<p>What degree would I seek if I wanted to become an equity sales trader for an investment bank? At first, I thought investment banking was the career for me but after seeing the endless hours and large amounts of stress, I think an equity sales trader would be my type of job. It seems a lot more appealing to be making deals than researching companies.</p>
<p>However, what degree would I pursue in order to become an equity sales trader? Is the quality of life a lot better than IBing? </p>
<p>About what is the starting salary compared to an IB'er?</p>
<p>It doesn't really matter what you study, because your employer will teach you what you need to know on the job. </p>
<p>The important thing is that you attend one of the best universities in the world, and that you spend your summers doing internships or jobs in as close a capacity as possible as the field in which you would like to work. In lieu of experience, ridiculously high grades are a sufficient substitute (so long as you are at an excellent university).</p>
<p>I will either be going to the University of Florida or Florida State. These are not the best universities in the world, do I honestly still have a chance at making it into S&T with a lower level company and moving my way up?</p>
<p>Finance or Economics would be great for S&T. Coming from a state school, its tough to break onto Wall Street, unless you've got a great network. My best bet would be to go and find whatever job you can doing S/T, and then go back to get your MBA from a T10 B School, and then you can work for whomever you want.</p>
<p>S&T compensation depends wholly upon the individual. If you're good, then you could be making a couple hundred K. If you're damn good (think back to the movie Wall Street, Gekko's star trader), you can make millions. The sky is the limit. Banking analysts, as of late, have a 60K base salary and their bonuses generally range, depending on the market. 10 for sign on is customary, and then the bracket for this year, I'd speculate is 80K-100K.</p>