<p>which has the higher percentage to get a job offer on Wall Street??? Does Wall Street Prefers one over another??</p>
<p>Probably SEAS. Definitely SEAS, actually.</p>
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which has the higher percentage to get a job offer on Wall Street??? Does Wall Street Prefers one over another??
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<p>Dude, is English your first language?</p>
<p>I'd actually like to hear the answer to this question. Also, do financial engineering majors in SEAS get the best jobs, or do the ibanks recruit anyone who is intelligent and has good quantitative skills?</p>
<p>FE has been around for like 2 years. there's no track record there to speak of. The IEOR department as a whole tends to have the highest % of people who are interested in finance, and consequently, the number of people who get offers.</p>
<p>ibanks are interested in people who are intelligent, presentable, and have good quant skills. the social / EQ aspects to the interview process can't be overlooked - you have to make them LIKE you as well as decide you're qualified.</p>
<p>i would also argue that in no way are jobs in the investment banking division of any investment bank the "best jobs" to get coming out of college. Or in the merchant banking division. Frankly, to be willing to work the hours that my friends in IB do, they'd have to pay me about half a million dollars a year, and I arrived at that number such that, after a year or two there, I could take a few years off, travel, have lots of fun, and generally get some use out of the money and my lost youth. Which is precisely the reasoning and attitude that would get me weeded out of any I-banking recruiting process.</p>
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<p>Rho Ventures recruits 1-2 analysts per year out of columbia. Now THAT is more like a 'best job for an undergrad'. Holy cow would that be awesome.</p>
<p>"ok, wait, slow down. So you guys have people with the Next Big Idea coming to you, telling you they're the next google or ebay or genentech and their ideas are going to change the world. and you are the arbiters of those claims, and help decide who the future movers and shakers of the economy are by making good decisions and helping your chosen 'winners' navigate the tough waters of startup-land. and in exchange, you get an ownership stake and a percentage of the eventual profits? Really? And as an analyst, I can nevertheless influence these decisions, and build these relationships? Seriously? This isn't a joke, like something from a late-night TV ad?"</p>
<p>Let me take a guess Denz: You work in consulting?</p>
<p>Columbia is a target school for bulge bracket Investment Banks. That being said, there's no preference for what major or school you're from. It's all about your resume to get you that interview, and if you get invited to the interview, how well you perform there. There's plenty of engineering majors in Investment Banks, especially in Sales & Trading and Research, because these positions require the high analytical and quantitative skills engineering majors possess. On the other hand, there's no problem being a philosophy major either. You get training nonetheless; it's comprehensive and will prepare you fully.</p>
<p>So as the old saying goes, major in whatever you like. It's true; it won't close any doors to you.</p>
<p>If you're in CC and want to get into IB, my guess is take some quantative courses (or do the Econ-IEOR joint major) and you'll be on par if not better off than the SEAS kids given that CC kids tend to be more... social (generalization/notflame)- or at least it appears that way. </p>
<p>Probably more people from CC get into Law/Medical school than SEAS although SEAS definitely has them too.</p>
<p>pear: I did. I recently left my position. but i'd still take a good consulting firm over an ibank position every day of the week and twice on sundays. and a role with a venture capital firm is just about the most interesting thing I can imagine a recent college graduate doing.</p>
<p>We have a family friend who is a recent SEAS grad and is currently working as an analyst at a leading firm. He's very happy and is of course making relatively boatloads of money.</p>
<p>I didn't have the heart to tell him- the position he took is a mid-office to back-office job. Far from where "the action" is at these firms, and no place to showcase one's abilities, or have any truly notable accomplishments. No doubt he was selected for his quant skills, and this aspect of his capabilities will be over-utilized ("number cruncher"), to his detriment.</p>
<p>The analysts who worked for me were in "the front office", actually working on transactions. In many cases they made meaningful contributions on transactions well into the hundreds of millions of dollars. They worked their butts off, but usually had a lot to show for it in the end.</p>
<p>The vast majority of these analysts were graduates of liberal arts programs such as CC. Writing skills were quite important for these jobs. As are interpersonal skills.</p>
<p>This is a sample of one SEAS grad, however. I don't remember even interviewing one when I was at "the bank". I did have an analyst from Columbia College though.</p>
<p>People from the outside see all these dollar signs, they don't realize that the nature and character of all jobs and tasks within these organizations are not all the same.</p>
<p>that is truly sage wisdom right there. it's made worse by the fact that back-office jobs tend to have higher starting salaries than front-office jobs (Goldman is paying my buddy in IT $90k to start), but there are no bonuses attached because you're not revenue-generating. you're a cost, and viewed as such.</p>
<p>HUH???!! 90K? What are his duties?</p>
<p>he oversees a large part of IT purchasing and hardware standardization. they're essentially paying him that much so that he's bribe-proof from the various vendors out there trying to get him to buy their **, and so that he'll get what's **best instead. I dunno, there are other parts to it too. He had a kickass internship prior to senior year, and had a few firms bid for his services during senior year.</p>
<p>DE Shaw routinely starts its network and engineering professionals at $90k. they advertise that very loudly in the campus newspaper to get people to interview.</p>
<p>So... this might be a basic question, but I was under the impression that the normal next-step for, say, a CC grad in the humanities (or even bio, psych, etc.), to get into high-level finance/business, was an MBA. How does an MBA change the equation?... in other words, the job applicant would have both a liberal arts degree, often more desired than an undergrad business degree (or so I've heard), plus a thorough econ/business education.</p>
<p>People get their MBAs after 2-3 years of relevant work experience.</p>
<p>is that always the case?</p>
<p>almost always. there are maybe a dozen exceptions per year in Harvard B-school's class of ~900 students, who came straight from undergrad having started several successful businesses and were clearly future leaders. go read the B-school forum for further discussion.</p>
<p>You gave up a comfortable job in consulting? Wow, you either have a pretty damn good job now or you've gone insane, ^^. If you consider the high living costs in NYC, taxes and everything else, you won't be left with much as a 1st year analyst. You'll have what? Maybe 50k? That puts you in the middle class in New York and you'll have to work like a dog, especially in M&A. Trading is seems too isolated and crunching numbers the whole day just doesn't seem that exciting. Sales on the other hand does involve social interaction, but I'm not sure that the bonuses are that great. It's almost impossible to get into a PE firm straight out of college, so what the heck can you do nowadays?</p>
<p>Are work hours in consulting any better?</p>
<p>Are you kidding me? Let's put it this way: In consulting, you get to at least have a life. If you work in M&A, it's bascially over.</p>