<p>I'm simply wondering ...
if an engineering major wants to be an i-banker (i know many do want to and many engineers do end up being an i-bankers), does s/he have to 'prepare' for such a thing?</p>
<p>or can s/he do "normal" engineering activities (such as, you know, engineering internship or research during summer, co-op and whatnot) and sucessfully get an offer from a major firm??</p>
<p>help me !</p>
<p>Queuing sakky</p>
<p>3.....2.....1.....</p>
<p>Morfinx, you rang? </p>
<p>
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I'm simply wondering ...
if an engineering major wants to be an i-banker (i know many do want to and many engineers do end up being an i-bankers), does s/he have to 'prepare' for such a thing?
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</p>
<p>Well, you don't "need" to prepare. I've known plenty of people with humanities degrees who have become Ibankers. Of course, it should be said that they got their humanities degrees at schools like HYPS. </p>
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or can s/he do "normal" engineering activities (such as, you know, engineering internship or research during summer, co-op and whatnot) and sucessfully get an offer from a major firm??
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<p>Again, see above. I've known plenty of people who have done absolutely nothing relevant to Ibanking in their entire time in college, and still got offers anyway. </p>
<p>But clearly, if you want to maximize your chances, then you should be pursuing banking internships and part-time experience. You should be taking classes on finance and accounting (if available), and you should be lots of networking. Obviously, you don't * need * to do this. But it does improve your odds.</p>
<p>If you get an "F" freshmen year in a class but still come out with a good GPA (3.6+) would banks (or even engineering firms) overlook you?</p>
<p>Why not just retake the class that you got an "F" on?</p>
<p>Since IB (and its close cousin, Management Consulting) pay significantly more than most firms, entry is tough. U/grads can enter directly from top schools from including but not limited to engineering. </p>
<p>If you are not from top school, then obtaining an MBA from a top school might grant you entry. I think if you graduate with an engineering degree, you may also want to consider M.Sc. in financial math, which is only accessible to ugrads with solid math skills - i.e. not humanities.</p>
<p>Yes and those who go into Financial Mathematics or Financial Engineering usually become Quants which work less and if I'm correct make more money.</p>
<p>I am 'perhaps' from one of those us news top 10 universities. Many major firms recruits at my school but honestly i dont know any engineering major who wants to be a i-banker.</p>
<p>i was asking it mainly because right now i am seeking an research position at a university for this summer. but i definitely want to have a ib career option open (as wide as possible).</p>
<p>thanks everyone for replying. shakky, can i assume that i need top-top-top GPA to get an offer? that being said, what about compared to econ/finance major???</p>
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Yes and those who go into Financial Mathematics or Financial Engineering usually become Quants which work less and if I'm correct make more money.
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<p>The connection is rather unclear. The highest paid guys (nowadays) in the investment banks are the traders, who may or may not be quant jocks. </p>
<p>But the highest paid guys, by far, currently are now in private equity, which is not heavily quantitative in nature. Instead, that relies more on deal-making skills. </p>
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thanks everyone for replying. shakky, can i assume that i need top-top-top GPA to get an offer? that being said, what about compared to econ/finance major???
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<p>Nah, not really. Granted, it doesn't help to have * terrible * grades. But there are plenty of people who get stellar grades and still get beaten out for Ibanking jobs by people with much more modest grades. Good grades may get you a bunch of interviews. But once you're in the interview room, it becomes all about your interview skills. You can have a 4.0 and not get any offers because you don't interview well.</p>
<p>what does trader do? are they basically "the salesman" for share/stocks and stuff like that?</p>
<p>Sakky, you seem very knowledgeable about this stuff... so I was wondering if we go to a fairly good school, and double major in econ/engineering, would there be open doors?</p>
<p>What kind of interview process does I-banking involve?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>A double major in Econ/Engineering is probably more trouble than it's worth.</p>
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what does trader do? are they basically "the salesman" for share/stocks and stuff like that?
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<p>Some of them, notably the sales desk guys, are like that. </p>
<p>But others are on the firm's own trading desk, which basically means taking the firm's capital and investing it for profit. The money you make is then directly tied to the profits you make for the firm for that trading. Recently, trading has become the most profitable subspecialty within investment bnaks. They generally work fewer hours also.</p>
<p>But I should also caution that that can change quickly. Trading may be a lucrative specialty now, but may not be in the future if the market turns. </p>
<p>I should also say that that's just talking about banking. Other fields of finance - notably private equity and hedge funds - now pay even better than banking does. It's actually gotten to the point where at places like Harvard Business School, those who take jobs in investment banking are seen as people who just weren't good enough to get a private equity or hedge fund position. </p>
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Sakky, you seem very knowledgeable about this stuff... so I was wondering if we go to a fairly good school, and double major in econ/engineering, would there be open doors?
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<p>I'm with Payne. Double majors are generally a sucker's bet in that the extra time you would have to spend to do it would almost certainly be better spent doing other things. If you really want to open doors, especially in finance, what you should be spending your extra time on is networking, recruting, and (if possible) getting a part-time internship. Those things will pay far higher dividends than attempting to pursue a double.</p>
<p>The truth of the matter is, like it or not, hiring decisions are often times not predicated on academic achievement. You can have the best academic record of all the candidates for a particular job, and lose anyway, and then have to watch somebody else with far lower grades and a far worse academic record get the job offer you want. I've known plenty of people who have discovered that to their chagrin. One guy in particular will always stand out in my memory because I will always remember him ruefully regretting having studied so hard to develop such a sterling academic record, including a dual degree, because it turned out that he did all that hard work and still didn't get any of the job offers he wanted. Instead, he loudly proclaimed that he should have spent less time on his studies and more time on his interview skills and his networking. </p>
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What kind of interview process does I-banking involve?
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<p>It's highly variable, but usually it's a multi-round interview process, where you may encounter a wide variety of interview tactics designed to test your coolness under pressure, your creativity, and your social skills.</p>