Thank you!
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Maybe you could encourage him to pursue a double major: Something science and Finance. If he does not like Finance, which it sounds like he may or may not, then he can fall back on his science degree since that is something he enjoys and is good at. And if he likes Finance, then he can graduate with two degrees and decide from there what he would like to do.
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He can be a STEM/science major and pursue certain finance jobs. This is part of the research he has to do. For example, my D was a neuroscience major and works in IB.
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That is valuable information. Itās the question my husband and I keep asking each other. Since ND is by far his favorite, heās planning to apply REA. On the off chance heās accepted, we need to be comfortable with that decision beforehand.
Itās also a good argument for adding more prestigious reaches to his list (like Wake Forest and Georgetown?), which is another question Iāve had: are there other high-budget schools that justify that expenditure? It sounds like the answer to that question is very possibly āyesā as long as he doesnāt hate the campus.
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How in the world does that work?
Definitely something to talk to him about.
I expect @catcherinthetoast can give more details, but my understanding is many IB firms/depts are looking for smart people (with quant skills) and they train them on how to do things in said job.
IMO this is a determination that only the family can make. You will get many opinions about this on CC, and elsewhere.
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Take a look at this list and the website it came from before adding schools to the list. They rank schools for Finance by how well people place into IB after school. The US news rank is not a great predictor of how it does here.
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I agree 100% but see it from a different perspective. I also didnāt know what I wanted to do professionally until after I graduated from college. I am grateful that I attended a school that provided me with a variety of options and access.
As a 17 year old I never would have realized that a 30+ year IB career was in my future but had my parents and luck not intervened to send me to a school that supported such opportunities I never would of had the career I have enjoyed.
Different people have different resources and priorities. Given my personal experience and circumstances I tend to prioritize giving my kids options as they sort out their personal ambitions but totally respect that it is a private and personal decision.
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Iāve seen a good number of physics grads too, who tend to end up in the more quantitative roles.
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I know a Philosophy major that also ended up in IB! Not rhyme or reason to what majors can potentially work.
I have seen similar and I believe the thinking is that if youāre smart - which they will usually proxy by a good GPA from a good school - you can be taught most things. Obviously, if something like a strong quants background is needed thatās different.
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@Catcherinthetoast, do the lists shared by @Ae1231 in post #88 correspond with your experience?
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Thanks for asking. All of these lists tend to be largely correct but prone to flaws. For example bigger schools tend to place more people, which banks are included, are roles like sales and trading included, etc.
For context and at the risk of over simplifying think of banks ātargetingā schools as dividing colleges into 2 groups.
The first set of universities has dedicated finance or business programs. Think NYU, Wharton, ND, Michigan etc. When recruiting at these schools, typically the goal is to find kids who have taken advantage of the academic business focus opportunities on campus. Those hired normally have strong grades and extracurriculars that suggest they knew they wanted a certain career path when applying to school.
The second group would include the 6 Ivies that donāt have B schools and top tier LACs. Think Harvard, Williams, Bowdoin, etcā¦ On these campuses the majority of IB applicants tend to be Econ kids which skews their resulting representation higher but their actual success rates are often lower than more eclectic major kids. At these schools articulate and personable physics or math majors are a hot commodity based on perceived rigor. We also tend to be drawn to the unconventional major kid who can explain themselves and has an interesting narrative who you want hear more about.
Hope this helps.
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Thanks for this detail.
In my limited experience, it seems many students headed off to IB jobs are student-athletes. Is that true in the bigger picture and/or in your experience?
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I believe it was more pronounced when I started out but athletes remain heavily over represented. I think that is a bit of a push and pull.
Kids with hyper competitive personalities seem to be drawn to the business and those recruiting seem to view athletes as driven, disciplined and team oriented. Some of this I believe is simply inherent bias (I say this as a college athlete).
I have known very successful banker professionals however from all backgrounds but some of the stereotypes (particularly on trading floors) tends to remain.
OP given your kids background he does seem prone to potentially like some of the competitive aspects of certain Wall Street jobs. Sales and trader professionals donāt work 90 hour weeks, they work extremely intense 50 hour ones.
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Not sure I can add much of value at this point but it sounds like heās got the safety he needs (assured admit, happy to attend) in Ole Miss and the dream school in ND (and maybe adding Wake Forest though I tend to think the Northwestern football vibe is more timeless, as an opponent of the Demon Deacons I can confirm their current excitement is more of a fad) but needs some more targets in Power 5 football schools so Iād say worth looking into OSU and the Fischer School of Business for sure and the Pamplin School of Business at Virginia Tech.
ND doesnāt have a strong representation from MS (less than a handful each year) so heāll have that going for him, but Mendoza itself is a tougher admit so make sure to note that if he gets admitted to ND but not to Mendoza, the chances of transferring into Mendoza are slim.
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Yes, I agree wholeheartedly!
All good points. Thank you!
Your information and advice are very thoughtful and helpful. We obviously have a lot more research into and discussion about the finance major and possible other majors of interest before making final decisions on the full list. I feel much more competent about doing this with him now, though. Thank you.
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