Hello,
I am a first year student at Duke. I was wondering if anyone with recruitment knowledge could tell me what would be the most suitable major for a career in Wall Street (for instance, investment banking). I understand that Finance is the traditional entryway to W. St., but since Duke doesn’t offer a Finance major, is Econ the best option at Duke?
I’ve been hearing that recently engineering students are being favored over finance/econ majors. can anyone comment on the verity of this statement. also, do engineering majors hired at Wall Street usually have finance/econ minors? Pratt’s 34-course curriculum already requires students with no credits to overload for two semesters, so minoring in finance/econ seems very-very demanding. also, among the two, which is better: econ major plus finance concentration, or econ plus physics double major?
Finally, I am a non-American student; will it have an effect on my chances of being recruited?
Major in anything quantitative (Engineering, Math-Econ double major, Physics-Econ double major–either is fine), get relevant internships, acquire leadership positions, get good grades (3.7+), perform well in interviews, and you’re set.
I know an international student at Harvard who interned with GS last summer, so I don’t think being a non-American should matter much.
. . . and seriously consider the much used and very successful Markets and Management Certificate program.
thanks @MBVLoveless and @TopTier . Do you think doing just engineering and not Markets and Management Certificate will put me at a disadvantage compared to someone who has done the certificate (discounting other factors like GPA, interviews, internships, and the likes)?
@wallstreetjaguar: It’s very difficult to say; my GUESS is it might.
M&M is very popular (and demonstrably effective), so there’s unquestionably a lot of current, germane data available. Were I you, I’d ask the very question that is in your latest post at Pratt (Dean’s office), at Duke’s Career Center, and with Dean Sue (I’d also consider asking Steve Nowicki, whose judgement and undergraduate concern are exemplary).
I’ll offer one additional thought. Understanding that your finances may not permit this, Fuqua (in the last few years) has developed an incredibly successful, one-year, MMS (Master of Management Studies) degree. This is NOT a substitute for an MBA, it is available immediately after Bachelor’s receipt, and it is specifically designed to make “freshly minted” BA/BS graduates FAR more knowledgeable of – and attractive to – commercial, financial and managerial enterprises of all sorts. You may wish to investigate this option, as well.
MMS is popular but honestly it is mainly full of people who wanted to be Economics majors but did not want to take the hard econ courses (many MMS people I know have even said this). Engineering will be fine, take some economics classes that sound interesting to you or some MMS classes (which usually don’t have prereqs) and you’ll be set for that kind of job. The economics major also has a finance concentration which could also be useful. However, an economics-engineering double major is almost unheard of (I know people who wanted to do that, but then ended up dropping one because its just too difficult to manage).
More important than major is networking. Use the Duke Alumni database and begin reaching out to graduates in the area that you want to work. Talk to them about internship opportunities, their job, their role, etc. Look into the fuqua2duke club and connect with people in the business school who can give you great advice http://fuqua.campusgroups.com/fuqua2duke/about/ For Wall Street, it will have as much to do with networking as your academic ability.
@TopTier mentioned the MMS program, which is an excellent option if you want to boost your entry point in wall street. It is truly an exceptional program, but you may be able to access some of this network as an undergrad if you are savvy and take time networking during your undergraduate career.