<p>So i will be a freshman at the College of Charleston. I realize that this is no where near a target school, but is there a decent chance to get into IB still? I mean if I get like a 3.8+ GPA, and if if I am a president of a club, in a non-business fraternity, and study abroad in London or Hong Kong. Planning to major in Econ(concentrated in Finance), and actuarial math. Also I already have already had two summer jobs involving business (but not banking). Is there anything else to help strengthen a resume. </p>
<p>Also considering trading, but do not know much about it. Is it hard to find a high paying job where you will not always be worried about losing your job (relative to IB of course it is hard)</p>
<p>If you want to work in IB, why aren’t you attending a target school?
If your grades weren’t good enough for a target, what makes you think you are good enough for IB?</p>
<p>A high-paying secure job? Firefighters, police, most govt jobs that have a great pension payout.</p>
<p>My grades were not good enough to get into top schools. I could have gone to a more selective school, but got a good amount of scholarship money. I am good at math going in with over 10 hours of college credit. I have worked all 4 summers of high school and have a good work ethic. I am looking for a job out of college that is business related with long hours with high stake investing (thats what sounds good i’m asking if thats possible). Like could I go to a non-bulge bracket work for 3 years then go to a target mba then go to a bulge bracket? Or if i didnt make a target this time then no real chance. Thanks for being honest. And i really do not want to do a job from your list but good question.</p>
<p>Cbreeze, what is up with your second statement? That makes no sense. If you aren’t accepted at a target school, it doesn’t make sense to label somebody as being unable to do i-banking. I-banking does not by any means require an ivy-league education…</p>
<p>Dwgreene: your goal should be a 3.7, and you need to try to secure an i-banking internship before your junior year. You have 2 summers to do it. Start emailing / cold calling local i-banks, wealth management firms, PE firms, etc. Anything that is related to trading, financial markets, or banking can be leveraged into i-banking position. Get involved with 1 or 2 solid finance groups at school and try to get an exec spot on them.</p>
<p>Learn as much as you can about introductory financial accounting and financial valuation. there are great books on this stuff and it will get you so far ahead of the game. it’s great that you’re starting early: you’ll be able to break in without too much trouble if you start the work now, and start making connections and learning.</p>
<p>pm me if you have any questions, i’m from a non-target also and am going to be a sophomore but i’m interning at a mm bank in my hometown.</p>
<p>thanks Nick thats what I was hoping to hear. Hopefully my past summer jobs will give me an advantage over other students applying for other selective internships. But isnt after junior year the most important internship</p>
<p>There’s definitely a lot you need to be doing, but at the end of the day, it will come down to GPA, relevant experience and networking. Your GPA should be high 3.75 or better, you will need to land relevant internships as soon as possible - ultimately pushing for an IB internship (even with a regional boutique) by junior year. Additionally, you will want to network your tail off with any alumni in the field as well as while taking part in professional clubs, networking events, etc. It will be a tough road, but knowing this early will definitely help you.</p>
<p>PM me if you have any other questions and good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all the good recommendations. I know there is a investment/finance club I plan on joining and hopefully working my way up in that club. I know I need to find some related internship this summer hopefully my past two internships will help me get one. Does studying abroad matter where you go or do banks not even look at that. For example, would they even notice if I went to London, Spain, Hong Kong, or New Zealand? </p>
<p>Nickfat, in the real world, it is very difficult to get from a non-target to IB. There may have been anecdotal successes but generally most banks recruit analysts straight from target schools.
I am speaking as a former finance professional who have banking experience and the mother of a Wharton grad who worked in IB, private equity and now working in a hedge fund. I am quite familiar with that career path.</p>
<p>For those who regularly post that they attended a non-target but have IB experience, there’s no way to verify that. I know when my S was working in IB, he didn’t and wouldn’t have had time to read nor write in a college forum. Catching up with work-related reading took up a major portion of his spare time.</p>
<p>So pretty much you are saying that there is basically no chance of going into IB and i should just stick with government jobs (like a fireman?? I want to do business). Do you have any suggestions that would help me for IB? I realize it is hard but is there a decent chance or is it so small its not worth it?</p>
<p>If you want to work in IB, give it a shot. Seriously, it only takes a couple of minutes to review CC and make a post. It’s not rocket science. there are many opportunities out there and not all posts go to target school graduates.</p>
<p>You shouldn’t give up because someone on CC says it hard or improbable. You can’t verify anyone’s expertise here… except mine:</p>
<p>I’m Graeme. I’m not in IB but I know what it takes to succeed. It’s as simple as deciding that is what you want to do, and that is what you want to be; Then taking action and doing it… That’s all.</p>
<p>I understand exactly what you are saying, but I think you misphrased it. You asked him “what makes him think he’s good enough for i-banking if he isn’t good enough for an ivy.”</p>
<p>Just sounded kinda harsh to me.</p>
<p>Also, you’re right that it is very difficult to get into bulge banking from a non-target. However, it is not impossible and I know that for a fact and I know of a ton of cases and people from my non-target that are in bulge i-banking right now. It’s all about getting to the interview.</p>
<p>And i just read your 2nd post about having no way to verify that people from non-targets are in i-banking… that still doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen or that it isn’t reality. </p>
<p>When you say ‘ibanking experience’, do you mean any ibanking experience or just bulge bracket?</p>
<p>I think you’re basing too much of what you say off of assumptions. Assumptions that ibankers don’t have time to write on forums, and assumptions that everybody on this forum lies. I’m actually sitting in an ibank right now and im on this forum lol. There is some down time, believe it or not (as I’m sure you know from your experience… but then again, there really is no way to verify that experience, is there?)</p>
<p>Dwgreene: do not let anyone tell you that you can’t do it. It is not impossible, nor should it be. As soon as you get to college, hit the books and remember to do the things you’ll thank yourself for later. Get straight A’s and attend anything finance-related. Get contact names, numbers, etc. and start talking to people. Find others at your school who have banking interest, and talk to them about it. This fall, begin emailing and calling local i-banks, wealth management firms, and private equity firms. Let them know you are a freshman and that you are extremely interested in banking.</p>
<p>It is not even close to impossible: but make sure you figure out if you really want to do it or not before you put a ton of time and effort into it. I would start doing a lot of reading this summer about i-banking. I have a good book list I will send you if you pm me. Also, talk to finance professors at your university and demonstrate your interest: try to take accounting / finance courses as early as possible. </p>
<p>Thanks guys for all the advice. I wasn’t planning on giving up just curious how difficult it is. I know its hard but at least its possible if you work hard and do everything you can to help give yourself a better chance. Just let me know if you think of any other good advice fro me.</p>
<p>nickfat, which ibank are you working at that employs freshman as interns? What’s your job description?
All the banks I know (BB or large boutiques) don’t recruit freshmen as interns. Perhaps you are working in brokerage office that does banking as well.
Your assertion that you know a ton of people from non-target working in BB ibanks is hard to believe. Are they doing front office work?</p>
<p>dwgreene14, the best thing for you is to ask your career office what they can do to help you. They may have some connections.</p>
<p>Brown Gibbons Lang & Company. MM i-bank. 99% of revenue is M&A transactions. I am doing banking work; a lot of comps, valuation, pitchbook slides, database work, and industry research. I also attend conference calls, bankers meetings, etc. the associate who is working as my supervisor also lets me attend calls with the president of one of the companies i’ve been working on. They don’t normally hire freshman interns but I have done a ton in the way of modeling and accounting, and they hired me because of that. so i’d say it’s about as close to i-banking as i can get for going into my sophomore year.</p>
<p>so to answer your question: it is not a brokerage office, and if it were, i would know because i am not an idiot…</p>
<p>Our school has a one guy at Deutsche Bank, one at GS, and another at MS… all interns in IBD. All extremely sharp guys who had to put a lot of effort in to get to BB and they will all get return offers, I’m positive.</p>
<p>cbreeze, I know of 7 people who did Ibanking internships after freshman year. Each went to different banks on WS (except for two; they both went to MS). Three of them are Duke students, two are Harvard students, and the other two go to non-targets. </p>
<p>In my years at banking, no one hires a freshman. Perhaps they are working at an ibank, but definitely not doing ibanking. I don’t believe it. Even at Wharton which I am very familiar with, no ibank goes to recruit for internship.</p>