<p>no kidding. it is the most elitist occupation in the world. you gotta be born in an elite family, you gotta receive an elite education, and you gotta have the "elite" look.</p>
<p>this may be a weird question but is the majority of people in Ibanking and Wall street for that matter over 6 feet tall? or are there plenty of short people. I think I read somewhere that people who are taller are more likely to be promoted and make more money in life.</p>
<p>I don't know. Tall people may be more abundant, but I am sure (speculating here) that you'll find more than one napoleonic executive (short, doesn't give a ***, and very, very aggressive.) I'd be interested to hear more about this.</p>
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In fact, I think this is why so many ex-jocks, especially college football players, end up in banking. A lot of them have the right 'look' and they are clearly highly confident and extroverted.
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<p>Wharton does accept quite a few athletes to entice them in lieu of scholarships since they are forbidden to offer money, especially in football and basketball. Ibanking, like many other jobs just love those 'scholar-athletes' because they know that they understand team work, they usually show leadership skills, they are fit and they usually have great time management. However, I don't think that many football players make it to Ibanking (none in my son's class) because they generally don't have the grades to cut it.</p>
<p>I am sure there are some bias in hiring....good looking people always have an edge.....but if you are smart and have superior academics, you will be hired even though you are short and fat. They just want the best people working for them. A word of caution, if you are fat, you will get fatter working in Ibanking because you are tied to your office 14-15 hours a day mostly 6 days a week and the company gives you $25 to buy your take-out dinners to be eaten at your desk.</p>
<p>creeze in addition they have all the snacks and sodas in the world at the office...</p>
<p>"creeze in addition they have all the snacks and sodas in the world at the office..."</p>
<p>Diet soda?</p>
<p>yeah that too...lol</p>
<p>Lmao------------------------</p>
<p>someone told me some time ago that Lazard really likes good-looking guys with expensive taste in suits (so you notice when a lazard guys walks into a conference), while GS people are more like the math/geek type.</p>
<p>well you need to keep in mind that Lazard is more of an ibanking shop (M&A, corp. advisory work) while the trading desks at GS (filled with rocket scientists from MIT, Chicago and what have you) will mostly be the math/geek types. </p>
<p>Lazard is more of an old school banking shop while currently GS is mostly a trading shop (65% of all profits come from the Trading and Principal Investment division). Banking is actually last of the three divisions (trading, banking, asset management) accounting for 15% of revenues.</p>
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However, I don't think that many football players make it to Ibanking (none in my son's class) because they generally don't have the grades to cut it.
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<p>Nah, grades aren't that important. By far, the #1 way to get hired into banking is through connections. That's why to this day, Ibanking is still dominated by old money, and descendents of old money. When I say 'jocks' who make it to Ibanking, I'm talking specifically about those Ivy athletes, especially from Harvard, who are the tall, handsome sons of rich families. </p>
<p>To give you an example, if you've been reading about the Duke lacrosse scandal lately, it has been portrayed as a bunch of rich jocks who often times end up as Wall Street bankers vs. a poor minority community. Whether that is an accurate portrayal of the social dynamics of the legal case at hand, it is definitely the perception of what the Duke lacrosse team stands for. </p>
<p>I'm not saying that grades don't matter. What I am saying is that if you're a member of a prominent Ivy sports team, you are going to have powerful Wall Street connections consisting of former players such that you can circumvent the standard recruiting screening process. For example, if you're a football star at Harvard and you want to get into banking, all you need to do is call up a bunch of former Harvard players who are currently in banking to get you an interview. That's the power of the 'jock' network.</p>
<p>If i come from a middle/upper-middle class family with no connections to the banking industry, is there little of a chance of me getting a job in banking after graduating with an econ degree at Berkeley, lets say with a 3.5 GPA?</p>
<p>goldenbear10: you'll get the interviews but then after that it's all up to you...remember not all the jobs in banking are taken by people with connects (although they do make up a significant portion)...</p>
<p>i agree with sakky about the power of the "jock network" I know a guy, example, who played football at Harvard and had a 2.5 GPA and now works at JP Morgan.</p>
<p>" What I am saying is that if you're a member of a prominent Ivy sports team, you are going to have powerful Wall Street connections consisting of former players such that you can circumvent the standard recruiting screening process"</p>
<p>My cousin played varsity ice hockey at Dartmouth (dart has an amazing hockey team), majored in econ, gpa>3.0, didn't break into ibanking eventually.</p>
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I'm not saying that grades don't matter. What I am saying is that if you're a member of a prominent Ivy sports team, you are going to have powerful Wall Street connections consisting of former players such that you can circumvent the standard recruiting screening process. For example, if you're a football star at Harvard and you want to get into banking, all you need to do is call up a bunch of former Harvard players who are currently in banking to get you an interview. That's the power of the 'jock' network.
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<p>It's not that easy. First, you are not being interviewed by one person, you have at least 3 interviews or even 4 before having an offer and your chances can be nixed by any of those people, and not all of whom will be a jock.</p>
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i agree with sakky about the power of the "jock network" I know a guy, example, who played football at Harvard and had a 2.5 GPA and now works at JP Morgan.
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<p>Did he go into that job right out of college? Is it an investment banking function ? There are a lot of graduates being hired by investment banks, but they don't do investment banking. Don't assume when people say "I work at GS, or Lehman or Morgan Stanley" that they are analysts.</p>
<p>he got hired right out of college for a position in JP Morgan's M&A group with an offer of 65K salary + bonus (and a good signing bonus)...</p>
<p>btw I know many people here at wharton who have GPAs in the 2.0-3.0 range who get front office banking jobs (very few people in general at wharton take back office jobs - no one is really interested in them)...and a good percentage are jocks. Another good percentage is made up of wealth kids with connections.</p>
<p>You can't really go by this year's example. Wall Street has been hiring like crazy this year. My son graduated in 2004, not an especially hot market for Wall Street jobs. He hardly knew anyone getting IB jobs with less than 3.5 GPA and that's Wharton. </p>
<p>When you say a good percentage are jocks, which jocks ? My son lettered in sprint football at Penn. His first year , they won the National Spring Football championship. He belonged to a fraternity where there are a lot of atheletes and he doesn't think many of them went into IB. There are tons of wealthy kids at Penn (Ivanka Trump was in a few of his classes and yes, we saw the whole Trump family at graduation) and many went into IB through resume dropping at the career office.</p>
<p>I hope when you graduate, the job market remains hot.</p>
<p>this guy's offer was in 2004 actually...and when half the class at wharton each year (some years more) goes into banking there are plenty in just that crop with under 3.5...</p>
<p>The class of 2004 did not get offers of $65K. Sorry.</p>
<p>the range seems to be 26k-85k so some people got offers of 65k...connections can do great things.</p>
<p>I know another guy, related to an exec at one bank, whose relative got him a job at another bank with an offer of 80k this year...</p>