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Analyst Program
 

options are tight...looking for advice

monkeyshines's picture
O
(Chimp, 15
 
Points)
 on 8/16/12 at 3:00am

Looking for some insight.

I just graduated from a non-target in California, a middle of the road Cal State school, with a 3.0 in bus. admin. (I realize that many of you are from great schools).

The job market is pretty tough even for b2b, medical device or pharma sales, but I'm really interested in s&t, FI or Eq sales.

I have a WFC SVP in PWM contact, and I'm going to see if he has any strings around the s&t program.

If that doesn't play out, would you suggest an mba straight up? I read that Citi grabbed a summer analyst at Cal Poly SLO. It would take me a year to get it there, and the degree would be cheap. Perhaps I can weasel my way into a decent school located in the south?

Thanks.

Three Things You Didn't Know About Becoming A Rock-Star Analyst

wallstasks's picture
 
Points)
 on 10/24/12 at 1:00pm
urock.jpg

At the beginning of my analyst program i had a fixed-notion of what it takes to become one of the top-ranked analysts in my class, pocket top-bucket bonus and move on to a prosperous future in finance. I wasn't alone in believing that building up great modeling skills, understanding corporate finance and mastering the three financial statements would get me there. I still think that those skills will impress your deal teams and provide the basis for a career in finance, however they're not the only way to excel.

In fact, during my time in investment banking, I worked on a lot of deals with the same analyst who didn't master any of the three skills mentioned above, yet moved on to receive top-bucket at year-end. While financial analysis skills impress associates, the following three skills impress senior bankers. Since senior bankers rank higher in the banking hierarchy, the previous mentioned analyst became top-ranked despite below-average financial analysis skills.

Build Up Killer Organizational Skills

The 7 "Good" Work Habits of Bad Analysts

bankerella's picture
IB
(King Kong, 1,895
 
Points)
 on 3/4/13 at 4:30pm
Sandwich

This is all representative of commonsense (but ultimately bad) advice I got during undergrad and followed blindly during internships. I sorted it all out by the end of my analyst program, but this was frequently accompanied by discomfort, late nights, and general suck.

You might disagree with my stance here. In fact, if you do, feel free to tell me in the comments. I'd very much like to hear that there are workplaces where the following work habits are rewarded rather than punished.

1: Turn changes as quickly as possible.

This is sometimes a recipe for disaster. The earlier you finish, the more time your boss has to second-guess everything. If you know your boss will iterate until the last moment and beyond, it often pays to build in a small amount of downtime for yourself. The finished product will be just as good (or bad), and you'll be slightly more rested for the next shit show they throw at you.

2: Never turn down a project.

Good general principle, but don't be dumb about it. It's nice to accept projects and workstreams up front from a wide variety of people so that your big workload is evident to all. This reputation can last a lot longer than the workload itself, giving you a chance to pick good projects and do well on them. On the other hand, use this reputation to parry anything likely to turn into a fire drill.

First post! ...looking for advice.

ecs11's picture
(Chimp, 13
 
Points)
 on 6/13/12 at 11:12pm

Hi everybody,

Overview-
Not to sound demanding or anything, I am curious if I can get personal advice for entering an S&T program given my stats. I have read all of the "Day in the life" articles and listened to the sales and trading podcast.

2012 B.S. in Business Administration, with an emphasis in International Business.

Weighing in-
Dings:
Lacking finance internships
Non-target school with 3.1 GPA (top regional institution)

Positives:
Related coursework in corporate finance, financial accounting, managerial accounting, and applied business statistics (regression etc).
"Name brand" 10 month internship in market research (possible ding, but have experience working for a particular 500 company)
Extrovert, like to meet everyone, personable, business acumen

Citadel exit options?

Derivatives's picture
ST
(Orangutan, 292
 
Points)
 on 1/3/12 at 9:20pm

This question is for a friend's younger brother, who's a college senior and accepted a job offer at citadel's investment&trading analyst program. He's excited but is concerned about the exit opportunities afterwards. Supposedly you get assigned to a group after your rotation, and he's worried that his options might be limited depending on which desk he gets into. What do citadel analysts usually do after they leave? Are they able to land at other elite hedge funds fairly easily?

BofAML Accelerated Super Day

GoW's picture
IB
(Orangutan, 332
 
Points)
 on 9/7/11 at 4:53pm

Anyone who was at the BofAML super day today, let's keep in touch and let eachother know when we hear something. It was great meeting you all and I will be sure to post something when I know more!

Transition from Retail Finance to Investment Banking

bc's picture
(Chimp, 12
 
Points)
 on 2/14/11 at 12:13am

I currently work at a top-3 bank in a retail banking finance rotational analyst program (solid program and good pipeline to move up the ladder, but in the wrong area of the bank) and am looking to make the transition to investment banking. Given my program guidelines and the generally difficult transition from retail to the investment side, I was looking to make an external move at some point in the near future, otherwise I will be stuck in my current program for the following 18 months and be in the same situation I am now.

I believe that I will have a number of opportunities in the months to come at regional boutique banks in the mid-west. Long-term, I see myself wanting to get involved with PE or VC so I think the move to investment banking is a no-brainer.

Is it possible to start over?

Getgo's picture
(Orangutan, 288
 
Points)
 on 12/1/10 at 11:54am

Can I do another undergraduate degree based on my highschool marks? I couldn't afford to go to a top university so I went to a non-target at which I received a lot of scholarships. I didn't study much at university and ended with a gpa of 3.5. But now, I want to go back and start over, in a stellar program in a stellar university. I'm not sure if in the U.S. universities only look at post-secondary marks or whether they also consider highschool marks. My highschool gpa would be a 4.0 with extracurriculars such as being on the basketball team every year from grade 9-12 and coming near the top in provincial debates.

applying to analyst program after graduation?

polandspring99's picture
IB
(Monkey, 40
 
Points)
 on 7/16/10 at 11:12am

Hey everyone,

Not sure if this has been a topic that's been discussed already, but I'd greatly appreciate it if anyone has any information about this. Here's my situation: I'm starting at Citigroup Hong Kong in their Management Associate next month (I just graduated a target school in NY). Although the program sounds great, I'm interested in joining an Analyst program in the near future. My question therefore is whether I'm allowed to apply to Full-time Analyst Programs in the fall that are generally directed towards seniors in college. I know this may be a stupid question, haha. If I'm not allowed to participate in that recruitment process, is there any other way I can join an Analyst program at a bulge bracket firm? Thanks everyone!

Any info on JPMorgan Chase Private Bank DDT Program

montecarloss919's picture
O
(Monkey, 46
 
Points)
 on 5/21/10 at 4:33pm

Hi All!

I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the JP Morgan Private Bank (3 year analyst) Program -Due Diligence Team (attached below is the link). I was curious if anyone has had any experiences with this program/ group? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

-Jason

UBS London

Enter2010's picture
IB
(Chimp, 12
 
Points)
 on 9/21/09 at 11:22pm

Hey everyone,

I have an IBD Analyst interview at UBS London next month and I was wondering if anyone has any experiences to share. What is the state of UBS London M&A or Leverage Finance product groups? I am from a non-target liberal arts college and will be happy to get into any top-10 structured Analyst programs to add credibility to my resume/skill-set and to learn as much as possible. Any to-the-point interview advice will be really appreciated. I have already researched the whole forum for a few hours and taken notes, so please don't say to do that again...thanks for all your help!