IB for a Political Science Major

Career Opportunities & Internships Investment Banking
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<p>I thought this would be the best place to post this, as I have a few questions about IB.</p>

<p>First off, some background:</p>

<p>I graduated from The College of William & Mary magna cum laude this May in a BA in Government. I will be attending the University of Oxford this autumn for a two year master's in European Politics. The jobs I have had during the four years of undergrad include working on Capitol Hill for two years and interning at the State Department in Washington this past summer. I currently hold a US Government security clearance because of the State Department internship (due to security reasons, I can't disclose which classification level I hold on here, but I have read that holding a USG clearance is very beneficial for some private sector jobs).</p>

<p>For diversification on my resume, I would like to work in the private sector next summer and really don't know where to start since I have spent most of my focus on the public sector during my undergrad. One thing that interested me was a possible summer analyst position at an IB with a focus on global compliance. My specialty within politics has been regulatory compliance of EU law (that was my undergraduate thesis and is my research proposal at Oxford). Due to work visa issues, I will not be able to work in London next summer but would need to be back in the States.</p>

<p>In my preliminary research, I've noticed that some IBs such as Goldman and Barclays actually offer global compliance summer internships, although I'm not sure if I would qualify as an analyst or associate position due to my master's program. I've noticed that there are several opportunities that are available to me at Oxford, including several events organized by JP Morgan and Goldman in October in order to recruit summer interns. Since this is new territory for me, I wanted to seek advice on this forum. I realize I'm not the typical hire being a social science person, but I do want to seek out as many opportunities as possible in order to have a diverse resume. If I had to guess what exactly I wanted to do coming out to Oxford, I would think management consulting but I also want to consider IB. My central question is, based on my resume and academic background, would I be a qualified candidate for a summer internship position in the global compliance department of an IB?</p>

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<p>You are probably overqualified for compliance, but if that is what you want to do then yes you are a qualified candidate for the compliance department of an investment bank. </p>

<p>Also, I don’t think the security clearance is going to help (it’s not going to hurt your application either).</p>

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<p>What about IB Risk? I’m thinking specifically country risk. </p>

<p>What makes me “overqualified” for a compliance internship? Is it because it is considered middle/back office? What should I aim for?</p>

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<p>From what I understand both compliance and risk departments are mostly responsible for processing stuff. Bankers are also processing stuff but it is more important stuff. If you want to learn practical corporate finance or really want some money and don’t mind having almost no free time, then an IB front office position might suit you. However, you seem like an academic type so be warned that banking is not academic or intellectual at all. </p>

<p>I wouldn’t worry about the middle/back office stuff since you would benefit more from a consulting internship I think.</p>

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<p>Thanks for your help/suggestions.</p>