Current Stern Sophomore: Ask Me

Colleges and Universities A-Z New York University
741

<p>@ozy
I read everything I could get my hands on, a complete thirst for knowledge. WSO (you have to be careful there, there’s a ton of garbage you have to learn how to sift through), Vault guides, BIWS guide, seekingalpha, zerohedge, Dealbreaker, all the Michael Lewis books, Barbarians at the Gate, etc. etc.</p>

<p>All of that will give you both broad industry knowledge as well as material for interview prep. As far as what people look for during recruiting, it’s very simple. There are three things: 1) are you smart, 2) are you hard-working, 3) do I like you.</p>

<p>Every single thing fits in the context of those three criteria.

  1. Smart = what college you got into (reflects how smart you were in high school), your college GPA, your SAT scores.
  2. Hard-working = your college GPA when weighed against your extracurriculars and work experience (is the kid with a 3.8 and nothing else to mention really better than the kid with a 3.6 who had a job through the whole school year and was president in two clubs?).
  3. Likability, or “fit” = what do we have in common. Am I an alumnus of your school, do you have any cool ‘interests’ listed on your resume, can you handle yourself well in a conversation.</p>

<p>This is how the game is played. Know the rules, and you’ll succeed.</p>

742

<p>@docks</p>

<p>I see thanks I will go read up on those stuff and see what can I find…</p>

<p>Also I’m curious what jobs do you do during school term and holidays. I am an international student who have to provide for my tuition fees myself too so I hope to reduce as much debt as possible before I graduate.</p>

743

<p>I looked back on the thread and noticed that you briefly answered a question about the BPE program sometime last year. How do you think it compares (or will compare, as it is relatively new) against the normal business program (particularly the finance concentration) in terms of landing internships and job placement after graduation? Thanks.</p>

744

<p>I don’t know how many “Stern Classes” you have had now that you are a second semester sophomore, but if you have had any, does the curve make it really competitive? Is there a good balance between work and play between the “Sternies” or is it really a studies only focused group? Also can one balance college life and classes without falling too far behind due to the curve?</p>

745

<p>Hello, I was recently accepted at Stern and have already confirmed my enrollment there, but I didn’t qualify for need-based aid nor receive any merit money. So currently I’m frantically searching for scholarship opportunities, and I was wondering if you have any good ones in mind? I also noticed that you said earlier you had to pay the 60k+ tuition yourself, how were you able to manage that?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

746

<p>@ozy
It may be harder for you as an international, but I have done off-cycle internships at a young venture capital-backed startup, at a boutique investment bank, and at the same bank I summered at. Other kids I know have been at places as far ranging as a boutique law firm specializing in M&A, accounting firms, boutique consulting, MBB consulting, real estate private equity (REPE), private equity (PE), hedge funds, mutual funds, insurance agencies, asset management firms … you name it.</p>

<p>@extraneous
Probably worse. Recruiters at Stern want to see “Bachelor of Science, Finance” somewhere on your resume. If you’re at a school that offers that discipline at such a caliber as Stern but you choose not to study it, it’s kind of hard to weave a coherent story as to why you want to enter finance considering you elected not to study it. It is the opposite of what happens at other schools like Ivies or top SLACs where they simply have to explain an interest because no relevant coursework is offered. Our entire course system is built around the finance department.</p>

<p>@theawesomeasian
Wow, sounds like you’re in a bind, sorry to hear that. I’m not aware of any particular resources that might be good for you, but I always did some intense Googling and usually found a couple small scholarships each year. Unfortunately, the deadlines for most of the big ones for graduating seniors in high school have passed already.</p>

<p>Personally, I managed to secure a combination of Federal and private loans that floats me the difference past what I received in scholarships. I work throughout the school year to pull in cash for personal spending. It’s been tough. I honestly didn’t eat a lot my first two years, and I didn’t go out at all really. After a summer on the Street though, it’s much easier knowing there’s paper in the bank to fall back on.</p>

747

<p>@thishere
I was a sophomore when I made this more than a year ago. I am entering junior spring now. I have had more Stern classes than I would like to remember, haha. The curve sucks. Plain and simple. Sometimes you get royally shafted by it. Rarely will it help you out. A couple examples to quantify:

  • friend gets a 98 on his micro final in sophomore fall. Average was so high that he only got a B+ overall
  • I get a 94% cumulative in a core course, but the class was such b.s. and so watered-down that almost everyone else did nearly as well; so, regardless of the mean, the standard deviation meant that I got an A-
  • the spring micro is significantly harder than fall micro. Average on our final was 61; if you got over a 69, you got an A</p>

<p>You can see that sometimes it helps you like the last case where the material is so hard you don’t even have to worry about getting it all right, you just want to get more right than 75-85% of the class so you can get an A- or A. Most of the time, though, it’s the opposite. Too many people do well, so the minutest difference can be the difference between a 4.0 or a 3.3 for the class.</p>

<p>The problem is when the teacher lets the curve do the differentiating, which to me is a complete cop-out. If you are giving students who scored in the 90s Bs, you are lazy and bad at making tests. One of my favorite professors was much more realistic about it. He made brutally hard exams, but he was incredibly honest and said, “I’d much rather have the difference between an A and an A- be something like 6-8 points, I hate the scenario where you get one question wrong and you’re screwed for the entire semester.” Fairest guy I’ve ever met.</p>

<p>The curve being what it is, there isn’t much collaboration at Stern. Most kids make a pretty tight friend circle and won’t venture outside of that when it comes to crunch time. That is why people join AKPsi and BAP and DSP because they (informally) keep practice exams and homework solutions from every class and pass it down each year. The kids outside the business societies tend to just get together and tank every assignment or exam.</p>

<p>In my experience it lightens up as you reach upperclassman years. A lot of kids know each other really well by that point and are more willing to casually help each other out, but it’s still a very tense atmosphere around exam time.</p>

<p>There is a complete mix of people here. You have the Asian kids who literally wheel in a carry-on bag with clothes, a pillow, and their schoolbooks and stay downstairs in Stern for 3 days. You have the ones who start studying for exams the week before and are there past midnight six nights in a row. You have the ones who sit down with Red Bull the night before and crank out the entire semester’s material in one marathon session. You have the fratstars who are TFTC and wing it.</p>

<p>There is no “college life” here, at least as you’re thinking of it. Greeklife is a very strange beast here. There are no dorm parties, it’s impossible not to get broken up by the RAs or FFIRs. Clubbing is hard your first two years unless you have an ID. It’s a very different college experience than most people picture in their heads. I think that’s why a lot of kids in Stern are the way they are. They realize there’s not much going on for them outside of Stern so they choose to excel at what’s in front of them. Personally, I’ve always found more than enough to distract me and my grades probably reflect that to some extent, haha.</p>

748

<p>Hello Docks, </p>

<p>I read the entire thread, it is very informative so thank you very much for the time you devoid to us. </p>

<p>I had a question: What’s the proportion of Stern students who want to do graduate studies? What schools are they most looking at? </p>

<p>Also, could you “chance me”, please?</p>

<p>I am French, lived in France and studied in the French system my entire life. </p>

<p>Stern APPLYING EARLY DECISION 2</p>

<p>Tests:
SAT 2100 (CR650, M720, W730)
SAT Math II : 680
TOEFL ibt: 110</p>

<p>Activities:

  • President of my school’s students board
  • Creator and chief editor of my school’s magazine
  • Internship at the Paris astrophysics institute</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:

  • Stanford summer school 2010
  • Civil volunteering in Israel (2 weeks)</p>

<p>Honors:

  • Schools’ Student of Honor
  • Winner of a research program at the Israel Institute of Technology</p>

<p>Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White</p>

<p>(I realize I am lacking of ECs and especially community work but in France we have absolutely no opportunities or volunteering service programs)</p>

749

<p>Regarding your answer to my previous question about the BPE program and recruitment:</p>

<p>My understanding is that to satisfy the requirements for the finance concentration you need 4 additional courses in finance (correct me if I’m wrong). If I were in BPE and was able to complete the requirements for the finance concentration as my electives, would that remedy the issue you brought up, or would it still be unsatisfactory that my degree would not say “finance?”</p>

750

<p>@applefan
I think you recognize that most of your weaknesses lie outside the classroom. Your SAT is pretty much on par with the average here. I don’t see anything (at least that I recognize) about a GPA, that will be a big factor. Your essays need to compensate for not having much to offer outside of the classroom. A big theme that always helps is ‘identity politics,’ i.e. how your ethnicity or nationality or whatever subjective factors played into helping craft who you are as a person today. If you can capture that nicely, you ought to stand a good chance my friend.</p>

<p>As for grad school, not that many Sternies want to reenter academia. The vast, vast majority of those who do get any kind of grad degree get an MBA and follow “the track,” where you go 2 >> 2 >> 2 >> 2. People spend 2 years in banking, 2 on the buy-side in private equity or hedge funds, apply to business school and spend 2 years there, then go back buy-side.</p>

<p>@extraneous
I think what you ought to do is call the Admissions office. I may not be right here so don’t quote me, but my guess is that if you are in the BPE program you cannot declare another concentration in Stern, only a minor. As far as I’m concerned (feel free to disregard), if you really want to study finance undergrad, you ought to major in it.</p>

751

<p>Hellodocks, you mentioned “AKPsi and BAP and DSP” could you please elaborate on these organizations and the process for joining them? Thanks</p>

752

<p>Hey Docks, I’m a sophomore at Stern. What GPAs (or ranges) do you think most juniors have after their first semester of junior year (ie before recruiting for SA)? Could you like give me a breakdown at least from what you know/have seen. Are there many 3.7+s or is that the exception rather than the norm. </p>

<p>I realize that there are other parts to a resume, and that networking is highly important as well, but I’d like to have a better idea of where most of Stern is in terms of a GPA just before SA recruiting. I have a mid-3.7 now after three semesters, but I’m not so well-rounded yet. I’d like to focus on making myself more well-rounded if possible, and I feel that this might prevent me from going for a higher GPA. So, I’m asking you this to decide on my priorities. </p>

<p>Also, do you think elite boutiques have higher GPA requirements than the BBs?</p>

753

<p>@Ivygolfer
You can google each of them. Alpha Kappa Psi, Beta Alpha Psi, and Delta Sigma Pi are each national business organizations that call themselves ‘fraternities.’ They are glorified honor clubs that happen to have chapters at schools across the nation. Each of them has a pledging process that takes a semester; as long as you make it through pledging, you are a member.</p>

<p>@oilspill
You are in the sweet spot right now. A 3.7 keeps you very competitive, but you can’t have just one shiny thing on your resume. Grades alone do not make the man. You ought to look at getting into some extracurriculars immediately. It’s often hard to get leadership positions without putting the time in, so if you think about it, you basically have just two semesters before you need to be able to list some organizations you have a title and an impact in.</p>

<p>You are definitely above average with a 3.7, but the thing to remember is that recruiters don’t look at GPA as the end-all, be-all mark of someone’s worthiness. If it comes down to the kid with a 3.7 and zero extracurriculars or interests outside of the classroom and the kid with a 3.5 who’s president in two things, vice president in two more, and a member of four more … guess which one looks more well-rounded.</p>

<p>The boutiques do not have higher GPA requirements. The one thing it seems they look for is work ethic. They don’t have the luxury of having the resources of tens of thousands of employees globally to throw at whatever mandates they win, so you’ll hear almost everyone who has been a summer or full-time analyst with them talk about literal 90 or 100-hour work weeks back to back forever. If you can convince them you can crank endlessly, that means more than being summa cum.</p>

754

<p>Funny how this turned more into questions from current students than from applicants.</p>

755

<p>Here’s a question from a future applicant haha. I’m a sophomore attending high school in Illinois with a goal of attending NYU Stern, and ACTs are standard here. Does NYU only accept SAT scores? And I read the whole thread so correct me if I’m wrong, but I remember reading that to get out of the WTE class and put in C&C I would have take the SAT writing test and send that score in because no ACT equivalent is accepted to in that situation.</p>

756

<p>They accept ACT scores for admission, but as far as I know, only accept the SAT for placement regarding English requirements. When I did it, it wasn’t the SAT writing subject test, it was the CR subscore from your SAT Reasoning test. Hope this helps.</p>

757

<p>Ok thanks a lot that cleared it up for me. This is an incredibly informative post, btw! How long do you plan on keeping it going?</p>

758

<p>As long as people ask questions and I can answer them. Doubtful it’ll go past graduation.</p>

759

<p>When do you graduate? And another question: Are you required to take a foreign language at NYU? And whether you are or aren’t, is foreign language a big thing that employers look at on resumes?</p>

760

<p>2013.</p>

<p>Language is not a requirement in Stern. I am not sure if it is in other schools. I do know that a ton of kids take Spanish though, so there might be a semester requirement.</p>