Art history major and wall street

[Anonymous]

Is IB basically like a frat/sorority?

[Anonymous]

You can absolutely do this at schools like Bucknell and Colgate that have strong Wall Street connections through their Greek systems and career services. It's less about your major and much more about being plugged into the right network.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can absolutely do this at schools like Bucknell and Colgate that have strong Wall Street connections through their Greek systems and career services. It's less about your major and much more about being plugged into the right network.

Bucknell hardly has any IB recruitment. Be for real. It’s a b tier school that no one cares about

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

I know of a NESCAC that had six girls on their volleyball team with IB internships over one summer. A mix of sophomores and juniors but basically a third of the team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

What did your husband think of her?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

I know of a NESCAC that had six girls on their volleyball team with IB internships over one summer. A mix of sophomores and juniors but basically a third of the team.

To spell this out for people: this is a reason for non-athletes to avoid these schools and go to national universities. The odds still may not be good, but they are much better than if attending a school with 35% athletes — who get the most desired jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It used to be the case one can major in art history in a target school (ivy and lac), and still make it to IB and consulting as long as the school brand is strong enough.
In 2025, can one still safely assume this is the case? Can a striver (meaning no connection) still make it by majoring in art history without taking advanced math classes on the side?
If not, what is the exit for these majors at an ivy?

One might get lucky, but what about 99 others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can absolutely do this at schools like Bucknell and Colgate that have strong Wall Street connections through their Greek systems and career services. It's less about your major and much more about being plugged into the right network.

I was waiting for the "Bucknell pipeline to Wall Street" poster to show up.

[Anonymous]

The charismatic people who are "Art Majors" that you are talking about are usually 1. from connected families and 2. not in investment banking. They are usually in something like Private Banking/Private Client Services or in Investor Relations (if Private Equity).

[Anonymous]

The CEO of GS when to Hamilton. A degree in Poly Sci. Family members attended NECAC majored in history to English and all have worked on Wall Street. Connections matter more than anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It used to be the case one can major in art history in a target school (ivy and lac), and still make it to IB and consulting as long as the school brand is strong enough.
In 2025, can one still safely assume this is the case? Can a striver (meaning no connection) still make it by majoring in art history without taking advanced math classes on the side?
If not, what is the exit for these majors at an ivy?

One might get lucky, but what about 99 others.

That one person probably has rich dad with fancy connections.

[Anonymous]

Art history is fine for undergrad but will require a grad degree unless you have a trust fund. Which is true of most 4 year liberal arts majors. Adding in calc is practical. I ended up in architecture grad school (but switched to higher paying field eventually) but law or business or UI are other options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The charismatic people who are "Art Majors" that you are talking about are usually 1. from connected families and 2. not in investment banking. They are usually in something like Private Banking/Private Client Services or in Investor Relations (if Private Equity).

Oh yeah, these people are still known as "Analysts." So they still say "I'm an incoming analyst at Goldman Sachs" when they are really in Private Client Services.

[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.

A lot of students who wants to go into IB have no family connections or is a non-varsity athlete. In that case you will have to send cold emails or anyone you know from the past who is in IB. You will most likely have to send hundreds of these Linkedin chat invites just to get 1 coffee chat. These coffee chats are short interviews and a chance for you to ask questions and make a good impression. The goal is to get enough support from analysts at the company to offer you an interview when you submit your application during the recruiting cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Art history is fine for undergrad but will require a grad degree unless you have a trust fund. Which is true of most 4 year liberal arts majors. Adding in calc is practical. I ended up in architecture grad school (but switched to higher paying field eventually) but law or business or UI are other options.

Some people I knew also ended up getting grad degrees in something like Public Administration and going into management/leadership at nonprofits.