West Coast Investment Banking

My goal is to land an IB job with a BB in either Los Angeles or San Francisco.

Assuming I maintain a gpa above 3.5 as a finance major, which of the following colleges would assist me the most with reaching my goal:

Arizona State University

University of Arizona

University of San Diego

Chapman University

Loyola Marymount University

Santa Clara University

University of San Francisco

For what it's worth, I am an Arizona resident.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and assistance.

 

College helps when you're going to a target/semi-target. Those are all non-targets. You make your own path and need to network a ton. IMO San Fran would be ideal since most banks are located in San Francisco and it would be easy to network.

 
Funniest

This is what you need to do to ascertain your chances. Go to Goldman Sach's website. Minimize the screen, and proceed to bring up another one. Go to any one porn site. Proceed to jack off on your computer monitor. Take the monitor to the garbage and throw it out. Now bring up Goldman's website. Oh, wait kiddo. You can't. You can't bring it up. You can't do it because you jizzed away all over your opportunity. Aww shit. Boom. Crabcakes and football, that's what Maryland does.

 
Dan Bush Back In Action:

This is what you need to do to ascertain your chances. Go to Goldman Sach's website. Minimize the screen, and proceed to bring up another one. Go to any one porn site. Proceed to jack off on your computer monitor. Take the monitor to the garbage and throw it out. Now bring up Goldman's website. Oh, wait kiddo. You can't. You can't bring it up. You can't do it because you jizzed away all over your opportunity. Aww shit. Boom. Crabcakes and football, that's what Maryland does.

This has to be the wildest comment on WSO

[quote=mbavsmfin]I don't wear watches bro. Because it's always MBA BALLER time! [/quote]
 

I AM APPLYING TO UC BERKELEY, MAYBE THAT WILL OPEN THE DOOR A LIL BIT. IF ALL ELSE FAILS ESTIMATING PAYS BIG IF YOUR IN WITH A LARGE DEVELOPER.HOWEVER,IF YOUR RELENTLESS YOU CAN GO ANYWHERE. ANYWAYS GOODLUCK GUYS HOPE YOU GET THE BIG BONUSES AND FLY BITCHES! ( EXCEPT FOR DAN BUSH - HOPE YOU SEE D-BO IN THE PARKING LOT)

 

I agree with LB Banker. Internships are priceless on the resume. Do whatever you can to secure one if you still have time.

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

There are a fair amount of Canadians in the West Coast finance community and from what I understand they're pretty good about helping out their Canadian compatriots. Used LinkedIn to get in touch with them prior to full time recruiting, and when interviews roll around ask them to throw you in the running. Assuming your resume is pretty tight, you should be able to at least get first rounds this way.

 

Are you at Ivey? I'm sure you know their track record of sending kids to the West Cost is pretty damn good and will make your goal a LOT easier.

If not, it's going to be pretty difficult, as no other Canadian school has the West coast network that Ivey does. However, laterals do happen from Canadian banks (unfortunately they were all Ivey grads anyways). I've seen a guy make the jump to CS LA from TD Securities and CS SF has actually taken two laterals in two years (one from CIBC Mining last year and the other from RBC Lev fin this year - both Ivey guys)

 

I know an Ivey kid from my class who worked at my BB bank's West Coast office, and is going to a MF this summer. I had no idea until he told me how strong the Ivey network was on the West Coast, but it definitely is. Leverage it if you go to Ivey. He summered at a different BB in New York before landing a FT position at my firm.

 

Damn wish I had gone to Ivey... What scares me the most though is the possibility of giving up a full-time offer and ending up empty handed at the end of the process...

 

right, easy peasy... i actually meant if one of these guys wanted to get back to the east coast right after their analyst stint. does anyone have insight to offer regarding that? it would be greatly appreciated

 

where do other top MM firms in LA place? ex- Jefferies M&A/Gaming, HLHZ M&A group, Guggenheim M&A/consumer, Imperial M&A Generalist etc...

I don't throw darts at a board. I bet on sure things. Read Sun-tzu, The Art of War. Every battle is won before it is ever fought- GG
 

Questions 1 2 & 3 are all the wrong questions to be asking if you want to get into banking

ur also kind of late to just start thinking about getting into IB, for internships anyway.

q1. long - in this market who knows q2. long - usually a slightly better lifestyle at smaller shops, since business comes from more referrals than aggressive 6-7 pitches a week q3. depends on a million factors. ive never been able to do so successfully. q4. depends


We're about to enter a Great Depression. Don't you want a president who's already dressed for it?

------------ I'm making it up as I go along.
 

Thanks for the input. I figured that's the response I would get. Yea, the quality of life is important to me, which apparently is non-existent in the IB world. I guess I've heard that the west coast has more lax hours and that prompted my interest.

 

1) Hours are generally less brutal than in NYC, but not by much. I'd say 80 or so is the norm, but I've had plenty of 100+ hour weeks. I'd say UBS and JPM work their analysts hardest out here, with CS being relatively analyst-friendly.

2) Some boutiques are taking advantage of the situation (ie - smaller deals) like Savvian. Others like USA and FT Partners have been dead quiet, despite pretty big headcounts.

3) Define 'normal.' The majority of the analysts in my class have girlfriends, but almost all of them are long term that started well before banking. I'd say your chances of keeping a girlfriend are astronomically higher if you have a steady, healthy relationship going in. Don't even try finding a stable girlfriend once you start working.

4) Depends on what you want. Traditionally, GS/MS/CS have been tops. DB poached a ton of CS bankers after Quattrone left, and some more left to start up USA, so they have fallen back a bit from GS/MS this year. They also focus on more of the $500mm - $5bn companies, while GS/MS go for the large caps. CS just got rid of its M&A/Corp Fin split, so all analysts are tech generalists. GS is also this format- no M&A teams, just TMT. After the top 3 there's a pretty precipitous drop-off in terms of cred in the tech banking circles, but I'd say JPM and DB are doing a good job at trying to close the gap.

 

1) hours: depends on whether you're on a live deal, or just pitching; and in this market, depends on how aggressive your MDs are in trying to ramp up market share. there is virtually no real difference in a positive way, with hours out there compared to here in NYC

2) boutique hours are just as bad if not worse depending on the boutique; but again, and as someone pointed out, this question is fundamentally flawed. it's not about where you are, it's about what group, types of MDs, etc etc; it's just so hard to say

3) sure; it's tough, but definitely doable. it's up to you to figure out what sense this makes with respect to your situation; tough to give general advice about this, other than to make an active effort to keep in touch with others, via email, etc etc, any way you can

4) JPM, CS, MS, UBS was good for awhile, but now things are changing

Drop us a line if you'd like more info.

http://www.qonnect.me Qonnect.me - a simple resume consultation service for entry-level jobs in finance and technology

http://www.qonnect.me Qonnect.me - a simple resume consultation service for entry-level jobs in finance and technology
 

GS TMT in nyc is far better regarded, and most deal work is executed out of nyc; but this may have changed

http://www.qonnect.me Qonnect.me - a simple resume consultation service for entry-level jobs in finance and technology

http://www.qonnect.me Qonnect.me - a simple resume consultation service for entry-level jobs in finance and technology
 
qonnect.me:
GS TMT in nyc is far better regarded, and most deal work is executed out of nyc; but this may have changed

http://www.qonnect.me Qonnect.me - a simple resume consultation service for entry-level jobs in finance and technology

Pretty sure this is false, at least for the last few years. I'd also agree with gomes that GS/MS/CS are a cut above the rest

 

The TMT office in SF runs any tech deal involving a company west of the Mississippi. Most M&T goes to the NYC office, but as far as tech goes, the SF office runs show. For example, the SF office ran advisory for BEA in the acquisition by Oracle. They also were on the SanDisk/Samsung deal that never came to fruition, as well as RiskMetric and Rackspace (the only two tech IPOs they were bookrunners on this year).

 

I have a buddy that is an Associate at GS in LA. He talks to his peers in NYC on a regular/daily basis. If you network within your own firm, have significant transaction and deal experience, you could get back east. The question is, why? Even LA cost of living is cheaper then NYC. :)

*EDIT: read above post wrong. Thought it said how hard is it to go west to east.

 

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