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The college path of a financier

TheJohnboiTheJohnboi 7 replies7 threadsRegistered User New Member
in Business Major
I did a little bit of looking, and I noticed that most high-level colleges do not have undergrad business/finance majors (which is what I am looking into). After a little more looking, I found out that these types of colleges do not think so highly of undergrad business majors, unless they are from UPenn or another school like that. So that got me confused.

Anyway, my question to you all is, since I am leaning toward a career in the field of finance--say, asset manager--do large firms hire kids for a couple of years with degrees in mathematics, sociology or engineering, and then they go back to get their masters? If not, what is the typical career path of a financier?

Thanks.
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Replies to: The college path of a financier

  • makemesmartmakemesmart 1486 replies14 threadsRegistered User Senior Member
    Math/economics (more math-centered) will be good majors to do if you don’t want to do business in undergrad. You don’t really need postgraduate degrees for finance jobs, but chartered financial analyst (CFA) designation is good (important) to have.
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  • fleishmo6fleishmo6 552 replies28 threadsRegistered User Member
    edited July 10
    Many LACs use Econ Majors as their business type of degree. Very common with the schools in the NESCAC.
    edited July 10
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  • UCBUSCalumUCBUSCalum 1057 replies4 threadsRegistered User Senior Member
    What do you mean by high level colleges with mostly no undergraduate business schools? If you are thinking about top 25 to 30 schools, many have undergrad bus. schools such as: Penn, Cornell, MIT, UC Berkeley, USC (LA), Notre Dame, Georgetown, University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon, Washington University in St.L., NYU, Emory, etc. Other notable schools are University of Washington, the University of Texas. Virginia, North Carolina, etc.

    Many times, an economic degree or economics with math degree can be a substitute for an undergraduate business degree (the firm will train you). The Ivies and many top schools, like UCLA and UC Berkeley, offer these types of degrees.

    Generally, in the finance world, investment banking and large high tech companies (Amazon, Google, Facebook, etc.) pay the highest salaries at the undergraduate level, with investment banking (Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, etc.) paying the highest. Investment banking is very competitive and you have to get the top grades which can later lead to other finance jobs. The same (in terms of leading to finance jobs and competitiveness) for financial, consulting and Big 4 consulting.
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  • TheJohnboiTheJohnboi 7 replies7 threadsRegistered User New Member
    Yeah, top 25-30. For some reason, I though ND didn't have undergrad business. Anyway, I was also looking at Uchicago and Rice, and Washington University is also a little bit limited; I thought that was a broader indicator. Thanks though.
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  • writingpumpkin03writingpumpkin03 157 replies6 threadsRegistered User Junior Member
    Econ's the "default" major for people who want to go into business and are studying at a LAC or university without business programs. People also major in math, statistics, computer science, etc. What's most important is that you go to a target school for financial firms.
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