How is the access to east coast IB’s? Is there anything interesting on the west coast as far as IB or funds go? What are my chances as a transfer? Would working at a different job after graduation, specifically in intelligence, increase, or decrease my chances at eventually joining IB; should I work for them right out of the gate? Do they care about my personal investing history?
USC is not known for investment banking. West coast business schools are more focused on things like tech start-ups than Wall Street-type jobs.
IB’s pretty much only take students right out of college. They will offer you an internship summer after junior year after successful completion thereof, they will offer you full time employment. You can lateral senior year from one IB to another or perhaps from an internal transfer in an IB, but its pretty much unheard of to work in another industry and then be hired for an analyst position. The only other way in would be right out of MBA program.
@runswimyoga If I’d work at another place after getting my BA, my goal is to still get an MBA. So I suppose it shouldn’t be an issue, assuming I can get into a good program, right?
Former banker and Marshall alumnus here.
Possible but difficult since USC isn’t a “target” school for Wall Street. The easiest way to break in is to network your *ss off so that you get referred in through the back door, and then nail your interviews – both technical questions and soft-skill aspects.
That said, there are several banks here in LA and SF (where the USC name carries more weight) happy to pay nice bonuses in exchange for starving you of sleep. They’ll be no less demanding than NYC but at least it’s easier to network with them since they’re local.
Yes, apply right out of the gate. No, they couldn’t care less about your personal investing history.
@Vincent1997: Assuming you have top grades, you should apply anyway if you are interest in investment banking. Investment banking firms do recruit at USC’s undergraduate business school and they take the very top students. It might be a little more difficult if you are a transfer student since you might not have a good track record of top grades at USC. Another route to IB is to get an MBA from a top tier business school.