Invilliers

I'm in sort of a predicament. I don't know if I should do what I really want, which is to go to Cornell and study history, or do what my parent's and my career want, which is to go to SMU and study finance. History has always been my passion, but I want a career in investment banking, which is a pretty cut-throat industry. I've heard that you don't really need a business major to get into investment banking, but that it does give you an edge.

There's also another problem: If I go to an expensive school like Cornell (if I can even get in), I probably won't get any merit-based scholarships and my family does not qualify for one cent of financial aid. Going to a $40,000+ a year school then means not having my MBA paid for by my parents.

How could I narrow the gap between full tuition, room and board, and around $30,0000? I've applied to a ton of small scholarships online, but that won't make much of a difference.

One more thing: Why does this say I can add 25 tags, but I can't submit the thread with three because "the number of tags you tried to add to this thread exceeded them maximum number of tags by 1"?

Also, is History an easy major at Cornell? How does it compare to the easiest (ILR, I've heard) and AEM? At Cornell I would be a below average student, so I don't want to start loathing history because of the rigor.

Invilliers

bump......

Invilliers

Or just answer: Also, is History an easy major at Cornell? How does it compare to the easiest (ILR, I've heard) and AEM? At Cornell I would be a below average student, so I don't want to start loathing history because of the rigor of the curriculum. How does History compare to English?

mikeyc765

History is a small department, but my impression is that it's probably on par with ILR in terms of difficulty. I only took one class that cross-listed as History at Cornell so I'm no authority. If you want to get into Investment Banking, you could easily double major in History and Econ.

midnightbloo

You are right about one thing, you definitely don't need to go to undergraduate business school to get into iBanking. I graduated from a premier undergrad B school program and knew this guy who would go on talking about his history classes at interviews and would say how recruiters loved that about his background because it truly does set you apart from all the other applicants - ESP if you have an actual passion for it and can talk about something that truly interests you. Yes, this particular guy double majored in finance but as long as you have the quantitative thinking skills required for the job (take a couple of math classes and Econ ad definitely try to take some AEM electives), you will be fine. This guy works at Goldman now doing banking needless to say already makes a six figure salary in his early 20s.

If you can get into Cornell and study history - go for it. Yeah, you may need to take out loans but it will pay off in the end - trust me. You will regret not studying what you are truly passionate about in the end, especially if you can do that at Cornell's premier liberal arts college with history. Just make sure you use up your elective credits to take the necessary classes required to get you the right summer internships from the get go to eventually land with a full time offer.

Good luck!

mikeyc765

I think it's true that as of now, the AEM minor is NOT available to CAS students, but nothing prevents you from doing a History major and following the same courses as the minor. Who knows, by the time you would graduate, it may be available to CAS students and if not, you've still taken the classes banks are looking for.