Wall Street possible for kid out of the middle of nowhere?

Career Opportunities & Internships Investment Banking
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<p>Hi guys,</p>

<p>I‘m a 22 year-old kid from an irrelevant small European country and I am pretty ****ed up. I got an undergrad degree in business, and right now I’m in a two year finance/accounting master program (M.Sc.) with one year left at the same local institution. </p>

<p>I want to go into U.S. investment banking afterwards even though I figured out it’s gonna be really tough for me. Unfortunately I can’t get into a BB right away because I’m obviously not attending a target school, I do not have an outstanding GPA (still pretty decent, gonna work on that) and lack experience in IB (no relevant internships). So my initial game plan was to crack the GMAT (what I did), improve my GPA and get into a top MBA program right after finishing my master’s degree. I knew it would not gonna be easy but I was sure that an MBA from a target school (Wharton, Harvard, whatever) would be my only realistic chance to get into IB at WS. I was getting ready for the admission process for entering in Sept/Oct 2013 which I realized starts around now, when I learned that I had no chance due to my lack of work experience. Therefore my next idea was the Harvard 2+2 program which seemed perfect for me until I learned that the 2+2 program is designed for non-finance students and my chances to get into it would be close to zero.</p>

<p>So here I am, no idea what I should do... </p>

<p>Right now I am wondering if an MBA even makes sense after I got an ungergrad degree in bnusiness and a master‘s degree in finance/accounting?</p>

<p>Should I apply for a second master (not MBA) at a top business school in the US? (Or even apply for a 1 year master program in the UK i.e. LSE and try to get into a BB office in London, later to NYC ?) I already kinda have a finance degree (still M.Sc., not M. of Finance) so are there even any other programs that I could do my second master in? </p>

<p>Still try the 2+2 program?</p>

<p>Or do I have to start working in my home country for a couple of years (local bank for example, no BB over here at all) to earn the required work experience, then try to get into a target MBA program and follow my initial plan? (However, actually don’t wanna stay/work here at all to be honest...)</p>

<p>I guess applying for an internship directly in a BB makes no sense at all in my situation right now since I don’t see any chances for me. (No MBA, no target school, no real work experience, just some tiny bank internships – not IB)</p>

<p>I would be really thankful for any kind ov advice!</p>

<p>Thanks,
vaclav</p>

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<p>Are you in a US program and do you have papers to work here? If not, I would say that the only way for you is to get into a BB office in London and prove yourself to be a star, then perhaps you may be moved to New York.
I assume the Chec Republic has some International offices that you can get into?
If you dont apply (referring to 2plus2 and other mba programs) you will never get in…</p>

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<p>hey mhmm,</p>

<p>thanks a lot for your answer.</p>

<p>I’m actually not from the Czech Rep. (sorry for my nickname) but from it’s neighbor - Austria.</p>

<p>I am not in a US program and I do not have any work papers. this is why I was thinking of getting into a target MBA program in the U.S. first and then try to get into IBanking. but you are probably right that the only way for me is to get into a BB in London first.</p>

<p>referring to harvard 2+2: I read a lot on this forum, and the basic consensus was that the program “hates” finance students… well and all the other top MBA programs require work experience which I definitely lack. do you still think I should try applying?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

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<p>I think that noone has ever been worse off in applying. The only thing you loose is an application fee. Although if you have not taken your gmat, then you have a long road ahead of you, since 2plus 2 requires it or a gre…</p>

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<p>thanks for your reply. yeah you’re probably right I’ll just give it a shot.
i got a 720 gmat. but i heard it’s only the average for top programs. anyway, thanks a lot.</p>