<p>I'm a senior at a Michigan high school thinking about going to either UPenn, UMich, or NYU. I'm interested in the IB field. Is this a good pathway?</p>
<ol>
<li>Major in Finance at UMich</li>
<li>Get a Bachelors in Finance degree</li>
<li>Work as a financial analyst for 5 years</li>
<li>Attend Ross business school</li>
<li>Get an MBA</li>
</ol>
<p>Should I change anything in that path?</p>
<p>Also, Is it better to major in UMich/NYU finance or UPenn economics? Which university do you think is better for me?</p>
<p>It’s better that you major in engineering and minor in finance or economics because ibanks really like the quantitative skills of engineers and it’ll give you nice backup if you fail to make it into ib.</p>
<p>^^ Ibanks don’t prefer engineers over others, they prefer the best applicants over the lesser ones</p>
<p>I’m in nearly the same situation as you, except you are in Michigan so you get instate preference and tuition at Mich (lucky!). I actually created a thread asking roughly the same question, and the consensus was that econ at Penn would be most beneficial. Now since mich is instate for you, the tuition would be significantly less than at Penn. I don’t know how your financial situation is so I can’t make the decision for you. At the end of the day, mich, NYU, and Penn are all great and will lead you down fantastic paths.</p>
<p>The instate tuition is 12,590 which I consider to be “free” for such a great school. NYU is overrated and very expensive. I envy you because there are not many schools as good as UMich in NY for such a low price, actually none.</p>
<p>They don’t prefer engineers but they don’t prefer financ agrees either. Why risk majoring in finance and not getting a job (ibanking is very competitive) when you can major in engineering and assure yourself at least one job?</p>
<p>Why wouldn’t they prefer finance majors? If you’re going to be devoting your entire life to working for them, wouldn’t you rather someone who was at least interested enough to major in the field?
Banks may like the quantitative skills for engineers, but it is mainly for more quantitative positions such as S&T and Risk, NOT the investment banking division. Being great at calculus is rarely helpful when the math you’re doing at work never exceeds the third grade level. </p>
<p>Finance also provides plenty of back up options (ex: corporate finance). If you’re interested in it enough to work in investment banking, you’re obviously going to prefer these options to some random engineering jobs.</p>
<p>Even if finance + engineering majors were seen as equal, finance is generally seen as easier to get a decent gpa in.
Getting a 3.5 or whatever banks see as the bare minimum will be much easier in finance than engineering. </p>
<p>avatarmage: You are clearly clueless. Please do not post misleading information. Stick to the areas in which you have experience.</p>
<p>I think the path you present is fine but ultimately it comes down the total resume building experiences that you create.
So first step
College - only top grades + leadership or entrepenurial expereince = internerships
Do this every year + make connections at internerships = 1st job after graduation.
Then everything will start to fall in place. </p>
<p>Good friend hires for top tier trading desk-- turns down 100s of connected kids with these qualifications. He feels badly but the jobs are just so few… Also some of the hirees are philosophy & English majors from top tier schools</p>
Not really, neither literally nor figuratively.
Wharton finance will put you on equal footing with those from HYP. It’s higher placement merely reflects higher interest.</p>
<p>Where do you guys think Penn econ is in the financial world? It’s clearly not in the same league as wharton/hyp, but is it close to Ross, Haas, etc.</p>
<p>Yes, for entry level finance jobs including IB. No other school besides Wharton has better preparations for its students for finance jobs in theory and practical knowledge. Very few Wharton grads need an MBA for advancing into more senior finance jobs. And very few people know that entry level IB is only a 2 year gig and then it’s a pyramid.</p>
<p>Econ at Penn have access to OCR at Wharton.</p>
<p>This is highly subjective. Honestly, this is more of the type of thing you’d expect to come out of the mouth of an admissions rep or a starry eyed Wharton hopeful than an actual employer. Yes, it’s one of the top undergraduate business schools but it is not worlds above the rest. </p>
<p>As to the MBA, in IB, whether or not you can advance without an MBA is a combination of performance and how well you can network internally. Whether or not you went to a business school for undergrad is not even a factor in whether or not you get the 3rd year offer or the promotion to associate.</p>
<p>^^^ How are you getting your opinions? Are they not subjective? What’s your background? Are you an employer? An older Wharton wanna be, or just an engineer ?</p>
<p>I see your comments on various topics, pray tell, what is your background?</p>
<p>middle school student (well technically middle school, my elementary school only went up to 5th grade) who met someone on a ski lift once who said they were an investment banker. and no, my comments are always right. Not at all subjective. </p>
<p>My experiences are based off of work in an investment bank and what I’ve seen colleagues who look at target school’s resume piles look for.
Other than a substantial engineering coursework (didn’t actually major in engineering), I have no experience in engineering.</p>