Can I become a investment banker with a business degree?

Why do you make it sound like its am awful uni?


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The guy above doesn't mean it's an awful uni. It's a good uni. The problem with investment banking is that they only recruit front office candidates from certain 'target' universities, there is about six of them in this country and that isn't one of them.

Bull****

It's not a good uni?


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Oh right! Okay thank you yeah I'm going to try hard for the first, what is it mark wise to get a first and a 2:1?


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They're all decent uni's (UEA is quesitonable - though I'm biased against it), though none will be seen as the top. What is the top is subjective anyway, and it's mainly about prestige rather than how good the courses are. I'm sure the courses at Sheffield, Liverpool and Glasgow are as good as most tbh.

I was calling bull**** on firms only hiring from certain universities. Very few firms are pricks*, but most aren't. Though going to a none top uni will mean it would help a lot more if you got a first - since most uni's ensure the avg mark for units is between 55 and 65. (and hence easier to get a first at a uni with less academic people)

*I say pricks because it is a dick thing to do. It'd be a company I wouldn't want to work for because they'd likely have a superiority complex about them.

You're going to be working with these people for 7+ hours a day - you've got to make sure you'll get on with them

In investment banking, you'll be working with them for anything from 60 to 100+ hours a week just so you're aware.

In investment banking, you'll be working with them for anything from 60 to 100+ hours a week just so you're aware.

You need a Maths literate degree because you need to be able to interpret the differential and integral algorithms used in the prediction of financial markets. Therefore it would depend on whether your degree involves maths as to whether banking is viable.

HR look for more than just university. Of course there are going to be a lot more people in banking who have gone to top universities, because in general they are smarter (which is why they're there). But, it's still based on the individuals merit.

Also, you talked about having to get good GCSEs when moving from an IB to a hedge fund. Do you honestly think someone managing one of these funds is going to give a crap about some crappy qualification you did 10+ years previous? No, they're going to care how good you are at your job. Your degree becomes almost superfluous as soon as you graduate and get a job.

You're right that HR look for a variety of things, but university provides are very quick criteria through which to eliminate some of the thousands of applications they have to get through. Don't forget also, that you're not just competing for jobs with UK graduates, you're competing against all the top European schools. So university is very important as a means of getting yourself past HR checks.

And I think his point about GCSEs was more about the chain of events that lead to the hedge fund job. You need good grades for a good university, good university for a good job, good job for a better job. Obviously this isn't the only route to the destination, but it's a common one and so while the fund manager might not care about your GCSEs, he will care about your background which is in part a function of your GCSEs. I'll admit, it's all very tenuous, but it's a widely observed phenomenon.

investment banking has many different roles

all of which require you to be maths literate and be able to understand the aforementioned algorithms and models.