is majoring in electrical engineering beneficial for a career in tech IB/PE

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by an member from University of Southern California
in Los Angeles, CA, USA

2yrs ago

is majoring in electrical engineering beneficial for a career in tech IB/PE

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reply by a searcher 2yrs ago
from The Ohio State University in Chicago Metropolitan Area, USA

My gut reaction is not really - coming at it mainly from a recruiting point of view to break in - but if you can pull it off with a high GPA, I say go for it. Arguably a more useful/marketable degree than finance (says Gerald the finance major). I'm closer to PE recruiting now, but IB/PE recruiting has gotten crazier and crazier each year as far as competitiveness and timelines moving up...some kids were 19 this interview cycle when they locked in their junior summer internship for next year.

Since you are on Searchfunder, you may have more of an entrepreneurial/operational bent - EE is likely going to be more practical from an industry point of view and would be easier for you to credibly carve a niche out. Best of luck.

reply by a searcher 2yrs ago
from University of Pittsburgh in Tampa, FL, USA

If you find that field of study interesting, it makes you happy, but you are interested in M&A -> study it and make sure you are still near perfect GPA and also have extra time for research, prep, networking for M&A roles. Know that <1% what you will do or learn in class will be applicable to M&A. It will help prove you're smart especially if you're coming from a non-target, and you'll have a slight advantage over others in the beginning at understanding the industry/businesses but it can certainly be learned relatively quickly without an EE degree. Tech groups are definitely where you will find the most bankers with engineering degrees, but I'd say there aren't many EE degrees in M&A... those lot moreso go to the Quant world, where you can use more of what you learn (which most people are too stupid to, even bankers) and is generally more lucrative. If you haven't heard of that, check into it (Read: Inside the Black Box: Quantitative Frequency).

EE is by no means necessary to break into M&A for you. You can get in from any degree at USC. It may be a 'cherry on the top' for the right team, however, a just pure M&A/Finance Bro and being a people person can be too - both dependent on the team you're interviewing with and its current needs.

If you can't sell a team in an interview on why your EE is valuable to them, don't like managing non-engineering types of people, and really are an engineer-type personality looking to make more money than engineers typically do... refer to Quant world again and pass on M&A.

Note: IB/PE is pretty broad so I'm assuming you just mean M&A on sell-side/buy-side.