What to major in for Equity Research/PM/IB jobs?

[Coltrane]

If I want to work in equity research, as a portfolio manager or in investment banking, what's the best thing to major in for my undergrad degree?

Finance
Economics
Accounting
(or something else?)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Saturday, September 16, 2006 at 02:06PM by Coltrane.

 

[numi]

any one of them is fine...undergrad major doesn't matter that much as long as you show you understand the job and you have some reasonable facility with finance/numbers

 

[Eazy]

If yoy do economics, the door will still be open for a MA in econ or for an MBA. If you do Finance or Accounting, yoy won't have the econ master's option. Accounting will help if you ever want to pursue a designation.

Finance will possibly help the most for the CFA, but the difference is slight.

 

[bchadwick]

Yeah, my recommendation is to do Econ, with some electives maybe in finance where overlap is possible.

Physics degrees might get you into quantitative finance work... physics-econ double major might even be possible - the math could overlap.

But how is it that you know you want to do equity research, portfolio managment, and investment banking before you've even decided on a major? That's such a specific thing to know before you have even decided what to major in.

 

[numi]

bchadwick -- he has no idea and probably does not really know what those fields are. he is just asking what is the best way to position himself for a front-office sell-side job and really it doesn't matter which major he picks (though i would certainly advise finance if he were at wharton, but i don't think he goes to school there). more important thing is to learn what the jobs entail and show that he's committed to doing them if/when he gets interviews

i'm out...have a fun saturday nite



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Saturday, September 16, 2006 at 11:37PM by numi.