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Investment Banker/Trader/Accountant

Evening all...

I am currently studying my A Levels in Maths, Physics and Economics and am hoping for A*A*A respectively. Economics is my least favourite as I just don't like the essays, but the course content is interesting enough.

My dream is to get into investment banking or trading of some sort, with accountancy as a backup. With the hope of moving to IB later in my career.

Obviously, my grades are strong however I do not want to do Economics at uni as I was advised by an IBer that it wouldn't be as useful as a different, more quantitative degree as well as "everyone being economists."

At the moment, my personal choice in degree would be Engineering Science at Oxford, with a year in Princeton, however I feel that I may not get there and so have thought about Mechanical Engineering at Bristol, Warwick and Manchester.

I would like to do something mathematical, however I obviously don't have further maths and so may not be able to get in to do mathematics at university (the only "good" unis that I have found where I could do maths are Southampton and St. Andrews, however I do not want to go to Scotland!)

Ideally, I do not want to go to London because of cost as well as the proximity to where I live.

Any help would be amazing, I thank you all in advance!

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Original post by jakepds
Evening all...

I am currently studying my A Levels in Maths, Physics and Economics and am hoping for A*A*A respectively. Economics is my least favourite as I just don't like the essays, but the course content is interesting enough.

My dream is to get into investment banking or trading of some sort, with accountancy as a backup. With the hope of moving to IB later in my career.

Obviously, my grades are strong however I do not want to do Economics at uni as I was advised by an IBer that it wouldn't be as useful as a different, more quantitative degree as well as "everyone being economists."

At the moment, my personal choice in degree would be Engineering Science at Oxford, with a year in Princeton, however I feel that I may not get there and so have thought about Mechanical Engineering at Bristol, Warwick and Manchester.

I would like to do something mathematical, however I obviously don't have further maths and so may not be able to get in to do mathematics at university (the only "good" unis that I have found where I could do maths are Southampton and St. Andrews, however I do not want to go to Scotland!)

Ideally, I do not want to go to London because of cost as well as the proximity to where I live.

Any help would be amazing, I thank you all in advance!


I heard trading will soon be replaced by AI, which is pretty cool. Maybe look at a computer science degree or something similar? Just a suggestion
Reply 2
Original post by theconfusedman
I heard trading will soon be replaced by AI, which is pretty cool. Maybe look at a computer science degree or something similar? Just a suggestion


My worry with CompSci is that I have no knowledge of the area at all! Not even tried to learn a coding language.

Do you have any knowledge of what the course involves or whether this would count against me?
Reply 3
Original post by jakepds
Evening all...

I am currently studying my A Levels in Maths, Physics and Economics and am hoping for A*A*A respectively. Economics is my least favourite as I just don't like the essays, but the course content is interesting enough.

My dream is to get into investment banking or trading of some sort, with accountancy as a backup. With the hope of moving to IB later in my career.

Obviously, my grades are strong however I do not want to do Economics at uni as I was advised by an IBer that it wouldn't be as useful as a different, more quantitative degree as well as "everyone being economists."

At the moment, my personal choice in degree would be Engineering Science at Oxford, with a year in Princeton, however I feel that I may not get there and so have thought about Mechanical Engineering at Bristol, Warwick and Manchester.

I would like to do something mathematical, however I obviously don't have further maths and so may not be able to get in to do mathematics at university (the only "good" unis that I have found where I could do maths are Southampton and St. Andrews, however I do not want to go to Scotland!)

Ideally, I do not want to go to London because of cost as well as the proximity to where I live.

Any help would be amazing, I thank you all in advance!


My dad is an investment banker. Do you want some advice?
Original post by jakepds
My worry with CompSci is that I have no knowledge of the area at all! Not even tried to learn a coding language.

Do you have any knowledge of what the course involves or whether this would count against me?


I think the course assumes no prior knowledge, I guess it may be useful to know some coding. Since computer science a level is not a formal requirement, this wont be a massive disadvantage. If it doesnt interest you dont do it, it has one of the highest drop out rates and is apparently quite difficult!
Reply 5
Original post by IAmNero
My dad is an investment banker. Do you want some advice?


Is there any way you could find out what the best degrees are for getting into it because everything on the internet is either American or really old.

Thanks!
Reply 6
Also thinking of the exact same route! I do Maths, Physics and Chemistry, do you think these A Levels are suitable? (Hoping for A*AA* respectively), what you thinking of studying at university in order to persue IB.
Reply 7
Original post by theconfusedman
I think the course assumes no prior knowledge, I guess it may be useful to know some coding. Since computer science a level is not a formal requirement, this wont be a massive disadvantage. If it doesnt interest you dont do it, it has one of the highest drop out rates and is apparently quite difficult!


I'll have a look to see what it involves. It isn't really something that I have thought of!
Original post by jakepds
I'll have a look to see what it involves. It isn't really something that I have thought of!


Yeah definitely have a look, I think you should also look at the economics course in more scrutiny, it is different to the A level and you may like the mathsy side of it too. I dont think the bit about economics is accurate, it is a very well respected subject if you go to a top uni.
Reply 9
Original post by Adam998
Also thinking of the exact same route! I do Maths, Physics and Chemistry, do you think these A Levels are suitable? (Hoping for A*AA* respectively), what you thinking of studying at university in order to persue IB.


Honestly, a degree isn't as good, you are better off doing an apprenticship.

I would recommend Business as well to help give you some roots into banking and finance.

If you really want to go to university, business managment, finance or International banking and finance would be great :smile:
Reply 10
Original post by IAmNero
Honestly, a degree isn't as good, you are better off doing an apprenticship.

I would recommend Business as well to help give you some roots into banking and finance.

If you really want to go to university, business managment, finance or International banking and finance would be great :smile:

Thanks for the reply! The Internships are stupidly competitive, so was thinking in maybe doing a Finance/Maths/Economics degree at LSE or Durham or something first!
Reply 11
Original post by jakepds
Evening all...

I am currently studying my A Levels in Maths, Physics and Economics and am hoping for A*A*A respectively. Economics is my least favourite as I just don't like the essays, but the course content is interesting enough.

My dream is to get into investment banking or trading of some sort, with accountancy as a backup. With the hope of moving to IB later in my career.

Obviously, my grades are strong however I do not want to do Economics at uni as I was advised by an IBer that it wouldn't be as useful as a different, more quantitative degree as well as "everyone being economists."

At the moment, my personal choice in degree would be Engineering Science at Oxford, with a year in Princeton, however I feel that I may not get there and so have thought about Mechanical Engineering at Bristol, Warwick and Manchester.

I would like to do something mathematical, however I obviously don't have further maths and so may not be able to get in to do mathematics at university (the only "good" unis that I have found where I could do maths are Southampton and St. Andrews, however I do not want to go to Scotland!)

Ideally, I do not want to go to London because of cost as well as the proximity to where I live.

Any help would be amazing, I thank you all in advance!


You might need Further Maths to do Engineering/Economics at some of the top unis
Reply 12
Original post by h3110
You might need Further Maths to do Engineering/Economics at some of the top unis


I've been reading. Even Cambridge have about half of the colleges accept students with no further maths, and unis like Bristol don't ask for it as a requirement.

One thing I did forget to mention is that I am doing the M2 module of maths on top of the entire A-Level as well as potentially doing FP1. I have read these are a real help and so this is why I decided they may be a good idea.
Reply 13
Original post by Adam998
Also thinking of the exact same route! I do Maths, Physics and Chemistry, do you think these A Levels are suitable? (Hoping for A*AA* respectively), what you thinking of studying at university in order to persue IB.


I'm thinking Mechanical Engineering; trying to get a job, and if that fails then maybe something like a masters in financial mathematics for a year.

How about you?
It doesn't matter what degree you do at uni, it's the uni you go to that they care about. They may sometimes prefer the more traditional "harder" subjects like maths and physics but the extent to with they prefer them if any is small. Obviously subjects like economics might give you a bit of an advantage purely because you'll be learning more about finance, however all the knowledge you need to know about IB can easily be learnt from the internet no matter what degree you're doing.

There are plenty of "mathematical" subjects that don't require further maths like physics, it just depends on whether or not you'd be interested in the subject as a degree.
Reply 15
Original post by Terry Tibbs
It doesn't matter what degree you do at uni, it's the uni you go to that they care about. They may sometimes prefer the more traditional "harder" subjects like maths and physics but the extent to with they prefer them if any is small. Obviously subjects like economics might give you a bit of an advantage purely because you'll be learning more about finance, however all the knowledge you need to know about IB can easily be learnt from the internet no matter what degree you're doing.

There are plenty of "mathematical" subjects that don't require further maths like physics, it just depends on whether or not you'd be interested in the subject as a degree.


One thing that I have wondered is obviously Warwick is a target for banks, but isn't very good for Mech Eng, whereas Leeds isn't (as far as I am aware) a target for banks but is very well renowned for Mech Eng.

Would you be better off going to Warwick or Leeds for Mechanical Engineering with the aim of getting into finance
Original post by jakepds
One thing that I have wondered is obviously Warwick is a target for banks, but isn't very good for Mech Eng, whereas Leeds isn't (as far as I am aware) a target for banks but is very well renowned for Mech Eng.

Would you be better off going to Warwick or Leeds for Mechanical Engineering with the aim of getting into finance


Yes
[QUOTE=Terry Tibbs;63327199]It doesn't matter what degree you do at uni, it's the uni you go to that they care about. They may sometimes prefer the more traditional "harder" subjects like maths and physics but the extent to with they prefer them if any is small. Obviously subjects like economics might give you a bit of an advantage purely because you'll be learning more about finance, however all the knowledge you need to know about IB can easily be learnt from the internet no matter what degree you're doing.

There are plenty of "mathematical" subjects that don't require further maths like physics, it just depends on whether or not you'd be interested in the subject as a degree.

This^

Except nothing you learn in an Econ degree is applicable to real world finance. Everyone is trained comprehensively for 2-3 months prior to starting their roles.
Original post by IAmNero
Honestly, a degree isn't as good, you are better off doing an apprenticship.



lol what?
OP, if you want to do IB (i.e. M&A), no one really cares what you study as long as you go to a decent enough university. However, on the Sales and Trading side of things some desks (mostly exotic derivatives) greatly prefer those from Maths/CompSci/Engineering/Physics backgrounds as they tend to be more apt with the mathematical thinking involved when understanding these complex products. The vanilla stuff and the sales side doesn't really tend to have any preferences.

Big4 audit is completely and utterly agnostic to what degree you do, and even where you get it from in some cases.

Takeaway is study what you want but aim for the best universities that you can get into.

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