possible to break into IB w/o a prior internship?

Hello WSO,

I will be graduating from a non-target state school in the midwest in May and then taking up a place in the MSc Accounting+Finance program at LSE in October. I hope to break into IBD after the conclusion of the MSc but I have not had an investment banking internship. My WE includes working as a commercial lending intern for a large commercial bank and as an analyst for a public policy think tank in D.C.

Would either of the following be possible?

  1. Land an IBD internship at the conclusion of the MSc (how strict is the penultimate semester requirement?)

  2. Land an analyst position at a less-prestigious boutique firm?

Academically my resume is very solid (3.97 + Outstanding Senior in Finance), it's just the lack of experience that I have to overcome.

Is it doable?

2 Comments
 
Best Response

I don't know about landing an internship and I don't see why that'd be hard, but if your graduating next year and your trying to intern next summer as well, you'd have to wait another year before you could start working. The analyst position will probably be pretty tough to land. Although it depends on how prestigious the firm was. Its not impossible, but the lack of front office type experience will be hard to parlay into banking especially in an extremely down market.

If you are really strong in finance and accounting, but can't get any ibd interviews for next year, perhaps build some models and try to network with as many people as possible so they know your both smart and agressive.

 

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