<p>im not sure why i sent in 2 recs.. they said to send in AT LEAST one but i couldnt decide who to ask. but yeah, one is all you need.</p>
<p>Sorry to sound like a conspiracy-theorist but I am beginning to feel that SEO is interviewing students with the intention of wait listing them. I have a friend who applied last year and said nearly all applicants had the same tough interview, but this year apparently personality questions are the only thing on the menu.</p>
<p>It seems as though SEO has already identified those who they believe are experienced or good enough for the very few positions they have this year, given the current market. This would explain why some people have had very difficult interviews. But by interviewing and waitlisting the remaining applicants SEO can hope that these students individually find finance internships and then place them into the SEO program. It's like the best of both worlds.</p>
<p>Given that I am applying for the Dec. deadline, I hope I am wrong!</p>
<p>that makes no sense. seo doesnt exactly have the resources to interview people with no intention of considering them</p>
<p>do you know anyone who actually got a "hard" interview? And no, technical questions dont make an interview "hard" - anybody can memorize the vault guide. Unless you have previous banking/pe/hf experience, nobody's going to ask much more than that at this level for any bank (except laz/ghill maybe)</p>
<p>The main thing i just see odd about the interview process isnt the difficulty of the interview, but just that the interview process is so short. How much more can you really ask in a 30 min interview?</p>
<p>Count that as a blessing! Think about it- a total of 45 minutes (phone+in-person) and you're potentially at one of the biggest firms on Wall Street. It's a dream come true! I heart SEO.</p>
<p>Anyway, I actually disagree with your "theory" too Johnny. You're forgetting that there are TWO entire deadlines left. They can't just use up all their spots for the first round applicants. You're just getting paranoid! Calm down a lot of us are in the same boat :)</p>
<p>All "resources" are is people coming to an office to interview. The fact of the matter is that there are many qualified students who are good enough for SEO internships that will not be able to get through SEO because of the fact that SEO partners arent asking for them. Sure, should expectations in regards to interns necessary change, you might see more phone follow-ups etc. But at this point it seems as though the are covering their bases.</p>
<p>As for the interview, look on previous SEO threads in CC. My friend was interviewed by three people and got asked NO behavioral questions, just rapid-fire technical and guesstimate type finance questions regardless of background. People routinely get waitlisted, it doesn't matter what deadline.</p>
<p>My main point here is that there appears to have been a break from the previous years where they tried so hard to fluster people, whereas now its just about fit.</p>
<p>Look, I'm not trying to be an ultra-pessimist, but why is SEO interviewing as many people as they have in the past when the banks themselves are in such dire straits. I know they still need interns but how many do you think they will be asking for from SEO, given the market we are in?</p>
<p>was your friend this year or last year? corporate finance or s&t? s&t interviews are still like that this year, </p>
<p>besides, technicals that is a terrible method of differentiating candidates for corporate finance at this level. Talk to basically anybody who does interviews for bb's and they'll tell you that they never make decisions based on technicals - everyone gets the same bs from the vault guide, and you're expected to know it because everyone else knows it too. it all comes down to fit anyway, so given the constraints (ie only 30 min to interview), the current format makes sense. there were some basic technicals just to make sure you're not clueless, and thats all technicals are for anyway at this level. </p>
<p>as i said before, the problem this year is more about the short time to interview than the format, which is more or less the best possible format given time constraints</p>
<p>nobody is getting technicals this year, and people + office + admin work of setting up interview are resources. there is really no basis to your claim.</p>
<p>How can you guys generalize so largely like that? You can't use absolutes like "everybody" and "nobody" unless you've talked to every single applicant. I honestly believe it comes down to the style of the people interviewing you. After all, a lot of people have gotten "hard" phone interviews and others "easy" ones.
And as far as the resources go, you also have to consider the payments for the places they rent, interviewer compensation, transportation, and other "hidden" costs.
They don't really explain on the website too much about waitlisting, but I think that really goes more for applicants in the second/third deadline. I've been told that they're more forgiving for people who applied by the first deadline simply because they cared enough to apply ASAP.</p>
<p>The interview process has not changed at all from the past, it was like this last year.</p>
<p>The whole thing I am saying is looking at the banks and their situations, they are not hiring anywhere close to what they did in the past. Given that SEO's demand is a function of the banks demand, why are they still interviewing so many people? I know of at least 5 in my school alone, and we are not exactly a target school. </p>
<p>This means that there will be many more rejections or waitlists than the past, its not that hard to understand really...</p>
<p>"This means that there will be many more rejections or waitlists than the past, its not that hard to understand really..."</p>
<p>of course. was anyone really disputing this? your original claim was that coming into the interview some people already had no chance, and that these people had different difficulty interviews. it's this point thats false and unsupported.</p>
<p>also, my interviewer told that while corporate finance is obviously down, they actually have greater demand this year for the other areas from partner firms, though not sure how true that is and how much was just typical recruiting bs</p>
<p>never did i say it was a fact, just an opinion. I still stand by it, I think that SEO as of right now has so few spots they know who they are targeting and as i said before, if the situation changes they will conduct more phone interviews as they have done in the past to further screen some of those who they already interviewed in person.</p>
<p>I still haven't heard back from SEO yet and I applied on or about October 10th. I have experience with a bulge bracket investment bank under my belt, as well as a strong GPA.</p>
<p>Can I kiss all hope good bye?</p>
<p>What school do you go to and what year are you? If you are 2011 (which I am assuming from your username), just beware that the market isn't good enough this year for there to be extra space for sophomores and that it doesn't necessarily have any bearings on your qualifications. Good luck!</p>
<p>This might be a stupid question but what is the vault guide and is it any good</p>
<p>I go to Rutgers U and I am a sophomore. I have a high GPA, and good experience as I mentinoed before, also high scores etc. etc.</p>
<p>I was told I would be notified a bit before the 2nd deadline. So I'm guessing I may hear back this upcoming week. Do you guys think this is a possibility despite the fact that so many people have already heard back? Is it like very very hard for sophomores to get a chance, even though its through SEO?</p>
<p>question for megan26: after you sent in your letters of rec and your transcript, did they have those at the in person interview? also did they reference them?</p>
<p>i ask bc to be honest i have a no pass on my transcript, but my overall gpa is still a 3.4 , well above seo's minimum requirement, but i don't know whether or not i should talk about what happened at the in person interview.</p>
<p>also, what did you do to prepare besides the standard vault guides?</p>
<p>lastly...i applied for the sales and trading program, but now regret it bc i heard there isn't going to be that much opportunity for that program bc of the turmoil in the markets. what's everyone's take on that?</p>
<p>do i have to send in recommendations after or before i get invited to second round interview?</p>
<p>i sent my recs/transcript in after my in person interview so they don't need it for the actual interview.. if i had a 'no pass' on my transcript, i would've explained it in the application itself where they give you room to.. but idk if you want to bring it up in the interview or just let them see it for themselves- not sure which one would be better. i applied for corp fin so before my interview, i read the vault guides and just made sure i knew what was going on in the markets (ie citibank bailout, etc). i also made a list of "popular" questions and made sure i had thought out an answer to all of them..</p>
<p>I had my phone interview November 18th. Didnt go too well. Got an email today (one week prior to a full month since the interview) saying I got the in person interview. You just never know I guess. I just assumed I didn't get the in person the last few weeks.</p>
<p>Hey guys, I've been reading this thread for a while but just joined when I found out I got the in person. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the advice. Let's hope a majority of us get in to the program.</p>