S wants to study abroad next fall. That’s when the most campus OCR occurs (finance major. likely start out in Mgmt Consulting). I know you can do virtual interviews, Skype, etc. but is this a really bad idea? Like to hear from those who have experienced the challenge. What were the biggest hurdles? How did you overcome?
D1 studied abroad fall of junior year. At her school, most companies came to the campus beginning of Feb, and over the winter break many investment banks hosted meet and greet. She had to sign up at her school’s career center, take a training class and had her resume to be eligible for on campus interviews. She was able to do all of that online ahead of recruiting. For her, it was better to go abroad the fall semester rather than the spring semester. Some of her friends did go abroad the spring semester and they were able to do interviews via skype or before they left to go abroad.
My D did all of her mgmt consulting prep and interviewing virtually (they don’t use Skype). It wasn’t a problem at all. Well, the time difference did suck.
Thanks. I know people do it with success. Just seems like lots of additional hurdles. Not being there for info sessions, coffee chats, on campus interviews, 2nd rounds at branch offices, etc. reduces the “at bats” for the firms to really get to know him (if that makes sense - which is one of his strengths). I’ve told him he’ll have to be extra diligent this spring and summer in terms of networking and to do whatever he can in terms of recruiting ahead of the fall cycle.
I do see a ton of value in studying abroad as that will help shape his world view.
Wondering what years some of your students were in school. One of mine also went into IB and internship offers were made late October. He went abroad 2nd semester junior year and was told that was better as the recruitment timeline had moved up. He would have been a junior 3 years ago. So, I would not rely on what posters on saying here. Your student should go to the career center and get the timeline from them. If he’s thinking if consulting they will know who recruits at the school and when offers/interviews were done this year.
Another study abroad option may be to go in summer before junior year, if you can afford that.
I would suggest your student talk to their career center.
My daughter is a freshman engineer and was discouraged from going abroad junior year. She’s going the beginning of this summer instead.
He’s being proactive. Already went to Career Services, Academic Advisor, etc. The fall is when consulting recruiting happens (of junior yr for internships, senior yr for job offers). They told him “It’s definitely harder, but doable. Planning ahead is key.” They told him to be very active with them next semester - spring of sophomore yr - to get ahead of the timing, have contacts in place, practice virtual interviews, etc. So it’ll be on him vs. just following the process of regular OCR which has quite compelling results at his school. That’s the part that concerns me. He’s swamped as is so this will make it harder. The good news is he has several friends in the same situation so hopefully they’ll push each other. He claims they will (in his argument for going abroad). We’ll see. I know it’s not life and death but it is important…Wish I could be that carefree!
^^Summer’s not a realistic option.
^^ I totally get that as it wasn’t for my kids either. My current college JR ( finance) just got an offer for next summer - yesterday. It’s a bit nerve wracking! Best of luck to your son and kudos to him for thinking so far ahead.
It does take more work. For my D, that was a plus, as everyone was very impressed with all the extra effort required to make it happen. He should start networking now and let them know he’ll be studying abroad in the fall.
I asked D1 how they are doing recruiting at her bank now. She said they recruit sophomore spring for junior summer, and junior fall for graduation. It appears her bank is pushing their recruiting up a year now.
Yep @oldfort - just talked to my son and he said the same thing . Things have changed!
My understanding is Banking and Consulting have different time tables for recruiting. Banking has gotten ridiculous (if you ask me). Recruiting in the spring of sophomore yr for internship after junior yr. Many of these kids will not have even had any relevant coursework yet or know anything about banking (other than it pays well). Without that internship it’s pretty tough so what you do your sophomore spring can easily determine your outcome in banking (at least your first job). That’s crazy. Consulting is primarily done in the fall of junior yr but many go in to the industry without consulting internships (not that many of them). However, they still need a good F500 internship their junior summer. Most of that happens in Fall of junior yr as well.
My D is a junior now and just completed the IB summer internship cycle ( for summer 2019) and was able to do all rounds of interviews ( they average about 3-4 rounds of interviews/firm mostly ) by phone/skype ( 90% of the firms were East Coast, mostly NYC, and she is in California-- so time difference was a challenge) . In fact, the one she accepted, she wasn’t able to come for Superday ( this is when shortlisted candidates are flown to NYC for final rounds) because of conflicts with her midterms, and they still allowed her to Skype for 3 hours with 5 separate interviewers. So, it is possible to be abroad and still land an IB internship. I should also note that this particular summer internship (Finance) is the most important( and brutal!) so starting early, is key ( my D started applications in Sept, and was averaging 3-5 interviews /week !)
It’s possible to still land a job, but would not recommend. My friends who have more experience with this concur and say not being on campus fall semester is probably a bad decision. There are so much more than interviews. There are coffee chats, there is the occasional special challenge, other networking sessions, and there is “superday” (yes, you could theoretically Skype in for “superday”, but it strips you of the opportunity to wow in-person (and that is assuming you do not have technical issues).
For context:
My friends got internship/FT roles in firms like MBB (McKinsey, Bain, BCG) and Deloitte/PwC/EY/KPMG (Big Four) for consulting (MBB are the best consulting firms, and the Big Four are the next best) and Bulge Brackets and top Boutiques for Investment Banking.
I have interned in a boutique consulting firm and am going full-time as a Software Engineer in a F500. I have also unsuccessfully participated in MBB recruiting for full-time positions.