Should I major in applied math/economics/statistics/finance, etc…??
Which colleges in the Ivy League have the best undergrad programs in each of these areas?
Which colleges not in the Ivy League also have top programs in these undergrad majors?
OK so there’s a few things you can do. A few schools are starting to offer degrees in Data Science/Data Analytics/Actuarial Mathematics/Statistics. The other thing you can major in is economics, although check the curriculum because some of the economics majors are much more theory-based, whereas some of the other economics majors have a lot of upper level mathematics, econometrics, etc. Of course, you could also major in Finance, but to be a quant I’d recommend pairing that with some sort of data/statistics minor.
You need to have a degree from an Ivy League institution in order to have a shot at a job in a shrinking filed like Investment banking. Getting into an Ivy League is a pure lottery today, even if you have perfect scores across the board.
“You need to have a degree from an Ivy League institution in order to have a shot at a job in a shrinking field like Investment banking”
Investment banking does appear to be one of the few areas where “prestige” actually does matter. I am pretty sure that there are at least a couple of non-ivy league schools that would also be fine, such as MIT and Stanford and probably Chicago. However, that doesn’t make getting in any easier. MIT and Stanford both have very strong math departments and strong business schools, but it has been a very long time since I paid attention to individual concentrations within math and I never paid attention to concentrations in either business school.
It’s not as black & white as the first response makes it seem. There are schools considered “target schools” There are lots of these that are not Ivy Leagues. UCB/UCLA/UVA/Northwestern/etc. There’s also specific programs available that try to help get internships like the Rutgers road to wall street program.