BEST degree FOR IB (1 Viewer)

[manscux]

Hey guys... after much heated discussion and opinions i have come to the conclusion that i find my skills are best adapted to Investment Banking. I did research and i quite like merges and acquisitions

BUT I would still like to do actuarial studies.

What courses do you think would be best suited for me to get into IB

i was thinking doing actuarial studies and finance ??? is this a good decision or should i do something else (if so, than what) ????


Thanks in advance for your contributions

 

[halapenyo]

you could do B Comm(Accounting/Finance) or do B Comm/B Economics (Finance/Economics).

you shouldnt do actuarial as a major for IB. actuarial has nothing to do with IB.

 

[Omnipotence]

I'm curious, what skills do you have that are adapted to IB?

 

[Omnipotence]

You could do Commerce/Law, but the law component can kill your WAM. I think the safer route would be to do Commerce straight with HDs.

 

[manscux]

What is WAM???
Skills i posses... well i strive under stress. like taking risks and i love to negotiate deals...

I also follow the economy and love working with maths

its these qualities that i think are adaptable to IB / Actuary

 

[OzKo]

What is WAM???
Skills i posses... well i strive under stress. like taking risks and i love to negotiate deals...

I also follow the economy and love working with maths

its these qualities that i think are adaptable to IB / Actuary

Can you give us some examples of how you have 'taken risk' or 'negotiated deals'.

 

[JuicyJase]

What is WAM???
Skills i posses... well i strive under stress. like taking risks and i love to negotiate deals...

I also follow the economy and love working with maths

its these qualities that i think are adaptable to IB / Actuary

-1

Google? : What is a Weighted Average Mark

Too long; didn't read?

WAM - Weighted Average Mark
The WAM is the average mark in the unit(s) of study completed, weighted according to the credit point value of the unit(s). To calculate the WAM where 'Wc' is the number of credit points a unit of study is worth and 'Mc' is the mark received for that unit of study. Therefore, the WAM is calculated by dividing the mark for each unit of study multiplied by the mark received for it by the total number of credit points attempted:

- Courtesy of USyd website.​

Why the structured delusion around IB?

Manscux, you seem have a very limited perception of what an Investment Banking profession actually entails.

'Skillsets'

Definition : A Job skillset has to do with the qualifications necessary to acquire a position with a company and the level of experience that you need in order to qualify.

When you say ' my skills are best adapted to Investment Banking ' you're assuming that your skills are applicable to IBanking? Come-on, whilst it's great that you 'Strive under stress' ,'like taking risks', 'love to negotiate deals' , 'follow the economy' and 'love working with maths' these aren't really 'skillsets' rather their hobbies/personal traits/Subjects you did in High School and in no way 'applicable' to IBanking.

1. You may well 'strive under stress' (although I don't see how that's possible if its your own stress) , but the analyst stage of IB isn't famous for its 9-5 working hours etc. We're talking 80+ Hours per week, no weekends.
2. Unfortunately you won't be taking on risk in an M&A department, your only real risk is job redundancy.
3. You're not actually negotiating deals at the analyst stage, you're compiling pitchbooks and presentations,basically doing the dirty work for the Higher ups.
4. It's great you have an appreciation for economics, might as well start brushing up on Excel Tutorials.
5. Your understanding of Complex Numbers won't be required in M&A, Simple Arithmetic should be good enough though!

You could say that these traits/'skillsets' could help you in a job and they most likely will, just not in IB.

'Degrees'

If you've done some proper research (which you should start on right now), you'll notice that Investment Banking Grad Positions are filled with a range of different degrees. However as mentioned by Omnipotence the large majority seem to be a Comm/Law, Commerce(finance) with other majors such as economics etc. However what you'll find is that there is a compromise between WAM/ Uni Grades and the difficulty of the degree studied.

What you're seeing Post-GFC is that the supply of prospective IBankers is on the increase, whilst the demand of Graduates for Front Office jobs from Investment Banks has decreased. Meaning that the importance of what's called 'Networking' has increased. Arguably, the importance of 'Networking' or getting to know people in the firm has increased to almost on par with 'Qualifications', 'Skill-sets' etc.

In Short, There is NO set best degree for IB, If you can prove that you're a workhorse,have applicable Qualifications ,High Grades at University and Networked well that will be your best chance. Most of what you learn in Uni will be completely irrelevant/too theoretical for application in an IB M&A Role, as most of what you use on the job is learnt during the job, dependant on your role / type of Investment Bank (Boutique/Bulge Bracket etc).

'Research'

Here are a few good sites to start reading up on Investment Banking :

http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/on-the-job/ - Done by Ex-IB'ers
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/investment-banking - Forums for Finance/IB

Get cracking, hopefully you'll get a better understanding of what you're trying to break into.

Jason.

 

[runnable]

^ listen to this man.

But yes do BComm if you can get HD average. Major in Actuarial if you want to but that might kill your WAM too.

Either way, you need to learn a lot more and go to uni first.

 

[Azure]

JuicyJase, that's a fantastic post.

 

[manscux]

Thank you juicyjase.... you have actually made me more motivated to undertake investment banking... it is actually what i would like to do... Yes the hours are extremely long but i really do like the part about where you help in making deals possible.... Yes i know that this is a high tier job but its ultimately what i am striving for.

And for Ozko... i actually operate my own company (named negotiate4me/ website is being updated i believe since of recent merge) whereby me and a group of people negotiate deals on houses, cars and any assets worth over $20,000. We have recently partnered with a company in the UK who do a similar thing and are slowly but steadly expanding.... we are trying to commercially advertise but so far we are raising equity funds..... Hope that answers your questions

 

[seremify007]

JuicyJase, that's a fantastic post.

It's an amazing first post.

 

[seremify007]

And for Ozko... i actually operate my own company (named negotiate4me/ website is being updated i believe since of recent merge) whereby me and a group of people negotiate deals on houses, cars and any assets worth over $20,000. We have recently partnered with a company in the UK who do a similar thing and are slowly but steadly expanding.... we are trying to commercially advertise but so far we are raising equity funds..... Hope that answers your questions

I thought I recognised your username. You posted up several threads on various other boards I moderate.

e.g. http://community.boredofstudies.org/showthread.php?t=274009

On another note, after thinking about it, how does a company which only serves as a middleman to negotiate between parties have assets over $20k seeing that it doesn't actually produce things nor does the business actively own things (other than maybe a computer, web server, etc)? All I can think of is it's either your retained earnings (you made $20k since December 2011 when you first started it?) or it's your own capital contributions. I'd be keen to hear how you guys go with raising equity funds.

 

[OzKo]

I thought I recognised your username. You posted up several threads on various other boards I moderate.

e.g. http://community.boredofstudies.org/showthread.php?t=274009

On another note, after thinking about it, how does a company which only serves as a middleman to negotiate between parties have assets over $20k seeing that it doesn't actually produce things nor does the business actively own things (other than maybe a computer, web server, etc)? All I can think of is it's either your retained earnings (you made $20k since December 2011 when you first started it?) or it's your own capital contributions. I'd be keen to hear how you guys go with raising equity funds.

I think you misread the post.

OP negotiates on behalf of customers in cases where they are dealing with a good which is worth over $20k.

 

[manscux]

I think you misread the post.

OP negotiates on behalf of customers in cases where they are dealing with a good which is worth over $20k.

Spot on....

Lol we don't actually have any serious financial investors from silicon valley.... were gathering funds from companies that we recommend to our clients and which we have made alliances with so that they can give us the best (reduced) price as long as we bring them customers. Its like bulk buying (the more customers we bring the smaller the prices they charge)

 

[runnable]

To clarify, you won't be doing any negotiations in IB until you reach at least Vice President level, more likely Managing Director level. That's at least 10 year into the job.

 

[manscux]

To clarify, you won't be doing any negotiations in IB until you reach at least Vice President level, more likely Managing Director level. That's at least 10 year into the job.

Oh yes... definitely i agree. But you have to start from somewhere


Guys just a question... but why is everybody so discouraging as to enter IB?? i mean doesnt somebody have to fill in the shoes of those big positions

 

[seremify007]

I think you misread the post.

OP negotiates on behalf of customers in cases where they are dealing with a good which is worth over $20k.

My bad for posting half asleep at 1:30am lol.

 

[seremify007]

Guys just a question... but why is everybody so discouraging as to enter IB?? i mean doesnt somebody have to fill in the shoes of those big positions

The reality is IB (and trading) are two front office jobs which are considered the holy grail of Commerce jobs- it's the highest paid and most coveted of all the graduate roles, and it leads to even more money in the future. As a result there's a lot of demand but not much supply (for the actual job) and hence they can be extremely prescriptive and picky in who they choose. There are many people who tried and failed (some of whom everyone thought would be guaranteed to get in because 'what bank would say no?') or those who never felt they could get there or that it wasn't for them, and as a result the majority of people you speak to will have a slightly negative view on the likelihood of getting in. Even those who do get in understand how hard it was and how competitive both the recruitment process and the job itself is. Add it all together and the sample of the population who post on BoS are more likely than not to discourage you. Furthermore there's at least a thread or two every few weeks where someone has a pipe dream that they want to get into one of these roles based on what they heard at school, from a movie, from a friend, from the internet, etc... and it starts to become a case of every man and his dog posting on here asking how to get into IB without the faintest clue what it is.

I'm not saying you won't get in, nor am I really discouraging you from it, but rather just making it clear why you may find a lot of negativity as to the odds of getting in, the general stigma about people who want to do IB, and given your very limited research or knowledge on this field. If you really try and can get kickass academics + extra curricular + scholarships, you might come back here one day and say "told you so" but for the time being, you really need to research yourself otherwise you will end up looking extremely uninformed.

 

[seremify007]

'Degrees'

If you've done some proper research (which you should start on right now), you'll notice that Investment Banking Grad Positions are filled with a range of different degrees. However as mentioned by Omnipotence the large majority seem to be a Comm/Law, Commerce(finance) with other majors such as economics etc. However what you'll find is that there is a compromise between WAM/ Uni Grades and the difficulty of the degree studied.

What you're seeing Post-GFC is that the supply of prospective IBankers is on the increase, whilst the demand of Graduates for Front Office jobs from Investment Banks has decreased. Meaning that the importance of what's called 'Networking' has increased. Arguably, the importance of 'Networking' or getting to know people in the firm has increased to almost on par with 'Qualifications', 'Skill-sets' etc.

In Short, There is NO set best degree for IB, If you can prove that you're a workhorse,have applicable Qualifications ,High Grades at University and Networked well that will be your best chance. Most of what you learn in Uni will be completely irrelevant/too theoretical for application in an IB M&A Role, as most of what you use on the job is learnt during the job, dependant on your role / type of Investment Bank (Boutique/Bulge Bracket etc).

Agreed with the above but the only caveat I'd add is if you can get finance coop at UNSW which will get you some decent industrial placements (assuming you're good) then that is probably one of the clearer routes.

 

[manscux]

Agreed with the above but the only caveat I'd add is if you can get finance coop at UNSW which will get you some decent industrial placements (assuming you're good) then that is probably one of the clearer routes.

Okay

thank you. I understand

But i will try