Re: Investment banker vs Accountant
^I would argue that doing a certain uni course shows that you are more inclined to show interest in financial market and business. It's definitely true that there are people from non-commerce background who get into IB but most are commerce. Why? The reason is, commerce people have greater tendency to show interest in the world of business that they are learning about and that's the perspective that alot of recruiters would have as well. If you were recruiter and if you have two candidates with medicine and comm/law, you are obviously going to be biased even before you look at anything else.
I wouldn't think that people who ace arts or medicine would have better chance than people who are up there in Commerce.
The only reason there is a large portion of commerce graduates in IB is because the majority of applicants come from a commerce background. However, that doesn't mean students with different degrees are at a disadvantage (if anything this stands out if everything else is good).
Also, I don't believe that simply taking a commerce degree shows you have an interest in financial markets and business. A lot of people I know who take a commerce degree do it just for the sake of it and have no genuine interest in financial markets. You need to show some activities beyond uni that demonstrates your interest in financial markets and business (e.g. trading competitions) in order to stand out from the ordinary commerce student. Simply saying "I've got a commerce degree which automatically means I like business more than someone with a science degree" doesn't cut it.
The actual academic content you learn at uni (even in commerce especially beyond first year) is pretty much useless in a graduate role with an IB so recruiters don't usually care about what you've learnt at uni (many past graduates and even managers have highlighted this). What you also need to keep in mind is that most IB roles are not very technical (unlike IT, accountants or actuaries) so many IBs do not specify a particular degree requirement for graduate roles because the technical knowledge within any degree will hardly be useful in the role + they can always train smart people to get up to speed with the proper technical knowledge if required (a lot of that technical stuff in their training you never learn at uni). In fact, many recruiters go to great lengths to stress their "diversity".
What recruiters primarily look for is smart people with evidence of excellent skills and experience moreso than degree background e.g. evidence of leadership, teamwork, analytical skills etc. A student with these desirable attributes would be more valuable than someone who simply has the relevant degree background.
