Is it hard to become an Investment Banker?

I imagine this has been asked many times before but I'd like to know. By banker I mean the ones that earn £1m with the big bonuses. Is it hard to become one? Do your A Levels affect them? I picked: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths. I'm thinking of taking Economics as a 5th subject.

Reply 1

jj193

14

It's about mindset and connections. Going to a top uni helps massively. Take economics, your going to have to be well versed on all that kinda stuff if your to get a job in financial services so you might as well get an A-Level out of it.

Reply 2

Year11guy

OP

18

Original post by jj193

It's about mindset and connections. Going to a top uni helps massively. Take economics, your going to have to be well versed on all that kinda stuff if your to get a job in financial services so you might as well get an A-Level out of it.

Will not taking Economics and carrying on with the subjects I've chosen greatly affect my chances? I would do Economics, it's just that if I choose a 5th subject, I'm worried I won't have any free periods.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 3

Jkizer

16

Its more about what university you go to, so A levels do matter. Often you will need a logical thinking subject to break in, so subjects like mathematics, economics, statistics, MORSE, actuarial science etc will be valued.

So you do not need economics a level by any means.

Original post by Year11guy

Will not taking Economics and carrying on with the subjects I've chosen greatly affect my chances? I would do Economics, it's just that if I choose a 5th subject, I'm worried I won't have any free periods.

Reply 4

Year11guy

OP

18

Original post by Jkizer

Its more about what university you go to, so A levels do matter. Often you will need a logical thinking subject to break in, so subjects like mathematics, economics, statistics, MORSE, actuarial science etc will be valued.

So you do not need economics a level by any means.

Since, I'm doing Maths I have a chance? Also, to my original question, is it hard to become one even if I did do economics,maths etc. and got into a good uni. Otherwise lots of people would be rich.

Reply 5

Jkizer

16

Original post by Year11guy

Since, I'm doing Maths I have a chance? Also, to my original question, is it hard to become one even if I did do economics,maths etc. and got into a good uni. Otherwise lots of people would be rich.

Maths is the prime subject.

IB is tough to break into as the university your in would need to have good links. You will also need a good degree grade, as being in Oxford is definitely not a ticket to goldman sachs.

So yes it is hard. IB attracts high quality workers from all around the world, some will have significantly high experience whereas others would have just graduated. It has quite a large Applications:Job spaces ratio, so competition is fierce. Dont expect to immediately break in lets just say.

Reply 6

Sun_Bear

12

Original post by Year11guy

I imagine this has been asked many times before but I'd like to know. By banker I mean the ones that earn £1m with the big bonuses. Is it hard to become one? Do your A Levels affect them? I picked: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths. I'm thinking of taking Economics as a 5th subject.

It depends, if you go to a target (Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Imperial, UCL or Warwick) and study a mathsy/bsc degree then you have a very good shot... Outside of that it is possible however extremely difficult without connections.

Edit, i just realised how stupid your question is, there are so many different 'banker roles' (eg trader, investment banker, private equity, venture capital, equity research, hedge fund portfolio manager etc etc) That to be earning atleast £1million i think that there is quite a bit of luck involved and knowing the right person that it's nearly impossible to quantify exactly how hard it is.

(edited 10 years ago)

Is it hard to become an Investment Banker?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you