<p>I do realize that you don't need advanced mathematics courses to get a job. But those applicants with a strong foundation in math, be they engineering majors or pure math majors, are stronger applicants (all else equal) than those who major in biology or history. </p>
<p>That they took math courses and excelled shows a more quantitative aspect.</p>
<p>No. Don't do math! </p>
<p>Don't go the Financial engineering route! </p>
<p>I don't need more competition!</p>
<p>do any of you guys have any suggestions for me....Im currently a mathematics/economics major and its my first year at college. I want to go into I-banking, what would you suggest for me. What kind of clubs should I join, or volunteer work, etc.</p>
<p>Why do these major I-banking and hedge fund companies need your SAT scores for???</p>
<p>Hypothetically, I want to go into I-banking, and I have horrible SAT scores that won't stack up against the other super-qualified applicants. (I have a 630 in Math on the SAT reasoning. :( ) I know math is very important, so will that score make them toss me aside? So will that ruin my chances if I have a decent GPA??? Should I retake the SAT again to raise my score, even though I'm done with undergraduate admissions and am going to be a freshman next year?</p>
<p>I'd say retake it</p>
<p>i think this point made by my finance professor is true: having an intuition for mathematics (read: being comfortable with numbers) would help you greatly in finance.. knowing a lot of mathematics, on the other hand, might not help you as much as you had hoped. especially if you had forced yourself to take it.</p>
<p>i am an applied mathematics major at brown, and i did it because i enjoyed the thought process and ideas in the field. so far, i have seen my friends burned because they did math just for the sake of putting it on their resume. if you don't like it, your GPA will easily reflect this (esp. higher level mathematics classes i.e. analysis, where you can't rely on just doing as many questions as you can).</p>
<p>this summer, i am interning at a hedge fund in new york, and count myself very lucky to interact with many brilliant people. i noticed that the analysts come from very diverse backgrounds. political science majors helped the macroeconomic/top-bottom analysis, math/stat majors crunch the expected returns and volatility, finance/accounting majors did the company valuations.. it is really much more creative than what many people perceived.</p>
<p>this is why i think it's a little bit misleading to say doing math is the ultimate route to gain access to ibanking industry. yes, it is one of them, but definitely not the only/best one.</p>
<p>What about an English/Math double major? If one truly enjoys those two subjects, should they give it up because the interviewer might view that as too unorthodox?</p>
<p>Sorry to hijack the thread a bit:</p>
<p>Do Hedge Funds recruit on-campus, or do they mainly just use head-hunters? I've seen some D.E. Shaw stuff, but that's it.</p>
<p>Let me ask you guys this. Which of the following three options give one the best chance at getting a job at an ibank straight out of undergrad?</p>
<ol>
<li>Math and Economics</li>
<li>Math and Finance</li>
<li>Economics and Computer Engineering</li>
</ol>
<p>i think once someone got the quant background, finance can be taught fairly quickly aka via training....</p>
<p>so id say numero 1</p>
<p>Are we talking of IBD? There really isn't anything amazingly quantitative you do at IBD. Any of those will do well (some are pure overkill). </p>
<p><a href="http://theallnighter.blogspot.com/%5B/url%5D">http://theallnighter.blogspot.com/</a>
Third point. Its exaggerated yet true. It doesn't take extreme quantitative skills to do DCFs haha.</p>
<p>My parents are pretty much forcing me to dome sorta of engineering. That's why I had to put #3 on their.</p>
<p>As important as analytical skills are in the IBD/Hedge Fund world ---you're probably better off working on your personalities. My hedge does private investments in public equities and like the blog mahras posted--we spend more time laughing than working days/nights using financial instruments and crunching numbers. The financing structures are a mere multiplication of #'s. The real key is being able to close a deal with a company--which is why great social skills are a very KEY attribute that many people over look. Hedge funds generally will be more laid back then the "suits" (bulge bracket IBD firms). You might become rich and actually enjoy your life in the process :).</p>
<p>will it be difficult to land an ibanking job w/ a math+econ double major and a high GPA at nyu (not stern) or should i think about transferring to nyu stern or ivy league school to get a good job in business</p>
<p>You will be fine with a high GPA especially if you have some business-oriented internships or part-time jobs.</p>