Will Study Abroad In The Fall Hurt Recruiting Chances for 2018 IB Internship?

I am a Sophomore at a semi-target school majoring in Finance and International Business. I am currently torn between studying abroad in my Fall semester of Junior year. For many reasons, I would prefer to study abroad in the Fall semester as opposed to the Spring semester, but I am worried about missing the recruiting season for Summer 2018 IB internships. It appears that recruiting for Summer 2018 internships is starting earlier than ever, for banks are coming to my school all throughout April as opposed to their usual start date in the Fall. I have a PWM internship (20 hrs a week) lined up for the Summer of 2017 just outside of NYC. Any insight you may have will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

If you can study abroad any other semester, do it then. If you don't land an internship in April, you still have a decent shot in the fall cycle. If you aren't around, it would be very difficult to capitalise on that chance.

 

I went to Berlin this past spring, hands down the best 5 months of my life. I also got fucked out of a banking internship at a BB because being half way across the world believe it or not isn't helpful. I would try and tie everything up before you go abroad if possible, or be more proactive than me while abroad.

Deep down I know that the internship was more important but I seriously had an amazing time. If you're going abroad at least make sure its somewhere worthwhile.

 
Best Response

How badly do you want investment banking? If it's your life's goal (ha), then stay behind and focus on continuing to build your network here.

Me personally, I'd take the chance to study at LSE (that's awesome). A few things to consider:

  1. Could you resume drop even though your abroad to the recruiters coming to your school? Your best bet is to get in contact with the recruiters that will be coming to your school.

  2. Talk to some career counselors, they will be able to help. Personally I think an awesome study abroad opportunity should always be taken, especially if this isn't "it" for you. I went abroad to Oxford my junior year summer instead of SAing, which some might consider a bad idea, and it's made the IBD search a little tough, but it has opened alot of doors at buyoutside places.

 

thanks alot for the advice...although it may not be my life goal, at this point ill do anything to break into IB. Just as a clarification though, Im absolutely going to LSE, and it wont occupy my summer (term ends late may 09), so iI guess in terms of scheduling, it wont necessarily preclude SAing.

I'll def pursue your tips though, cheers.

 

I'm dealing with the exact same situation. I want to go abroad next spring and wouldn't be able to participate in any sort of in-person interview processes. I'm going to talk to the carrer people at my school and see if any of my bank contacts can pull some strings. While I wouldn't say going abroad makes you ineligible for BB recruiting, it's definitely going to put you a step below those that recruiters can meet in person. We'll see what happens. Where there's a will, there's a way.

 

Don't be discouraged. I went abroad my junior year spring and never regretted it. I did most of my interviews before I left during the fall semester, although some firms insisted on conducting things by phone during the regular SA process in the spring. All you have to do is reach out to firms immediately when school starts out in September and be persistent in letting them know your situation. I would look at like working as hard to find a job as a senior gunning for FT stuff. Many firms have early interview superdays in December for people in your situation. I know that GS, ML, and Citi have them. Granted, I went to a top target on the East Coast, so my access to people was a bit better than yours. Still, I don't think something like this should discourage a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

 

I went to a complete non-target (albeit tier 1, but no banks recruit here), and was also in the same conundrum. I wanted to go abroad to SA/Africa, but also did not want to miss out on recruiting/interviewing.

I ended up staying, and was able to get interviews at most of the BBs and several MM banks, and was able to land a few offers. As someone said above, being at a non-target makes much more difficult to get early interviews, as most of the BBs are not going to make offers to a non-target before they go to targets, which is generally from Jan-March.

I began interviewing in late December all the way till March, though I had my offers in hand by early Feb. This would obviously conflict with study abroad programs. The other kids in my bank who went to targets were able to go abroad their Fall semester, though I spent most of that semester networking to get interviews and such.

It's not an easy decision - and I do sometimes regret not going abroad. But at the same time, given the current market, I could have easily been internship-less which would not bode to well for FT recruiting.

 

During my Junior year I did Study Abroad SA Recruiting for MS. I had a phone interview, then superday mid-December..

I heard good news from them, but not until Feb.

Cheers.

"Major in economics; use your economics degree to get an analyst job on Wall Street; use your analyst job to get into Harvard or Stanford Business School; and worry about the rest of your life later"
 
teddy brosevelt:
During my Junior year I did Study Abroad SA Recruiting for MS. I had a phone interview, then superday mid-December..

How long did it take them to contact you about your superday? I called HR a few days ago to ask for an update, and the woman I spoke with said she would contact the recruiter in charge of the study abroad process, but they still haven't gotten back to me.

 
teddy brosevelt:
I heard good news from them, but not until Feb.

Did it really take until Feb for you to get the offer? Do you know if it was like this for everyone? That seems a bit late to be hearing back, I'm guessing they just waited to interview everyone before handing out offers?

To the OP-- I think it's too late now for MS. If you're looking into IBD I believe the superday is tomorrow. Do you go to a target? I didn't realize they were doing phone interviews for the study abroad superday.

Also would be interested in knowing if anyone's heard back from JPM.

 

GreyPoupon, I found out within a week or so of the phone interview that I had been invited to the Super Day

"Major in economics; use your economics degree to get an analyst job on Wall Street; use your analyst job to get into Harvard or Stanford Business School; and worry about the rest of your life later"
 

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I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

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