Which majors are most popular with Wall Street investment banks?

Someone always asks, what major does an investment bank recruit? You may not know that even if you study history, you may go to an investment bank. This is true, but the proportion is too small. Today, let's take a look at what major investment banks want most.

Theoretically speaking, investment banks will employ people from different disciplines when recruiting front-office staff.

Through the on-the-job training in the past few weeks, it is enough for any aspiring investment banker to quickly master the skills needed for this job.

But in reality, usually hundreds of graduates apply for a job, which means that you can only stand out from the competition if you have relevant knowledge and experience in the financial field at the same time.

With a database of more than 6.5438+0.5 million resumes worldwide, eFinancialCareers tries to find out which university majors are the most common among investment banking professionals in North America.

TOP 10, the major with the most jobs in American investment banks.

primary

Investment banker

Work proportion%

Finance 26.63

Economics 14.28

Accounting 13.52

Administration for Industry and Commerce 10.8

Math 5.42

Politics/government 5. 1 1

History 4. 18

Project 3.5 1

Literature 1. 15

computer science

Five majors in investment banking

About 50% investment banking professionals majored in economics, business management or finance in the American e-finance career database.

Mitchell Peskin, executive vice president and partner of financial services recruitment department of Execu Search Group, said:

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From what we have observed, it seems that undergraduates majoring in economics will be paid more attention by investment banks.

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He went on to say in detail:

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Among some active candidates we are studying now, the companies I have seen choose economics as their major the most.

Economics is the most concerned major. Besides, degrees in mathematics, engineering, finance, or accounting are just interested.

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According to the database of eFinancialCareers, accounting is another professional discipline popular with American investment banks, but most of them work in Chinese mainland and Taiwan Province.

Marketing major is also a very common keyword in the resumes of investment banking professionals, but this major is more as a second degree or minor than their professional degree.

Other majors are the most popular.

Mathematics is the fifth most popular major, ranking sixth in political science and seventh in history, followed by engineering and literature, and ranking 10 in computer science.

Although these majors are insignificant compared with the top three, it doesn't mean that you can't succeed in the investment banking field, because they are not "mainstream".

Of course, your undergraduate major is very important, but in the eyes of investment bank recruitment managers, there are other more important criteria.

As one of the chief executives and founders of options group, Michael Karp thinks:

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When evaluating the potential of fresh graduates, hiring managers will consider many factors: their intelligence, their motivation and their personality characteristics, which can ensure their development in the financial field.

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He also said:

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Although a degree in finance or mathematics is very useful, it is not a decisive criterion.

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Now, it is very necessary for students who want to enter the investment bank to gain relevant internship experience during their college years.

Most of the students who joined the investment bank last year went to the last internship. Most of them have at least one internship experience, while those who have had nine internships during their three to four years of study in the university rarely hear about it.

How to integrate your major and application background?

In addition to undergraduate majors, investment bank hiring managers will also consider various other factors.

For example, according to Michael Karp:

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Candidates with liberal arts degrees from Ivy League schools will be more popular than those with lower-ranking college mathematics degrees.

On the other hand, a student who graduated from Wharton Business School but just passed the exam will not have an advantage over a student who graduated from a public university with the highest honor and won a full scholarship.

Grade points are very important. If your GPA is not good enough, many investment bank hiring managers will put your resume at the bottom of all applicants' resumes.

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For students who graduate from top universities, a grade point of 3.3 is the lowest bottom line.

Those students who graduated from ordinary universities generally have a GPA above 3.8.

Michael Karp said:

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For those candidates with good internship background and good diplomas, undergraduate major is not a big problem.

To take a step back, let's say that candidates in the18th century majored in music theory or art, and they need to spend more efforts to convince recruiters why they are interested in working in the financial field, or how to apply their majors to their future professional roles.

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