UT BHP --> Wall Street

I will be matriculating at UT Austin in their Business Honors Program come this fall. I'm interested in landing a position in finance, namely investment banking. I was wondering if BHP students get recruited often into Wall Street, implying they did well.

Thanks!

 

A few years ago, someone I ran into in an occasion told me UT BHP sent 30% of its kids to IB. I was surprised then, for that would be higher than Wharton's. For those of you who know BHP, do you think that number is higher than it actually is?

 
HedgeKing:

A few years ago, someone I ran into in an occasion told me UT BHP sent 30% of its kids to IB. I was surprised then, for that would be higher than Wharton's. For those of you who know BHP, do you think that number is higher than it actually is?

It's a smaller group of people in a focused geographic region (Houston). Also lesser placement into other high finances (PE/HF/etc) that you would normally see at a Wharton.

"It is better to have a friendship based on business, than a business based on friendship." - Rockefeller. "Live fast, die hard. Leave a good looking body." - Navy SEAL
 

Went to UT (non-BHP), working as an commodities s&t analyst at a BB, one roommate (non-BHP) working in equities s&t at Goldman Chicago, another (non-BHP) roommate IBD Merrill in NYC. BHP is a great program, but it's not the end of the world if you don't get in. I can't say enough positive things about the school, the programs, the recruiting, and the placement. UT overall is not great, McCombs is on a MUCH higher level. I turned down Ross & Darden to go to McCombs and couldn't be happier with that decision.

If you can get into BHP, you will automatically get a spot to interview for nearly any job but in my experience, don't let it get to your head. You still need to know your stuff, I interviewed against 6-7 BHP students and I got the job over them. At the end of the day, BHP admittance means you are test very well, are a smart person, but that's all a reflection of your highschool/ACT/freshman year performance. The real work begins once you're in, clearly the fact that you're on this website before starting demonstrates your willingness to put in the hard work to make your career goals come to fruition. Good luck and congrats, you won't be disappointed with your McCombs experience.

 

Not sure when you graduated but getting into BHP does not mean you get an auto interview by any means. I was involved with the UT recruiting process for IBD both as a summer analyst applicant and from the bank's end evaluating applications, and BHP hardly had anything to do with getting interviews. With that I will say that BHP kids are usually of a higher caliber so most of the interview pool does come from their class - but if all else equal no one takes the BHP kid over the non-BHP kid for no reason but that they are BHP.

To the OP, FAP is the financial analyst program where ~40 kids each year get accepted to work on the MBA investment fund or with investment professionals. I literally do not know anyone at a good investment bank who did not get accepted into FAP. And most FT recruiting happens from the program as well. Overall, McCombs is a fantastic business school with great recruiting - and if you want IBD and work for it, it is more than possible. The alumni network is really great, and people are always willing to help other longhorns.

 
HEBanker:

I was involved with the UT recruiting process for IBD both as a summer analyst applicant and from the bank's end evaluating applications, ...

I am a little confused. Your WSO profile says you are an incoming analyst. What role did you play when you said "from the bank's end evaluating applications"? Can you clarify this?

I looked up FAP at UT website. It seems to me it is more relevant to Investment Management and Equity Research than Investment Banking. Or am I mistaken?

 

I'm a UT grad from a couple years ago. I would say ~80% of kids that go into banking from UT are BHP and/or FAP. I wouldn't say that any of this is due to the programs themselves, but like HEBanker said, it's because the average BHP/FAP kid is more qualified than the average Finance/Accounting/whatever student. The students that are smart enough to get into banking are generally also smart enough to get into BHP. BHP or FAP has never made an impact for me when picking resumes for interview slots.

It's worth noting that BHP kids take all of their business core classes together as well, and having that kind of driven and intelligent peer group helps put you in the right mindset for recruiting as well. Same story with FAP - simply being around those people forces you to kick into high gear when preparing. FAP is also useful as a conduit for recruiting because employers will often email the head of the program with job opportunities. FAP is usually the only way to stay in the loop for these kinds of things.

 
Slash-Finance:

I'm a UT grad from a couple years ago. I would say ~80% of kids that go into banking from UT are BHP and/or FAP. I wouldn't say that any of this is due to the programs themselves, but like HEBanker said, it's because the average BHP/FAP kid is more qualified than the average Finance/Accounting/whatever student. The students that are smart enough to get into banking are generally also smart enough to get into BHP. BHP or FAP has never made an impact for me when picking resumes for interview slots.

It's worth noting that BHP kids take all of their business core classes together as well, and having that kind of driven and intelligent peer group helps put you in the right mindset for recruiting as well. Same story with FAP - simply being around those people forces you to kick into high gear when preparing. FAP is also useful as a conduit for recruiting because employers will often email the head of the program with job opportunities. FAP is usually the only way to stay in the loop for these kinds of things.

Thank you for the reply. Do the BHP/FAP kids take the same courses in the same classes with the non-BHP/FAP kids? From your reply, it seems they don't. Then how do you compare the academic records and other qualifications between BHP/FAP and non-BHP/FAP kids? Though .net and his roommates were not in BHP, they might have been in FAP. It looks to me UT is trying to build BHP/FAP into some sort of mini version of Wharton.

 
HedgeKing:
Slash-Finance:

I'm a UT grad from a couple years ago. I would say ~80% of kids that go into banking from UT are BHP and/or FAP. I wouldn't say that any of this is due to the programs themselves, but like HEBanker said, it's because the average BHP/FAP kid is more qualified than the average Finance/Accounting/whatever student. The students that are smart enough to get into banking are generally also smart enough to get into BHP. BHP or FAP has never made an impact for me when picking resumes for interview slots.

It's worth noting that BHP kids take all of their business core classes together as well, and having that kind of driven and intelligent peer group helps put you in the right mindset for recruiting as well. Same story with FAP - simply being around those people forces you to kick into high gear when preparing. FAP is also useful as a conduit for recruiting because employers will often email the head of the program with job opportunities. FAP is usually the only way to stay in the loop for these kinds of things.

Thank you for the reply. Do the BHP/FAP kids take the same courses in the same classes with the non-BHP/FAP kids? From your reply, it seems they don't. Then how do you compare the academic records and other qualifications between BHP/FAP and non-BHP/FAP kids? Though .net and his roommates were not in BHP, they might have been in FAP. It looks to me UT is trying to build BHP/FAP into some sort of mini version of Wharton.

BHP is it's own major, so along with the classes you'll take for finance you will also take some BHP specific courses. FAP is a 1.5 year program, where you take 2 different finance classes than the other finance kids - but it's really most valuable because of its network. Like I said, literally almost everyone in IBD from McCombs was in FAP.

 

Worked well for me in commodities S&T but there was slim opportunities and I'd venture to attribute that to current commodities trading weakness due to regulation and some banks exiting the business altogether. If I graduated five years earlier I have a feeling the commodities S&T opportunities in Houston would be better. For Houston, UT is a big target school with plenty of opportunities. As far as equities, there seemed to be a larger number of those opportunities with most of the same banks from IBD recruiting for equities S&T as well. Don't recall currencies/fixed income but my feeling was those opportunities were small and hard to come by. Don't recall any friends or classmates whose aspirations were currencies or fixed income. Anyone that i know that ended up doing that was due to placement on a desk after an internship and at first they wanted to do equities S&T.

 
.net:

Worked well for me in commodities S&T but there was slim opportunities and I'd venture to attribute that to current commodities trading weakness due to regulation and some banks exiting the business altogether. If I graduated five years earlier I have a feeling the commodities S&T opportunities in Houston would be better. For Houston, UT is a big target school with plenty of opportunities. As far as equities, there seemed to be a larger number of those opportunities with most of the same banks from IBD recruiting for equities S&T as well. Don't recall currencies/fixed income but my feeling was those opportunities were small and hard to come by. Don't recall any friends or classmates whose aspirations were currencies or fixed income. Anyone that i know that ended up doing that was due to placement on a desk after an internship and at first they wanted to do equities S&T.

Thank you for the reply. Do you know how many UT kids went into S&T in your year or in other years?

 

From what I gather, S&T recruiting at UT is much tougher than it was 5+ years ago. There simply aren't anywhere near as many spots open and most of them are for Houston commodities desks. A couple recruit for NY as well (Goldman comes to mind). S&T also follows a different recruiting schedule than IBD does, without as many structured recruiting events or formal interview processes. If you want to do S&T out of UT, you need to hustle and network your ass off to get a position.

 
Slash-Finance:

From what I gather, S&T recruiting at UT is much tougher than it was 5+ years ago. There simply aren't anywhere near as many spots open and most of them are for Houston commodities desks. A couple recruit for NY as well (Goldman comes to mind). S&T also follows a different recruiting schedule than IBD does, without as many structured recruiting events or formal interview processes. If you want to do S&T out of UT, you need to hustle and network your ass off to get a position.

Thank you for the info. How about the Houston commodities desks, especially with the specialty firms doing O&G? Do they do OCR?

 
thepie:

I know of one FICC summer at a BB, two summers at prop shops (one of the two very reputable)

Thanks. You mean this year? Do you mind talking about what kind of kids they are (major at UT, GPA, ...), and which BB and prop shops?

 

not sure if @freddyflintstone and I mean the same guy (didn't know about his research experience), although that sounds about right. Also has had previous trading experience. Simply makes sense for him to be there.

Prop kids are McCombs plus a hard major (EE/CS/Math). GPAs are high (4.0 or close) I've interviewed with a few prop shops and none ever gave three fucks about my major.

 
thepie:

I've interviewed with a few prop shops and none ever gave three fucks about my major.

What are they looking for in a candidate at these prop shops? Are these shops energy-related?

 
thepie:

Actually just remembered about two more at prop shops. One of them doesn't have a quantitative major. Both at shops I've heard of before they went there.

If you're interested in prop stuff I'd look around the boards, when I did my research it was pretty easy to find good stuff from 2-3 members.

Are they all rising seniors doing their summer?

 

BP has taken sophomores and regularly takes juniors afaik. No idea on shell or the other super majors. There are alumni at trading houses, probably more interesting post grad though.

No idea if it's over OCR. GS is over OCR, afaik none of the prop roles are.

I really can't tell you on bhp/fap. Think you're overthinking this though. Get bhp if you can (I transferred after never hearing about it), get fap if you can.

 

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