I just finished my first semester at college; What path should I take to investment banking?
Hello there. My name is Drew and I'm a freshman at Georgetown University. Currently, I'm in the School of Foreign Service and I intend to major in international economics. Anyway, I have a few questions. I understand that my school isn't THE most heavily recruited, but I see a fair amount of people go on to work for IBanks with an econ/iecon/accounting/finance major. Anyways, what should I be doing beginning next semester to best set myself up to get an analyst job out of college. I am extremely driven and I want to be in investment banking more than anything else. What sort of internships should I be looking for this summer, and what is the best way to obtain one without connections? What sort of extracurriculars do investment banks look for when hiring summer interns and after college? If anyone coud give me some sort of road map, that would be fantastic and extremely helpful. Thanks in advance for any and all help.
Get your GPA as high as you can. Take bullshit classes if you have to.
I am fucked because I started out in Pharmacy. While I have a part time internship at BlackRock, had one in Siemens Corporation, Plenty of Extra cirrics, my 3.3 GPA will NEVER EVER NEVER EVER land me an interview.
Do extra cirricus that really interest you. Every interview knows you can join 6 finance clubs and be vice presidents or treasurers of them. Do 2 or even 3 you really like, and make sure you can explain how important you are/made a difference.
Look for the best internship you can, nothing would hold you back IMO.
Be able to show you can multi-task, and can stay up late. Why wouldn't the hours be a problem for you? Etc.
Good luck
I know people who have gotten interviews with 3.3 and lower. It all depends on your school ad how driven you are.
You've decided to pursue investment banking. You should use your time in college to decide if you actually -want- to do it. I don't mean to disparage you - it's great that you're driven and trying to get ahead, but I think freshman year is a bit early to commit to a specific career path for the rest of your life.
Here's what I would suggest:
1) As a freshman, you're not going to get an ibanking internship... well, I shouldn't say "not" but it's highly unlikely without some kind of ridiculous connections. I would focus on speaking with Georgetown alumni in the field and establishing connections in the industry this way - they may also be able to assist with internship placement and FT placement down the road.
Try to get an internship where you learn a lot and are doing substantial work... if it's finance that's great but doesn't necessarily have to be this early on.
2) Echoing PleaseHireMe above, do activities that interest you - if I see someone who was 6 finance clubs I automatically assume he/she didn't do anything substantial in any of them. Plus, even people interested in finance have outside interests (I hope)... so do whatever you want, get involved, become a leader, and learn to multi-task. But you shouldn't just join any finance club/activity in sight.
If all goes well, you can get an internship sophomore/junior year which you can use to see if you really want to do it full-time.
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