Investment banking tips for highschool student

<p>I have a couple questions regarding how i get into this field.
What majors are recommended?
Is a Mba needed?
Are job internships required to get into it?
basically im really interested by the job description and want to know how to get into this type of job..</p>

<p>Same case here, I’m a rising senior looking for ways to increase my chances to become a successful Investment Banker.</p>

<p>Your major kinda matters but at the same time, it doesn’t. If you’re at a major target such as Harvard or Princeton, you can get into banking as an economics major(recommended) or as an art history major. But if you’re at lets say UMich, which is a decent target, you’ll most likely need something business related. An MBA is NOT needed. You’ll be in the business before you have an MBA and if you’re a rockstar, they wont want you to leave. And you probably wont want an MBA either. Why would you want to give up 600k to pay 50k for a Harvard MBA. Yes, a job internship is needed to break in. Sophomore year you’ll want a PWM internship and Junior year you’ll want to get a banking internship. A piece of advice, if you do break into banking, after the first two years is over, LEAVE and go to a Hedge Fund, Private Equity Shop or Venture Capital firm.</p>

<p>1) Go to a top target (Wharton is the most represented, but schools like Harvard/Princeton/Columbia will get you there too)
2) Get a good GPA
3) Do some kind of internship your sophomore summer
4) Learn about the industry, career, etc.
5) Go through on-campus recruiting and drop resumes with as many banks as possible (this is assuming you go to a target where banks recruit)</p>

<p>Most people enter the industry after undergrad, so no MBA unless you want to be a career banker.</p>

<p>try to get in as an undergrad analyst, that way if after 2 years you get sick of it you can move onto HF/PE/Business school etc. without employers thinking you are too specialized to move into their industry. If you go after an MBA, you’ll be an associate, and you’ll probably be considered in it for the long hall.</p>

<p>Agree w/ sup except
1.there are several other targets than the ones mentioned. And even opportunities from non-target schools for various reasons.
2. Agree 100%
3. #4 should be #3. You do not have to be a business major. But take financial accounting, finance, some stats and a few economics courses. The basics.</p>

<h1>5 Get an internship sophomore year if possible.</h1>

<h1>6 Get an internship at a BB your junior year because this is where the offers are made. It is very difficult, not impossible but verrrrry difficult to get a job otherwise.</h1>

<p>@ sup, Curious to know which banks (other than Citi) have more Wharton grads than anyone else?
I’m not disagreeing with you, but have yet to see it.
My analyst class had more williams, Amherst and NYU grads than Wharton.</p>

<p>Most of the advice offered here looks to the future, except for perhaps the college bit. But something you can start doing right now is simply talking to a few investment bankers or people in finance or business who you might have vague connection to. I was told that networking was one of the greatest ways to get into the industry, and I thought I was actually screwed since I had no notion of how to network at all or whether it would be beneficial or not. However, I just so happen to be Jewish and belong to a temple which has a surprisingly high amount of people who had finance backgrounds (go figure). I even learned that my father’s partners daughter is a vice president at Goldman Sachs, and I plan to interview her and will make a subsequent thread for questions I should ask and then reply to them here. You might be surprised with how many actual people have had a career in banking, so get talking!</p>

<p>I had friends in high school who found internships at UBS over the summer of their senior year before they started college, so definitely look into that possibility.</p>

<p>^Not unheard of but pretty rare and I personally don’t think it’s necessary. </p>

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<p>I haven’t done any kind of headcount but a disproportionately large number of people I’ve met in IB graduated from Wharton. NYU is also pretty common, although I haven’t seen as much representation from LACs. </p>

<p>My analyst class was Wharton followed by NYU, Harvard, and I think Dartmouth or Columbia. </p>

<p>We’re talking about IB right? Not wealth management, private banking, etc.</p>