<p>Willing to take any questions from (an admittedly) more critical perspective. I enjoyed my experience but I have no problem admitting Pomona's faults. I'm going into investment banking and so I have especially an relevant perspective on the process of applying to i-banks and their internships from Pomona.</p>
<p>yeah I have a couple questions. Did you major in economics? I’m also interested in i-banking, so what kind of basic advice would you have for someone like me who is looking at internships?</p>
<p>Yes I did. Apply early and show up to all the info sessions. You should also contact HR at firms that don’t come to Pomona because we aren’t a target for some of the big ones. Unfortunately you are at a disadvantage here. Try to find a friend or relative or a friend’s relative in the industry who can talk to you and endorse you to their HR people- it will make a huge difference. You’re a sophomore now, correct?</p>
<p>Yeah I’m a sophomore, currently procrastinating working on my 101 (with Steinberger) problem set lol. I was under the impression that we didn’t have firms recruiting here? I know CMC does. Do I just need to keep myself better informed through the CDO? </p>
<p>I’m pretty set on econ, more unsure about math econ but I think that’s the way to go, especially for i-banking…</p>
<p>You do need to keep yourself better informed. I believe you’ve already missed sophomore application deadlines but check. They will not help you here- you need to do basically everything on your own unfortunately.</p>
<p>Yeah next summer isn’t going to be feasible anyways for various reasons. In your experience, how important is GPA?</p>
<p>Important to get you an interview/to get your foot in the door. If you have a connection who can get you into the first round it becomes relatively unimportant (but you need to come across as intelligent, etc… in the interviews obviously</p>
<p>So was there any specific factor (connection, gpa) that helped you most get to the interview rounds?</p>
<p>connections</p>
<p>ok, thanks. that’s what I suspected, unfortunately.</p>
<p>Thanks for the offer, kio. My kid doesn’t frequent CC, but I find the discussion interesting. If a student wanted to try out the field, does a PP&E major look a lot less convincing than straight econ? And for students who don’t know people in the major firms, any suggestions for making those connections? Does Pomona teach students about networking?</p>
<p>Straight econ is in no way a requirement but from what I’ve seen, PPE just makes you look indecisive and unfocused. </p>
<p>Making connections is difficult but that’s probably related to it being the best way to make progress. Your son/daughter should talk to his/her friends and see where they work, attend networking events sponsored by various organizations at school, and try to reach out to people in the industry as best they can. I don’t recommend the alumni network much- I didn’t find it to be too helpful as (understandbly) for the most part people are too busy to give substantial help and without a personal endorsement/relationship they probably won’t be able to fully endorse you to their own firm. I found the alumni network to be (more or less) a waste of time in that regard. </p>
<p>The CDO tries to help students learn about networking but isn’t very effective at it. It’s not really a skill that can be taught- it’s just about going out and talking and finding out who in your social group can help you. Given the students at pomona undoubtably somebody’s parents work in the right place- your son/daughter simply has to figure out who that is.</p>
<p>If you are interested in economics and i-banking, do you think CMC is better than Pomona? (They share recruitment resources?)</p>
<p>How well does Pomona fare in TX, as a apposed to a McCombs grad…</p>