IB, S&T, HF: how to decide?

[ddzia]

Hello everyone,

this is my first post, but I've been lurking around this forum for some time.

Right up front, my question is about how to best get my feet wet in the Finance industry, that is, to decide which of IB, S&T, PE, HF, quant etc is ideal for me.

A little bit about me: I am a sophomore at UPenn, in a dual degree program (Finance/International Studies with a minor in German), and am concurrently doing a M.A. in Mathematics, with coursework in Analysis (Rudin), Algebra (Artin) and Topology (Munkres) behind me, and work in Real Analysis (Rudin), Probability (Durrett), Mathematical Finance, PDEs, Time Series/Stochastic Calculus still ahead of me.

I enjoy mathematics because it is logical, forces me to think hard, and seems to transfer well into other areas, but I don't know whether I want to be a quant.

My overall GPA is 3.93 and should be sufficient to get interviews, however, I am not sure which path would be most suitable for me. I am confident that if I put my energy into it, I can be a good candidate for most entry-level positions, so I don't have much information by which to sort the options.

Most students doing finance at UPenn go into IB/consulting, but I am wondering whether I could leverage my finance degree/ mathematical aptitude for a job that would otherwise not be accessible to students right out of undergrad. Of course if I am to stand a chance against people with more work experience, I'd need to dedicate some serious self-study time to it, hence my question as to how to narrow down the choices.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Connor]

I think many people view IB as an entry way into the financial industry. Many HF and PE firms look and ask specifically for IB experience. But there are some HF that hire graduates and with your background I would think you would be a good candidate.

As far as a quant role goes based on what you've said, I would think that your comp sci background would be weak.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Most undergrads go directly into an IB's analyst training program. That's your main route into finance. For anything technical, you need at least an MFE degree.
If you are a coding extraordinaire, then you may get snatched but from what i read so far, it's not the case for you. You may be more mathematically inclined than your mates so maybe you can consider graduate school before you want to step into the technical side of finance.
Do you want to spend a few more years in graduate school? Wall Street jobs are mostly for people who can contribute with hands on skills like programming. There aren't many jobs for undergraduates who are good at math unless you are a top ranked Putnam finalist.

 

[chrisd]

I suspect S&T will like the quantitive training + finance degree, even if you aren't going to be doing a quantitative job. There's also a good chance you'll find it an analyst position in S&T more interesting/rigorous than an analyst posiiton in IB.