school then it wouldn’t matter.</p>
<p>The same concept applies on the street as it does elsewhere. I will admit that the guy who I know who works in BarCap IBD is in HK, but he said he regrets not pursuing Poli Sci as he originally had planned. Again, mid tier school(rank 50ish on US News).
Focus on WORK EXPERIENCE, not your major. Everyone takes classes no one is impressed by that. Just do well in what you do. If you’re struggling to get internships, then say that you’re double majoring with finance added on. You can choose to change from “doing more” to “doing less” academically later as time progresses. I got my current internship while claiming I was doubling in Math-Econ and Bus Admin and minoring in Statistics. Things changed and I’m going to end up a few courses short on Bus Admin. They don’t care and I was extended an offer to start as a 3rd year analyst.</p>
<p>I appreciate all of the comments and I think I’m going to drop IB and do finance. But would it be worth my while to double major in something like Finance and Business Economics to make myself more marketable to companies?</p>