Hey everyone, my name is Chris and I'm a 6 year Navy veteran (submarine nuclear power) seeking to get into IB. I'm a student at the University of Alabama. I'm majoring in MIS and Finance and I have 6 semesters left until graduation. I currently have a 3.5 GPA (had a 3.7, failed calculus 3, had a 3.9 last semester so it's on it's way back up.) I was a ChemE major until two things happened. First, I lost my internship at when oil prices tanked, and then second, when I realized that I had no interest in being a plant engineer for the rest of my life.
Because I lost my internship in late March, despite my scramble, I was unable to find an internship in MIS or finance in the month before school ended. I had a couple interviews, but not knowing how to code was a non-starter for any of the MIS interviews I got (understandably.) I'm taking 6 hours (from home) this summer and enjoying some time much needed time with family after being stationed on the other side of the world for almost my entire military career.
I am looking for some opinions, thoughts, and advice from this community as I have a list of questions. Here they are:
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Am I already SOL for being from a non-target school and not getting an internship after my (technically) sophomore year (I'll have two more summers before I graduate though - quirk of getting off active duty and starting school in January vice August.)?
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I know that on paper I don't stack up academically with candidates from target schools, but I'm hoping that my technical background in the nuclear navy and my leadership skills will partly offset that. How do I get over the hurdle of going to a school that's better known for it's football team than its academics?
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As far as extracurricular activities are concerned, I'm the president of the Veterans Association on campus, and I've been accepted to the American Corporate Partners program (matches veterans with mentors in fields of their choice, (their major partners in financial services are: Barclays, Bloomberg, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deloitte, Fidelity, Morgan Stanley, PNC, UBS, and Wells Fargo) but I haven't been matched with a mentor yet. I also just joined the investment management group club on campus. What else should I/ can I be doing in addition to these things to help my chances at getting an internship next summer?
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I'm going to be 30 when I graduate. While I've accepted that no matter where I go, I'm going to be significantly older than my peers and likely most of my immediate supervisors, and it doesn't bother me, I'm worried that I'll be written off immediately because of my age. Is this going to be an issue?
I'm sure some of you are reading this and saying "this dude's going to be 30, why on earth would he want to sign up for 100 hour work weeks?" The answer to that is that 100-120 work weeks are the norm on a submarine, and in a sick way, it's what I'm used to. Why finance, and IB? Because reading and learning about it excites me. I can't explain why, but it's the first thing since initially learning about the submarine when I first showed up in 2009 that actually gets me excited.
Thanks everyone in advance for taking the time to read.
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First, all of your concerns around age, target school, etc. are warranted. That being said, your military experience should outweigh all of it.
In my experience, a higher age could be a negative indication of a person's willingness to do 100hr work weeks and schools/programs are used as proxies for intellectual curiosity and potential. The age issue should be fully offset by your sub experience - if you communicate it appropriately. Nuke programs are intellectually demanding - and I'd take a nuke squid over most of the engineering majors at target schools. Banking is NOT rocket science nor is it nuclear engineering.
But, you are off the beaten path with regards to recruiting. Also, the average 27yr old banking recruiter has a mandate and just won't understand your background the same way he/she understands the varsity tennis player from an ivy.
So, you NEED to network. You should be pounding the payment to find any veterans, alumni, etc. that could put you in front of the people that will hire you. You are absolutely recruitable but you are going to need to work harder than the average 21/22yr old on this board.
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