What Should You Pick For Your Major?
So, which major has the highest chance of getting you into investment banking?
You might think that only undergraduates have to think about that one, but it comes up even when you’re that beyond that stage: when you go for Master’s or MBA degrees, you need to pick a concentration or major.
You shouldn’t pick classes just to get into the industry – but you also need to make sure you’re not reducing your chances of getting in by picking the “wrong” major.
Considerations
You need to consider 5 factors when picking a major:
- Enjoyment – Even if you pick something “easy” like Art History, it’s tough to get through it if you’re not at least somewhat interested.
- Your GPA – Quantum Physics might sound cool, but not if you get a 2.0 as a result.
- Time Requirements – You also don’t want to spend all your waking hours at the lab, because that reduces networking and activity time.
- Your Story – Will your major support the “story” you tell interviewers? Or will it be as illogical as The Joker?
- How Bankers View It – They may not know the specifics behind every single major, but they view some as “easy” and some as “hard.”
It gets complicated to weigh all these factors at the undergraduate level.
But it’s easy to do that at the MBA and Master’s levels, so let’s start there.
Business School
You won’t have a “major,” but you can usually pick a concentration or focus with your classes.
GPA is irrelevant because many top schools don’t even award grades – and while some classes may be more difficult than others, the perceived and actual differences are smaller.
So this decision is simple: pick a concentration that supports your story.
If you did sales & trading, got tired of it, and now want to move into corporate finance it won’t seem logical if you pick algorithmic trading classes.
But if you worked in banking and now want to move into venture capital, then “Entrepreneurial Finance” classes would make sense.
Master’s Programs
You applied to a Master’s program to take another shot at recruiting and to gain some prestige if you went to a lesser-known university.
So you only have one choice: do a Master’s program in Finance.
It makes absolutely no sense to go through the trouble if you’re going to spend your time analyzing English literature.
Related areas like Accounting, Management, and so on can work but Finance is the safest bet and the best way to support your “story.”
Undergraduate
Now we get to the fun part.
The choice of a major at the undergraduate level is more difficult because you actually need to take into account all 5 factors – enjoyment, GPA, time requirements, your story, and how bankers view it.
Rather than doing a SWOT analysis here (I’ll leave that to the consultants in the room), I would summarize it like this:
Pick a major that you’re at least somewhat interested in, where you can get a decent GPA (> 3.5 in the US system or equivalent abroad), have time for at least 1 major activity outside school, and that supports your story.
Interest
Ideally, we would all pick something that matches our interests precisely: video game design, the history of sports, or physical therapy.
But bankers won’t take you seriously if you have a major like this on your resume / CV.
So you have to compromise – one option is to do a more serious major and then pick something “fun” for your minor.
GPA and “Easy” vs. “Hard” Majors
Since bankers only spend 30 seconds looking at your resume, they have a simple classification system for majors:
- Liberal Arts / “Creative” Majors – Easy
- Economics / Finance / Some Sciences – Medium
- Engineering / Physics / Math – Hard
Before you reply or leave an angry comment, remember that these are not my own personal views – this is simply how bankers in a rush for time view the relative difficulty of majors.
Bankers expect you to have a lower GPA if you did a “hard” major and a higher GPA if you didn’t.
You still can’t waltz in with a 2.5 and expect to get interviews, but a 3.3 or 3.4 GPA doesn’t look as bad if you had a difficult major like Chemical Engineering.
Go for one of the “medium” difficulty majors – that way you can get a decent GPA and have time for activities outside of school.
Time for Activities
Once you’re out of school, activities don’t matter – but as a student you don’t have full-time work experience, so you need to rely on being “interesting.”
You can substitute internships, studying abroad, sports, or networking in for “activities” here.
Regardless of how you spend your time, you need to be able to talk about something outside of school work and summer internships.
If you’ve picked a more difficult major and really have no time, try to clear one semester or one quarter and use a study abroad experience as your “interesting fact.”
Story Support
Similar to the “Why investment banking?” question, there are 2 story categories:
- Non-business/finance major moving into business.
- Business/finance major moving into investment banking specifically.
So your major has to support whatever you’re saying here.
For #1, your major should be either your starting point (“I was interested in biology, but then got interested in finance…”) or your growing interest (“While in the biology major, I got exposed to finance in this one class / internship…”).
Some Examples, Please…
I knew you’d ask, so let’s go through them.
Example #1 – The Biology Major: She picks Biology (not “easy” but not as difficult as other choices), gets a 3.6 GPA, and has time to lead a volunteer group outside of work.
She does a lab internship her first year but then moves into business development at a biotech company, gets more interested in finance and does a couple related classes – and she gets into banking to advise biotech companies in the future.
Example #2 – The Accounting Major: He goes to a state school, majors in Accounting, gets a 3.7 GPA, and has time to be on his school’s Track & Field team. He did an internship at a Big 4 firm, got some exposure to Transaction Advisory Services, and now wants to move into banking.
While he learned a lot at the Big 4 firm, he wants to have a more direct role in shaping transactions and knows he can leverage his Accounting background to hit the ground running in banking.
Finance vs. Non-Finance Majors
You might now say, “Wait a minute – isn’t it always to your advantage to pick something like Economics/Accounting/Finance so you can tell a story around it and get decent grades?”
You can’t really go wrong with one of those choices, so if you have no other preferences then it’s a good idea.
Especially if you go to a lesser-known school, it’s in your best interest to pick a finance-related major because you have to work really, really hard to prove your interest.
At “target” schools you have more flexibility, because bankers assume you can handle anything.
School-Specific Considerations
One special case occurs when your school is well-known in a specific field.
The classic example is MIT – if you go there and major in Political Science, that would raise eyebrows no matter how accomplished you are. You’re better off picking something technical that plays to the school’s strengths.
At a place like Wharton, specific classes may be important in the context of networking – hundreds of alumni have been through the same courses and you can “bond” over the experience.
Are There Any Classes You Definitely Need?
Super-advanced math classes are not helpful, so forget about those.
If I had to pick 1 absolutely essential class, it would be Accounting.
When you start working, you don’t want to be figuring out what an income statement is – you should be familiar with all the lingo and know how the statements link together.
If your school actually offers modeling or valuation classes, those would be helpful as well – but not as essential as accounting.
What If You’ve Picked the Wrong Major?
There’s a decent chance you’ve already picked a major and completed a good portion of it – so what do you do if it’s the wrong one?
If you’ve picked something that’s too easy, the best way to fix it is to add finance-related classes and turn them into a minor.
If you’ve chosen something that’s too difficult, take the path of least resistance and do the bare minimum needed to finish it.
Adding in finance classes in this case would not be a smart move, because you’re already overworked – you’re better off showing your interest through internships or activities.
Undeclared?
Your major itself doesn’t matter.
It’s more about your major in the context of everything else: your GPA, your “story,” your internships, and your activities.
So make sure yours fits in with those and tells a good story – and if you really can’t decide, just pick Finance like everyone else.
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Which is the best major to opt for with finance ? Something that is good for investtment banking !
Accounting & Finance
Hi! it’s a very helpful article. I’m a freshman in a liberal arts college,I’m considering majoring in economics and political science/environmental science with a foreign language, and probably going abroad in Germany for senior year. Does this qualify myself for IB?(in other words, does this undermine my competitiveness for the job?)If so, should I transfer to an ivy league school or comparable schools?
I’m now still not so clear about my extracurricular activities. How about being a member in student government and finance club?
Do I have to get a internship in the summer vacation of the freshman year?
Thank you very much!
Transferring to a target school if you aren’t already in one will help
Sure, being in any finance/investment club will help
No, but your junior summer internship will be important
Hi,
Got a question, I’m doing a studying Accounting in UBC (uni of british columbia) and I’m currently in my final year of study. Question is, Should i spend another year to do another specialization in Finance or should I start working instead(I’ve interned in PwC Singapore and a small local CA firm in Vancouver and I could return to either firm)? Which would be more favorable to IB employers in my current situation?
Thanks!
Having an internship in finance will help you
Hi Nicole,
If I am unable to obtain a finance internship this year, and given the constraints of my options:
1.Finish school and work in either pwc or a small ca firm
2.spend an extra year to complete the finance option
Which would be the better option in my case?
Thanks! :)
If you think that you can use that one year in (2) to secure a job in finance then it may be worth it. There is no guarantee though. Experience with PWC and small CA may help you gain experience in accounting/finance. With the above being said, it may be challenging to move into IB
Hi M&A
I’m an African-American attending the University of Georgia majoring in business economics. My major GPA is 3.0 on the dot but i only have taken two of my major related classes so far. i have a 2.9 overall GPA, but it is only low due to a horrible sophomore year which was a tough time in my. How hard will it be for me to fight my way into investment banking.
http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/break-into-investment-banking-3-0-gpa-unknown-school/
Hi, I am at a critical decision point in my academic career at a top 5 school. Do I pursue an economics degree with a gpa of ~3.3 or a history major with ~3.7/3.8 with some banking classes? My plan is to get a BB analyst role and eventually go to a top 5 business school.
Thank you so much for your help in advance.
I’d try to get a GPA above 3.5/3.6 to be safe. Majoring in finance/accounting would be more useful. Economics is good too
I am interested in two of America’s most elaborated subjects. These are Political Science and Finance for either of two careers, which are the office of Senate and Investment Banking.
Again, this information is very helpful.
Thanks!
I will be attending an Ivy League school this coming Fall and I have a question regarding my major. I aspire to be working in IBD in a BB after I graduate after I gain experience through summer internships. I am an extremely analytical persion and assuming a high GPA (3.85+) either in Engineering or Applied Math Economics, which major would you advise me pick up? I feel like if I do end up pursuing Engineering while taking a lot of Economics courses, I’d still get stuck on the “story” part of the interview. Any advice or recommendations are welcome. Thank you!
They are both about the same, but Engineering would let you hedge yourself a bit by opening up more options outside of finance, and could actually help with your story in terms of explaining why you’re interested in a group like tech, industrials, aerospace, etc.
You spend a lot of time talking about how to move from a state school or a low gpa to investment banking, but I have the opposite problem. I was just accepted to Wharton… so now what? I’m interested in getting a dual degrees with UPenn’s College of Arts and Science in Mathematics, but what are some key things I should do before, while at, and after Wharton? Help!
Clarification: I’m going to Wharton for undergrad
Clarification, I’m going to Wharton for undergrad
Congratulations! I’d suggest you to join an investment club and start being very involved in it, learn as much as you can about the financial markets, try your best to pick courses related to finance & ace them, and get yourself an internship as early as possible.
I go to a semi-target school and am a sophomore. My school’s undergraduate business program in general is okay, but is well known for their economics program. In the coming days I have to make a decision regarding my major; either finance or economics [managerial concentration]. Your opinion will be very much appreciated.
Please see my response to your similar question in another post
Hi, I was accepted at McGill in honours economics and honours finance undergrad. Also accepted at HEC Montreal (lesser know) but with a large reputation in Europe for a BBA, should I go for the business degree as the accounting is more important or stick with the brand name from McGill in order to get into IB? Thanks
Congrats. Given McGill’s reputation, I’d probably choose this school because of its network and credibility. I believe most banks recruit there too. I am not 100% sure of which banks recruit at HEC so I’d suggest you to speak with their career center and ask them re. their placement statistics and firms that recruit there. This will probably be more important, especially since economics and finance are also highly valued. Of course, it is best to have accounting as a major, but the brand name, network and # of banks that recruit at the school are more important
I have two options:
1- Dual, Commerce/Economics majoring in Finance and Quant. Methods
OR
2- Single Commerce with 2 majors, Finance and Accounting which would mean graduating earlier but not having the Bachelor of Economics.
How do you see a candidate with option 1 vs option 2?
Do you think option one with about 1 year of work experience in an accounting firm would be preferable over option two?
I think both are similar. The 1. one may be more useful if you’re interested in quantitative roles (i.e. trading). http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/automated-trading-strategies/
No…
So all the modelling and stuff you can do in IBD does not require much quantitative background?
And would not having Quant. Methods make it harder to transfer into PE (to keep that door as open as possible in case I want to change)?
Not really. Its not hard to learn, though for some it may come easier than others. No, I don’t think quant methods matter too much for PE roles – PE guys are interested in guys with IB and operational experience because you’re analyzing, investing in, and sometimes “restructuring” the company. http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/private-equity-recruiting/
What if I have a bachelors in Business Administration Emphasis on Finance ( not necessarily Finance) is that considered within the realm of finance and in the “middle” major listed above? And in the article I never saw anything related to business majors in the undergrad section, yet I heard a lot about business majors breaking into I-banks.
I am also planning to get an MBA at a semi top school, UCBerkeley. And was wondering if that will help my chances of breaking into I-banks.
Thanks for your time.
Yes an MBA at UC Berkeley may help. Yes business majors do break into finance, you just need to have relevant industry experience and know how to value companies, and why you want to break into banking (your pitch)
Hi I graduated with a Bachelors in Business Administration Emphasis on Finance ( not necessarily Finance ) is this still considered within the realm of Finance? I also heard people with business degrees breaking into I-banks, yet it was never mentioned in the undergrad section of this article.
I am also trying to get into a semi top school for my MBA, UC Berkeley and am wondering if that can help me more into breaking into a bulge bracket bank.
Thanks for your time.
Yes. Please refer to my other comment.
Hi there! You guys have a pretty awesome, detail-oriented website. I have a few concerns of my own though after reading the article above:
First, I know this is a weak question, but from my research of this I wanted to post it here so I can better understand it. I know many people get financial licenses and certificates instead of the actual, formal degree. Does that help them break into banking jobs like people with degrees do? Or do the licensing/certifications have limits? I know Ibanks need degrees, but after I get my MBA, is added years of getting finance license/certificate going to help my resume and my pitch more?
I am planning to get my MBA at UCBerkeley’s business program and was wondering if that is a targeted school by BB’s?
I read on here that junior summer internships are the most important and am wondering if thats necessarily the case?
Thank you!