<p>I am now in a tier 1 LAC (but non-target) and I am very interested in the SEAS 3-2 engineering combined plan(3 years at LAC and 2 years at Columbia SEAS, I will major in IEOR, like its FE). Columbia's education, reputation can boost my background subtantially. However, I am not sure whether my transfer background will be an disadvantage when I apply for I-Banking or Consulting positions at my junior year or sinior year in Columbia University. Any idea is welcomed ! Thank you guys!!</p>
<p>Yes, though it’s a bit of a strange route. You have two options. One is that you can become an equity analyst specializing in a certain sector. If you have some experience as an engineer in a sector, such as in oil or IT, then your engineering background and career experience can be a big boost. Beyond this, your engineering degree demonstrates good quantitative ability. What you can do is work as an engineer for three-four years, save up money, and go to business school. An MBA in finance from a top 15 business school and an engineering background can both make you a good candidate for a job in finance.
Alternatively, you may also want to consider going to law school to become a patent lawyer. Patent law generally requires a strong engineering background to understand the patents and items in contention. Patent lawyers are among some of the highest paid lawyers. Moreover, because few lawyers have the engineering background necessary to handle patent law, it tends to be less competitive than other legal fields. This is just something for you to consider doing with an SEAS degree in addition to finance and consulting.</p>
<p>so the nature of banking/consulting is that they tier. coming from columbia you have a shot at the upper tiers (that you might not at most LACs), but don’t kid yourself, it is still not as if everyone gets a top gig. equally there are some boutique, regional or smaller banks/firms that you could probably get into.</p>
<p>so you should always preface or realize that when you speak of i-banking, or finance generally - do you speak of a specific firm or tier of firms you want to work for, or do you mean in general. because in general - yeah you can do it. can you get into top firms? that requires grades, hob-nobbing and to some extent luck - even from columbia and other ivies. </p>
<p>lastly, i know that i-banking is the word on most people’s lips, but you should also think about and look into many other units within the financial world. none of my friends work in what is traditionally called investment banking - but they work for hedge funds, in trading, structured products, etc. so learn about and figure out what else is out there.</p>
<p>Yes, Thanks for posting. I am talking about chance to top I-Banking firms(BB…). I have good grades and finance-related internships, and I am just wondering whether, as a transfer to Ivy, will bring me disadvantage when applying to banks at Columbia.</p>
<p>and you mean top i-banking groups among firms. but my guess is you’re talking about places like goldman, jpmorgan, morgan stanley, and maybe the specialty places like lazard. </p>
<p>now as for your question, i have no idea what you’re talking about, but i am guessing that you mean to say “if i go to columbia will the fact that i am transfer hurt my chances because i will be competing with students from columbia.” the answer is - it depends. what do you do while you’re at columbia. beyond the fact it isn’t guaranteed you’ll even get into the program as of yet - lets not get ahead of ourselves. but if you continue to be entrepreneurial, meet people, then you will find no disadvantage.</p>
<p>but overall - regardless of where you presently attend, columbia probably has better ins (and places more students) at top firms than where you are. so jumping to columbia through the 3-2 betters your chance at placing. but that is a probability question, something that you ultimately need to decide whether or not it is worth it. you could potentially get a great firm from where you are at (or get a great job that eventually leads to a top firm), so is it worth the extra year of college? your call.</p>
<p>Yes, you are right, whether “if I go to columbia will the fact that i am transfer hurt my chances because i will be competing with students from columbia.” is exactly what I want to ask. Sorry for not articulating my question clearly.</p>
<p>^ to clarify, some pretty mediocre kids on paper from Columbia get into top divisions at top banks, because top divisions at top i-banks interview on campus. Junior econ-major with a 3.2-3.4 gpa just landed a summer offer for sales and trading with goldman securities, no connections -most people agree that this is one of the most prestigious and difficult divisions to break into. He had investing experience and was on a sports team, he was also very sharp and kicked ass at his interview in order to get the offer, but I doubt he would have been interviewed at a near-top LAC even with a 3.6. So I am quite convinced that Columbia (along with a few other top schools) does give an easier in to prestigious front office divisions at top investment banks. These are the jobs that pay the most (significantly) straight out of college, and have among the highest earning potential. I’m saying this adjusting for level of competition at Columbia. Significantly fewer people are interested in wall street at Columbia than say at Wharton or NYU Stern, because many brilliant students come to Columbia to go to law school, med school, international affairs, politics, research etc. This greatly reduces the competition (though it is still substantial).</p>
<p>Anecdotally you have to be absolutely stellar in order for a prestigious division to interview you if they don’t recruit on your campus.</p>
<p>the 3-2 will give you another key advantage which is that you graduate with a liberal arts and engineering degree, many companies value profiles like this, a trading division won’t care, but I know that several positions which require analytical skills along with communication and “schmooze” skills value a balanced curriculum. Management consulting firms definitely like these profiles.</p>
<p>I am interested in both top Wall street IBs and BBs in HK( professional fluency in Cantonese). I hope an IVY brand will get me a big shot than an LAC when applying for summer internship. It is a guaranteed transfer if science major in our LAC got >=3.3 GPA(I got 3.9). However, when I transfer and apply for banking intern, only grades from my previous LAC but not from Seas will be on my transcript. Will it be an disadvantage? Any idea?</p>
<p>since you have 5 years to graduate, you would apply for summer internships after your 4th year and you would state both GPAs at that time, your GPA at LAC and GPA at Columbia on your resumes. After 3 years you can apply for summer internships but only with your lac on there, if you have not started at Columbia, you do not yet go here.</p>
<p>The situation is: I transfer to Columbia at Sept. The companies are recruiting this month. But what I have in my transcripts and resumes are GPAs(3.9) & activities from my LAC, but not seas. Will it hurt?</p>
<p>Companies recruit for full time in Sept, Asian offices (and some european offices) recruit at the end of the fall for summer. 80% of positions recruit for summer internships in Jan by which time you will have two GPAs one of lac one for Columbia. For the asian and euro offices, you do not yet have a columbia GPA and you only have an LAC gpa which should be listed as the LAC gpa, just put the start date for Columbia at sept 2010, so they’ll realize you transferred in. Same with activities, all your activities should have a school, location, time attached to them, so like [ACTIVITY] Willams College, Williamstown MA, Sept 2007-May 2010 and then add on description.</p>