Art history major and wall street

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems that everyone now is gunning for money-focused careers, even though no one really wants them.

Think about it: why would someone with a passion for art pursue a career in IB? It’s transparently and painfully obvious that the soul here is torn.

Stay with the art and doing something good for yourself and the world.

99% of humanity needs to earn a living, so... not a lot of Art History majors in 2025. And Sotheby's isn't filling the gap. It's tough out there these days for young people. Art History is a luxury.

[Anonymous]

Banks and consulting firms (especially consulting firms) used to just go for intellectual horsepower, and would take anyone who they thought was very smart, regardless of major. They had great training programs so would teach you what you needed to know. Consulting firms in particular prided themselves on trotting out people with non-traditional backgrounds. I had good friends who were bio, history, English majors who did very well at MBB and other top firms, and a friend who was an English major who was basically afraid of numbers who went into sales and trading at a top bank.

Unfortunately now they are less willing to do this. Realistically they could still do fine at a bank. But there are so many kids applying that it isn't worth it for the banks to figure it out.

And to the posters who are obsessed with the quant shops - this is an incredibly narrow minded view of how Wall Street works. Yes, those jobs are great, but I guarantee that half the people posting this know absolutely nothing about it and just read it in an article somewhere. One can do extremely well in traditional I-banking (particularly leading to top PE), there are a lot more of those jobs, and they tend to reward people skills more so you might end up working with more interesting people than quant nerds.

[Anonymous]

It is sad that so few kids want to go work in a traditional management training program for a company that actually makes things. I see quite a few of those jobs posted through my LinkedIn network and think they sound like incredible opportunities. They don't pay like banking or top tier consulting but they do fine and have some work-life balance and less of an "up or out" mentality.

[Anonymous]

I know a recent Art History grad from HYPS who works at MBB. Her parents weren't super connected or wealthy (probably HHI of 300-500k), but she was in a "top" sorority and attended prep school. But besides her, every humanities major I know in investment banking or prestige consulting is very wealthy/connected or a varsity athlete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a recent Art History grad from HYPS who works at MBB. Her parents weren't super connected or wealthy (probably HHI of 300-500k), but she was in a "top" sorority and attended prep school. But besides her, every humanities major I know in investment banking or prestige consulting is very wealthy/connected or a varsity athlete.

You can just say Stanford…

[Anonymous]

If you want to major in art history, why do you want to do banking?

Plenty of super smart people not in banking -

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a recent Art History grad from HYPS who works at MBB. Her parents weren't super connected or wealthy (probably HHI of 300-500k), but she was in a "top" sorority and attended prep school. But besides her, every humanities major I know in investment banking or prestige consulting is very wealthy/connected or a varsity athlete.

This is the key that opens the doors for kids from Ivies and NESCAC schools. People hate it but it is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand how there can be so enough IB jobs for all the economics, math and fnance majors at the Ivies plus all the the engineering and computer science majors who ultimately want to go into IB PLUS all the humanities majors. Plus all the same at the top20 schools. Plus everyone else.

There has to be a limit to these jobs, right? It seems like it's all anyone is aiming for at any top20 school. Yes, I know this is a bit of an exaggeration but not by much.

They can teach the skills.
Are your kids not interviewing right now? It’s one giant networking event.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a recent Art History grad from HYPS who works at MBB. Her parents weren't super connected or wealthy (probably HHI of 300-500k), but she was in a "top" sorority and attended prep school. But besides her, every humanities major I know in investment banking or prestige consulting is very wealthy/connected or a varsity athlete.

This is the key that opens the doors for kids from Ivies and NESCAC schools. People hate it but it is true.

Seeing most of the crew and lacrosse boys at Ivy getting a lot of the coffee chats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a recent Art History grad from HYPS who works at MBB. Her parents weren't super connected or wealthy (probably HHI of 300-500k), but she was in a "top" sorority and attended prep school. But besides her, every humanities major I know in investment banking or prestige consulting is very wealthy/connected or a varsity athlete.

She is super wealthy and connected.

[Anonymous]

No skin in the game yet but how does one set up a coffee chat? And what does coffee chat mean?

How else do you network?
Cold emails or always through a connection from parent or otherwise?

I’m in a field where networking isn’t the name of the game so curious how this works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No skin in the game yet but how does one set up a coffee chat? And what does coffee chat mean?

How else do you network?
Cold emails or always through a connection from parent or otherwise?

I’m in a field where networking isn’t the name of the game so curious how this works.

LinkedIn chat invites

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No skin in the game yet but how does one set up a coffee chat? And what does coffee chat mean?

How else do you network?
Cold emails or always through a connection from parent or otherwise?

I’m in a field where networking isn’t the name of the game so curious how this works.

Your kid will learn at their Ivy or T20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No skin in the game yet but how does one set up a coffee chat? And what does coffee chat mean?

How else do you network?
Cold emails or always through a connection from parent or otherwise?

I’m in a field where networking isn’t the name of the game so curious how this works.

LinkedIn chat invites

Never used- who initiates? Applicant messages someone working there? When do they start doing those?

What other industries depend on this method? Engineering? Consultating? Law? Medicine?

[Anonymous]

When we toured Emory we had a tour guide who was an incoming analyst at GS as an art major.
She was one of the most charismatic young people I've ever been around as well as being gorgeous. By the end of that tour my daughter wanted to be her, my son wanted to date her and we all wanted to attend Emory. My kids still talk about her and it's 2 years later. I can see why GS was willing to invest in training her.