Do I have a snowballs Chance in Hell
I first discovered this site several months ago after googling for tips on how to break into wall street. I'll be graduating from Baruch College, a CUNY, in May of this year. After reading countless threads and spending many hours on these forums I've become rather disillusioned and frustrated with my job search. I constantly see people posting ridiculous topics asking if their 3.7 GPA from Wharton is competitive enough. Obviously they are just insecure or looking for more praise. It seems to me like most people on here have known that they would be bankers since they emerged from the womb and have done everything in their lives to further that goal. I have a lot of respect for these people, but unfortunately I've only recently decided on a career in finance. I have a decent GPA of 3.5 and some internships in accounting( My major is Finance). Is Baruch College respected at all as a Business School on wall street or do those resumes just get thrown in the trash? Basically I'm asking for any advice on how to proceed from here. Clearly I don't have a shot at any of the BB I Banks and its too late to apply anyway since I'm graduating in three months. I was thinking of buying the WS Oasis networking and interview package, is this worth it? Some people have suggested that I just start cold calling every boutique and investment firm on the street until I finally secure an interview. Has anyone tried this approach successfully? I would love to be able to work in Finance after graduation, but I'm starting to worry that this might be turning into a pipe dream with the level of competition out there. I've even signed up for the June CFA exam to try to improve my resume. Please let me know what you guys think, thanks in advance.
The reason they ask if it's high enough is because there is ridiculous grade inflation at these schools. For you, I know of a girl that has received offers from UBS and CS, but that was 4 years ago. You have an extremely low ranked school, and unless and alumni is going to try and help, you have almost no chance. Key word, almost. Good luck though.
I got an interview with Goldman with a 3.3 from a complete and utter non-target by applying online. I blew the interview and it was my own fault. Keep trying and don't give up, I ended up getting 3 IBD SA offers so don't give up.
Hey, I wish you all the best for your efforts. Do not give up and keep trying. A lot boutiques do not have a structured hiring process. I do know of a few that are still hiring for their analyst program. You can find a list of banks in your region here at WSO; I would say get cracking!
It is over only when you decide it is over - so find a good dose of optimism and confidence.
Good Luck!
Its all about the networking. Right out of school, not a likely candidate, but you can network anywhere. Call up alumni ask them about their friends. Take them out to lunch. $40 now can go a long way in your career. Find out who makes the decisions in the firm, get in touch with them and make it happen.
I think the most important question right now is what a 3.5 means at Baruch. Can you give us a rough sense of the mean GPA and the standard deviation on it? 3.5 means you're at the top of the class in some engineering programs; in many liberal arts programs, it means you're below-average.
Baruch has a good reputation for its financial engineering program, but I don't meet a lot of Baruch finance grads (from undergrad) at the BB I work for. SUNY? Rutgers? Yes, sometimes. Baruch is rarer.
Well, 3.5 qualifies me for cum laude at Baruch. Its not amazing but probably top 20%. I'm not that worried about GPA. I just feel like most of the firms wouldn't consider Baruch in this market since they can have their pick of the thousands of graduates coming out of Ivy's.
I would recommend taking the name off the post.
If that is the case, you may have a shot if you've got the extracurriculars to back up the stronger class rank. Start submitting applications and focus on a sales pitch as to how you can bring something unique to the table.
(Self call from coffeebateman anyone? Why don't you try to actually help bkballa by telling him how you went about getting 3 SA offers...)
Anyhow, is your major GPA higher than your cumulative? At this point, networking is key; reach out to alumns (not just a handful --but A LOT), not just from BB but from boutiques as well. For every 10 alumns I reached out to, only 2-3 got back to me (and were super helpful), so don't be afraid to send out dozens of emails. Call them up, tell them your situation, show interest in their firm and position, ask if there's any way to do an internship if not a FT position, etc.
My major GPA is prob around 3.7-3.8, but its not calculated on my transcript. Is it ok to estimate it myself and put this on my resume instead of the 3.5. Also how do I find alumni. On my school website access to the alum job network is restricted to alumni, which doesn't make much sense. Thanks for the response.
Don't be mistaken, most of the people on here haven't emerged from the womb knowing they want to be bankers. In most cases, they did really well academically in HS and got into a top school. While there, they once again did well, for the same reasons they did well in HS... probably because it makes a significant contribution to their self-worth... and realized that amongst their peers, banking is viewed as one of the most sought after / lucrative / prestigious path. Being that they have already found themselves with the stats to be competitive candidates in the field, they obviously have a leg up in landing a gig. They're also surrounded with like minded and positioned people. So they are all doing on campus recruiting together, their alumni network is well represented on the street, and their career centers are well versed in how to make their students attractive candidates. This allowed them to develop a superior understanding of the field, what it entails, and how to get in.
Being from Baruch, you don't have ANY of these things. The top school, the alumni network, the cloud of banking knowledge imbibed in the bricks of your campus, the on campus recruiting exposure, etc...
That doesn't mean you can't get them (for the most part), it just means you'll have to work harder to get them because its not something thats readily available to you.
1- The brand name of the school you can't do anything about. Yale is Yale, and Baruch is Baruch. But hopefully you have a VERY high GPA which would indicate you're a top performer.
2- The alumni network you can't really do anything about, except try to take advantage of the few Baruch alums in IBD positions on the street. The best bet would probably be Baruch Undergrads, top program MBA after. They would have good positions, but still the Baruch tie. You will have to work harder to get through to these alums, and non-Ivy alums aren't as adamant about their alma matter.... cuz quite frankly, they don't have as much to be proud about or really give a shit about. You'll have to try to find alums, plus tap other networks... family and friends, referrals, cold calling etc...
3- The banking knowledge and familiarity with the field and position isn't something all that hard to gain. This forum is a really good starting point. Then there are other sources like the many Wall Street Oasis technical, interviewing, etc... guides, Wet Feet Guide, Vault Guides, etc... There are also blogs like Mergers & Inquisitions, Investment Banking FAQ and books out there like Monkey Business, Liar's Poker, and Bank. Many of the people on here you may be so impressed by have gained 90% of their insights from the above mentioned sources.
4- On campus recruiting... again not something you can do much about. I'd try to sneak into other colleges info sessions and on campus recruiting. Luckily you're in NY, so you're within close proximity of NYU, Columbia, maybe even some of the Boston schools. You're also close to the banks themselves. If you're a outgoing personality I would suspect you could even make some connex just by shooting the shit with random people. Also use the online job boards, find phone numbers for HR reps, etc...
It seems more daunting than it really is. Once you get some critical mass of knowledge and start learning, its not that hard to learn. Just leverage the shit out of your network and try to expand it as much as possible.
Agree with this. I came from a similar non-target background with no internship experience. Through scouring the internet I had at one point found a dinner being hosted by a well respected boutique for one of the Ivy schools. It was mentioned on a public area of their career services page. I found the contact info for an HR contact at the bank called her up, got bounced around between people a bit, and ended up finally speaking to someone in charge of the attendees list and told them I wanted to RSVP. We had a brief pre-screening convo. I'm pretty sure she just assumed I was a Wharton student. In any case, she put me on the attendees list and asked for my resume. I sent it in. Low and behold, next day she calls me,
Her: "I got your resume... but um, there's seems to be an issue." Me: "Um, yes?" Her: "Well, this is an event for Wharton Juniors. And from your resume, it looks like you're a senior."
I made up a drawn out explanation about how I'm really a junior but I'm the class of 200X and can graduate this December if I want to am sticking around and yadda yadda yadda... anyway, she bought it and said I should probably clarify on my resume cuz its a bit confusing. I said I'll bring updated resumes with me. End of story.
I ended up getting an offer at another shop before the dinner... but long story short... if you're resourceful enough, you can get comparable exposure. Like Marcus said, its not readily available to you and you'll have to work harder to get it.
my advice is to remove the gigantic vodka bottle from your facebook pic.
The gigantic vodka bottle is from a sprin break trip and you're right its probably time for it to go.
and again... take your name off your posts too
Wow. The first thing one of the guys on our hiring committee does is google/facebook applicants. Many an applicant's chances have been bruised or just completely killed because of stupidity like this.
Baruch is nowhere near cream of the crop but some kids have received good IBD offers this year: GS, BarCap, JPM, BMO, Violy, R&R, etc, etc. Our Alumni base sucks though . . .
If I were you I'd hold back graduation. If not then start cold-emailing. Your GPA could've gotten you an OCR interview with JP. As you can see, two students snagged boutiques this way. Also, check Starr Search because sometimes good stuff pops up. All the OCR stuff is over though. PM me, I'll forward you some things.
(Also, change your profile picture and take the name off dude.)
Anonymity is golden sir, I would remove your name asap.
Yeah take off the name. I went to a CUNY school too. Enough hard work coupled with the right firm, and it's possible to make it.
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