Non-Targeted Southern School with No Connections, 2016 Capital Markets Analyst

So I am from a very non-targeted Southern school. I grew up in a small South Carolina town and I am the first in my family to get a degree from an accredited school. I didn't come from much money (my family was in real estate and the recession really hurt us), so I had to pay for college. For me, this meant going to a state school and graduating as quickly as possible—Bachelors and Masters in Economics in three years. I knew I wanted to do investment banking and eventually venture capital/startup, but I was turned down from every internship I applied to in the industry. I missed deadlines for most internships (no one from my school did IB, so I had no mentorship) or I just simply did not qualify. It was definitely a humbling experience. I ended up taking an internship doing strategic planning grunt work for a sustainable engineering non-profit. Great experience with lots of travel, but it wasn't banking.

I learned from my mistakes, did my research, and sent over fifty resumes to every banking or consulting opportunity available. I was ignored by most, but some gave me interviews. I noticed that my interviews mostly confused recruiters. I can't blame them. What were they supposed to think about a guy who was graduating early with mostly international engineering internship experience? However, I received an invitation to a superday at a firm in New York. After realizing everyone I interviewed with was elite schools, I decided my only shot was to be as confident and memorable as possible. I attempted to convince them that I was the best-rounded candidate available. My engineering experience, accelerated education, and state school education was only beneficial to them and displayed work ethic and ambition. I assumed I wouldn't get the job which allowed me to be as confident and 'risky' as possible in the interview. I just received and accepted a FT offer from the firm as a Capital Markets Analyst, and I can't wait to start working and representing my school well!

I did learn a lesson though. I will definitely be paying for my kids to go to an elite school.

 
Best Response

The confidence part is SO important when you're coming from a non-target. This definitely echoes my experience interviewing for IBD. I had a mentor on WSO who right from the beginning, from the way I phrased my questions/answers , could tell that I had confidence issues that would hurt me during interviews. Definitely took a couple of fuck ups to understand how I had to change the way I framed my answers.

In regards to sending your future kids to a target, I'm not too sure you should jump to that conclusion so quickly. Two years ago, I was a kid who got accepted to 2 target schools but decided to attend a non-target due to ridiculously cheap tuition (think 1/10 the cost of typical tuition). At the time, I had graduated highschool as a cocky little shit who thought the world was his oyster and this whole process of recruiting for IBD from the endless informational interviews, cocktail and rejections has been a VERY humbling experience with many ups and downs. I have friends who did attend those target schools for whom recruiting was much easier (most of who went through very little rejection), but I know for a fact that they don't realize how lucky they really are and will not go into the gig with a chip on their shoulders / something to prove.

Looking back on my experience, the biggest take away for any incoming college freshman/sophomore reading this is if you want to break into this business as a non-target you'll have a lot of growing up to do. IBD is a tough business. You'll be looking for a simple answer to everything but there simply isn't one. You have to keep it moving and never give up. Also, walk into interviews like you are the second coming of christ. There is no fucking room in this business for second guessing yourself. Does that mean try to impress the interviewer and be a cocky little shit? No. In my experience, that is not how the second coming of christ would carry himself. Only people without enough preparation and confidence act overconfident during interviews as a coping mechanism (way too much detail in answers, almost saying "dude I swear I know my stuff so I'll just recite everything I know"). The best tone IMO, would be one you would adopt if you were having a serious debate with a friend you respected. Have full confidence in your answers when voicing your opinion (you wouldn't put your friend on a pedestal would you?), listen to his feedback wether it be verbal or non-verbal, and ADDRESS it either by admitting you're wrong when you're wrong or showing some humility (but DO NOT feel bad/defeated about being wrong, again pretend like its a friend you respect).

You speak in in varying levels of verbosity.You often adopt the typing quirks of others as you find it boring to settle on styles.
 

This was a very good read. I'm also at a non-target state school in Michigan as a Junior trying for internships. The only real leads I have right now is Northwestern Mutual Financial Rep and a small logistics computer science internship program. It seems very difficult to "break" into a good internship in finance. I also agree that you have to be confident what you have and find the positives in the otherwise potentially small aspects.

//Signed// MLang
 

I would like to do leveraged finance (just like everyone else, right?) My research at college and my mathematical background has hopefully given me a foundation to excel in this product group. It appears that the firm I signed with recruited me for the Capital Markets team, and I will interview for specific product/industry groups later.

I wanted to pursue the ECM/DCM path because I saw it as an opportunity to utilize my research capabilities while also obtaining deal experience. Thanks about the Bachelors and Masters in three years! It definitely involved many long nights in the library

 

Great story man, really happy to hear of your success. I just had a similar experience: extreme non-target in the dirty south, got into a good MSF, and ended up sneaking into MM IB.

Love what you said about sending kids to an elite school. I grew up in a "doesn't matter where you went to school" family, and can definitely attest to the fact that (at least in finance), it absolutely does matter where you went. However, stories like yours show that you can sometimes get away with it. Like you, I wouldn't recommend it!

Best of luck with everything.

 

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