<p>I know that it is pretty competitive, but can anyone paint a clearer picture? How similar is the competitiveness say to college admissions or to getting a high gpa? I know it is a collection of many factors such as extracurriculars, gpa, perhaps test scores, resume, interview, work ethic, persistence, connections, knowledge of finance, etc.
In truth, one can prepare to excel in these areas, just like one can prep for a good college admissions package.</p>
<p>considering you more or less need to get into a top college and then get a high gpa to even have a shot, in the absence of any strong family or other connections to the industry i’d rank it as more difficult than those.</p>
<p>its also much different than college admissions in that there’s much more to the process than just how good you look on paper.</p>
<p>First of all you need to attend a top school to stand a good chance. You can still get in from a lower rank school but then your running up a much steeper slope. Then, you must perform well in school, make connections, and build up your resume with anything that paints it pretty. Finally, you will have the chance to interview for a position if you have topped your peers in school; however, the interview is highly subjective and your credentials don’t matter as much anymore. The interviewer might just hire someone because they connect with them and like them better despite credentials.</p>
<p>So you will be competing to be the very best until you receive your offer, and even then it doesn’t end.</p>
<p>A clearer answer to this question might be “how many college undergraduates are hired for high end finance jobs?”</p>
<p>Aggregate for IB BB, smaller banks, & other finance type companies. I’d imagine that there are less than ~3500 total (finance) jobs a year which pay total compensation above 90K for newly hired undergraduates.</p>
<p>A top tier IB received 200 resumes for S&T. They selected 15 for the first round, 7 for the second round, and made offer to 3. Another firm invited 4 from Cornell, 4 MIT, 2 NYU, 2 Stanford for their super day. They sent 7 home and kept remainder for additional interviews. They then made offer to one person on the spot. From Cornell they interviewed 10 or 15 on campus and invited 4 for super day. I would say job offering rate (1.5%) is less than admission rate at some top tier schools.</p>
<p>I guess you could compare it to college admissions in the sense of maintaining a high GPA and having good communication skills (expressed in college essays) but still it’s very competitive because your still competing with kids from top schools, solid EC’s, solid internships, and solid GPAs. But honestly, I’ve know of kids with <3.5 GPAs from non-targets getting BB internships and FT offers because they have a likable personality and they NETWORK like crazy.</p>
<p>People painted a good general picture. Do you go to a top school, if not you better have close to a perfect gpa, or something stellar on your resume. If you go to a top school do you have a top level gpa? If not, what do you have to make up for it.</p>
<p>At Wharton for example, we’re in the middle of recruiting, recruiters will get something like 400 applications for 30 interviews, of which 15 get second day, of which 7 or 8 get offers. The people getting interviews generally have 3.7 or higher, but gpa only gets you into the room.</p>
<p>There are plenty of stories about interviews out there, and they really are subjective. Second day are even more so than first.</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p>
How many IB positions are in the industry, would you say?</p>
<p>When the economy is good (i.e. in 2006), it’s actually quite easy to get an offer. By quite easy, I mean you will probably receive an offer from a pretty good firm (i.e. GS, MS, DB, UBS, etc.) if you 1. attend an elite college (Ivies + Stanford + MIT + Duke, etc.) and 2. have a high GPA (3.6+).</p>