Hi Guys,
I've been looking to break into IB for years and i will be graduating this spring. unfortunately i didn't get any serious looks during the fall recruiting season as my school is a non-target. Looking for advice on what i should do going forward to still try to get a full time offer. should i look for internships for the summer and then get started in the fall recruiting season again or just network and see if any places are still looking to hire analysts during the next few months? i am looking to get more into MM/Boutique banks at this point.
My Info to give you a better idea of what i'm working with:
Bentley University
corporate finance & Accounting Major - overall GPA 3.77; Major GPA 3.8
Minor in Math - Minor GPA 3.9
internships in accounting & finance but not investment banking
internship at a VC but more of in a marketing type role.
thanks for any advice.
Everyone is going to tell you the same thing- network.
I think Bentley actually does so-so for IB and I know I have seen Bentley undergrads at some of the Boston boutique firms. Reach out to all of them. Buy a networking guide if you need to.
If you were a horse at a track, I wouldn't put money on you. It is possible, but highly unlikely that you will land a FT IB offer upon graduation. Like duff said... network. All MM and BB banks finished recruiting in fall so your only shot is getting into a boutique off cycle that just happens to need an Analyst.
Even worse than not getting on IB offer, is graduating unemployed; don't be that guy. Cast a wide net and interview for everything tenuously finance related - at this point all the great jobs are taken. Don't mean to be harsh man but that's how it is. After working for a few years go back and get an MBA then try for IB at that point. It's great to have dreams, but they need to be grounded in reality.
Your third option is getting into a great MSF program, interning this summer, then trying for FT next year. If you really, really want it then you may break in eventually - at this point I would cut your losses and try for Corporate Finance.
^Agreed. Broaden your networking pool but off start by targeting alumni in Boston and NY from your school's alumni database. Focus more on the boutiques where positions may not be displayed on a website. They are usually in a MD or VP's mind, so talking to people will get you to uncover some of these hidden opportunities.
Focus on getting a full-time offer, but don't take the first "no" as your final answer. If you have the means you can sweeten a deal by offering to work 2-3 months pro-bono. Little risk on their end (the way bankers like it), but if you really prove yourself, they'll be inclined to keep you around, or at least help you out be reaching out to a couple of other places. I know two people who tried this out. Worked out for one, and not the other, but it got him a start in IB.
Good luck.
Ouch eriginal. Truth hurts sometimes.
Wouldn't say it ain't happening, but chances are slim-to-none. Get solid grades to close out your undergrad, network wit alumni/other students with FO or IB offers, LinkedIn, cold email, and start applying to a good MSF program. Find a paid/unpaid internship this year and make sure you come out of the gate sprinting come next Fall. You missed the boat on this one, but you can still get on it with the rest of the IB'ers, it will just take a lot of swimming and a longer journey.
Network, Network, Network
How does Bentley do in accounting placement compared to say Boston College in the Boston/NYC areas?
your best bet is MSF (given ur Work experience and GPA if u can 700+ the GMAT you seem to have a good shot at even MIT), other than that try and get as good a finance role as possible for biz school then get in as a post-MBA associate. The idea of an unpaid internship is also a good one, if you can't get a paid internship in banking then go unpaid and hope to prove yourself. There really is no down side to this (other than the obvious financial shortfalls) because u have no job so if u get a FT offer then u have one, if you don't get a FT offer then you have relevant finance/banking experience and will be more attractive to Finance Leadership programs/ Big 4 / Corporate Banking.
does Big 4 advisory count as FO?
Thanks guys, do you think it is too late to start applying for MsF programs for next year at this point?
Check the admission deadlines. For someone with a 3.8 it sure seems like you have very little initiative and want everything spoon fed to you.
If you were coming from an extreme non-target and had the choice of Bentley or Boston College for the Macc which would you go for, I am frantically trying to decide.
i can't speak to the placement of BC students as i don't know anyone that went there for accountancy but Bentley's placement is amazing within the big 4. if you get a master's in accountancy from Bentley and can't get into a big 4 then you just didn't work hard enough
That is good to hear. I am in between a few schools now and though I like the Bentley curriculum better, I know BC has a better overall reputation. If I were to get a decent amount of scholarship money/assistantship from Bentley that also may sway my decision there. Also, out of curiosity how challenging are the courses at Bentley(does grade deflation exist)?
Thanks again.
well i'm just an undergrad at Bentley but i didn't think the accounting classes were too challenging as long as you really dedicate yourself to studying and do a lot of self-teaching (the accounting professors here are known by many to be not-so-great at teaching). Some of my classmates would disagree and say its pretty hard to get great grades in them. Haven't heard much about the grad courses. Also have never heard of grade deflation so i'm gonna say it doesn't exist here
Off-Cycle Recruiting for Fall (Originally Posted: 06/01/2014)
Hey guys,
I'm an incoming senior, mid-ish GPA (3.6-3.7), from a semi-target school. I've interned at a reputable hedge fund my sophomore year, but wasn't able to close out any IBD offers for this summer. After a semester of cold-calling boutiques and coming up with nothing, I took a financial analyst position at a F50 tech company (think Apple, MSFT, etc.).
I'm a semester ahead of school and I was wondering if it would be worth taking off the fall semester for an off-cycle IBD internship. I realize that if I do do this, I would miss out on the full time recruiting opportunities at school.
Thoughts? Where/when to start and with which firms? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
I don't think missing the whole full time recruiting for a non-offer base off-cycle internship is a good idea. Sounds like it's doable to leverage your previous internship experiences to take a shot at a full time offer. Even if you fail, you learn a lot from going through a recruiting cycle such as networking, interview skills, and technicals. If I were you I'd go for full time recruiting, and if everything fails, then I would consider taking a semester off in spring maybe to do an off cycle and then try again in fall. Good luck. Just make a big deal out of hf internship and finance internship and try to convince you're ready for banking. Previous banking internship is not a must.
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