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best degree for banking/finance

Im interested in a career in banking/finance or insurance/actuarial and appyling to uni this year

Based on pure interest I';d probably do a natural science/engineering degree,, but I want to do something which will give me skills useful in a job, would a maths degree with some financial math modules or MORSE be the more desirable to an employer than a science/engin degree for the more technical jobs? it would seem that math would be more relevant to financial modelling and economics etc but heard confusing things about the demand for math grads. Any advice would be great.

Reply 1

Evenstar

13

Obviously, some subjects are more relevant than others, but all degrees show that you are capable of working at a high level and have good organisation skills etc. Any degree is going to give you really good general 'life experience'.
Have you looked on the UCAS website. Maybe a business studies course would give you a good base for those types of careers?

Reply 2

Anubis

1

Maths would give you a distinct advantage.

Other include:

Economics, Business Studies (certain units obv).

There's other but I can't think of any more... :rolleyes:

Reply 3

JBJB

Many bankers have a degree in Business aministration, accounting/finance or economics.

Reply 4

Rouge

OP

JBJB

Many bankers have a degree in Business aministration, accounting/finance or economics.

I 'm not doing business or economics A-levels- and I'd prefer to do a sciency degree as its where my interest lies at the moment- would that put me at a disadvantage compared with people with those types of degrees in banking and finance?

Reply 5

Malibu_barbie

You don't need Economics A-level for a Economics degree at most unis. Maths A-level is not a requirement for a surprising amount too.

Reply 6

Stan Hibbert

JBJB

Many bankers have a degree in Business aministration, accounting/finance or economics.

Where did you hear that? I want to do Business Administartion but I was worried it might not be suitable for a Banking career.

Reply 7

marabara

1

Malibu_barbie

You don't need Economics A-level for a Economics degree at most unis. Maths A-level is not a requirement for a surprising amount too.

yep, Economics A-level is pretty useless if you're planning to Economics at uni......

Maths A-level is pretty essential though if you want to go into Finance.....

Reply 8

marabara

1

Rouge

Im interested in a career in banking/finance or insurance/actuarial and appyling to uni this year

Based on pure interest I';d probably do a natural science/engineering degree,, but I want to do something which will give me skills useful in a job, would a maths degree with some financial math modules or MORSE be the more desirable to an employer than a science/engin degree for the more technical jobs? it would seem that math would be more relevant to financial modelling and economics etc but heard confusing things about the demand for math grads. Any advice would be great.

all these degrees are fine - just do what you want to do at uni, if you do well then you'll be fine

for actuarial, they will tend to prefer more mathsy degrees

Reply 9

r_raghav11

1

hibbert

Where did you hear that? I want to do Business Administartion but I was worried it might not be suitable for a Banking career.

absoultely not true mate. if u have the flair u can do an MBA, specialize in banking and with the gift of gab u cud make it big. It all depends on ur frame of mind.

Reply 10

HammaL

11

Kaveh Alamouti was an engineer (highest paid banker in Europe in the 90s). I think u'll be ok with any degree as long as u enjoy doing it.

Reply 11

Jump

18

Do the degree you will enjoy the most, anything scientific will demonstrate a certain aptitude numerically and will be a fine basis for finance. Infact I would have thought Physics is marginally preferable to Business. Either way it doesn't matter if you don't obtain a decent classification so concentate on that - the first step being choosing a subject you'll enjoy for the next 3-4 years.

Reply 12

SmarterHousing

JBJB

Many bankers have a degree in Business aministration, accounting/finance or economics.

Wow, hold that thought!!!!!

You'll find they tend to have a Masters in Business Administration - an "MBA". Please don't mistake this for a degree in business administration, which is typically looked down upon in the financial world.

I did Economics and it was particularly useful for actuarial type careers as it involves a lot of work on probability, with this typically being illustrated by the calculations involving insurance. Economics also has the advantage of being particularly useful for investment banking as it grounds you in analytical thinking, and constant use of numerical data. I would be biased, but then I thought this before uni too after doing my research (see post on kpmg gap year) with a big firm and their applications team :P

Reply 13

Stan Hibbert

SmarterHousing

Wow, hold that thought!!!!!

You'll find they tend to have a Masters in Business Administration - an "MBA". Please don't mistake this for a degree in business administration, which is typically looked down upon in the financial world.

Thats what I was talking about. Is an undergraduate degree in Business Administration (BBA) not a god one to choose then? Don't accountancy firms even view it as a good degree?

Reply 14

fuglyduckling

2

Maths and Economics have to be amongst the most valuable degrees. Of course, there are more specialised courses which will also be good. However, I'm a firm believer that you can take any respected subject (History, English, Languages, Physics etc.) at a respected uni, and - if you are the right person and you have relevant work experience - you can land a decent job.

Reply 15

Rouge

OP

thanks for the advice people, it seems the obvious choice would be economics but iid really enjoy doing a science degree more. Out of the sciency ones, is math /engineering/ physics generally more valuable? iguess biological science would be least relevant.

Reply 16

KingsComp

6

Having been to numerous assessment centres, interviews and careers fairs for Accountancy / Finance related jobs, I found that most other applicants had one of the following degrees:

Accounting & Finance
Economics
Business Management
Computer Science
Maths
Engineering

There were also quite a few doing specialised degrees such as Banking and International Finance and a few were doing Investment degrees.

However, that doesn't mean that a Classics or a History degree won't get you a finance job, it’s just that it can sometimes be harder. But if you have a decent amount of relevant work experience under your belt and can demonstrate to the employer that you are genuinely interested in Finance and have good business awareness you should be fine. :smile:

Reply 17

SmarterHousing

hibbert

Thats what I was talking about. Is an undergraduate degree in Business Administration (BBA) not a god one to choose then? Don't accountancy firms even view it as a good degree?

From my own experience of working as a campus brand manager for KPMG, I saw lots of statistics on applications & then subsequent success. In general, you won't get past the 1st stage unless you're from a decent university. The actual degree won't matter that much since you'll find that decent universities won't offer degrees in courses such as 'Business Management', but will instead offer a range of the more formal subjects.

Warwick Business School offers a plethora of courses, none of which are BBA. However the Warwick MBA is highly regarded, so again don't mix up the two :smile:

Hope this helps a little - i'd go down Economics (I did!) as it opens more doors than something like Accounting & Finance, the latter of which will only benefit a career in accountancy through a few small exemptions.

Reply 18

Stan Hibbert

SmarterHousing

From my own experience of working as a campus brand manager for KPMG, I saw lots of statistics on applications & then subsequent success. In general, you won't get past the 1st stage unless you're from a decent university. The actual degree won't matter that much since you'll find that decent universities won't offer degrees in courses such as 'Business Management', but will instead offer a range of the more formal subjects.

Warwick Business School offers a plethora of courses, none of which are BBA. However the Warwick MBA is highly regarded, so again don't mix up the two :smile:

Hope this helps a little - i'd go down Economics (I did!) as it opens more doors than something like Accounting & Finance, the latter of which will only benefit a career in accountancy through a few small exemptions.

I was thinking of doing business administration at Lancaster. Do you know if Lancaster has a good reputation amongst the big 4 accountancy firms?

Reply 19

marabara

1

hibbert

I was thinking of doing business administration at Lancaster. Do you know if Lancaster has a good reputation amongst the big 4 accountancy firms?

yes

no

best degree for banking/finance

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