<p>As I went through initial interviews with CitiGroup and Houlihan Lokey, the interviewers were excited and impressed by my technical background in biochemistry and how I could apply it in ibanking. In all of my interviews, I basically said that my college major has given me very good quantitative and problem-solving skills, and that my true passion has become finance rather than science research. Well, this worked very well until my final-round interviews with these two banks. In their rejection talks, the banks' reps said that they considered me a more "risky" investment than a traditional business major, so they couldn't make me an offer.
What did I do wrong? Is there a better way to spin a non-finance / economics major? I am very disappointed since I really wanted to get a summer analyst position this summer, but, unfortunately, have not succeeded.</p>
<p>Don't be afraid to emphasize the quantitative focus of your major, but you can also shore up such concerns by taking business classes (and bringing that up in your interviews). This is just one possible strategy to use.</p>
<p>A biochem major isn't considered a technical major. My girlfriend is a biochem major and it's not "technical" at all compared to applied physics, engineering majors... </p>
<p>either 1. change a major to reflect your desired career path
2. plan to go the pre-med route or grad school/research route b/c that's all a biochem major is good for</p>
<p>I have many friends who are biochem majors (we have one of the top Med schools in the country) and they are usually jobless at graduation because of one of two things - 1. they didn't get into med school and are reapplying. 2. they don't want to go into medicine and are stuck trying to find a decent job that has nothing to do with their major.</p>