Hi everyone,

I apologize in advance for how lengthy this post might end up. WSO has been very helpful to me the past several years in pursuing my passion for a career in finance, specifically investment banking at the analyst level. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to quite secure that FT offer following graduation (just graduated) and I was hoping to get some candid advice here.

Long story short: Complete non-target, but very good credentials all-around - graduated Magna Cum Laude, had an internship at the completion of every college year, including an IB internship during a winter and a boutique IB internship this past summer. I was heavily involved in school, and my resume screams leadership and passion for finance/IB, and demonstrated success wherever I've gone.

1. I have 2 experiences in a VC, PE firm
- I tried elaborate the performances to look relevant to IB requirements; please give me comments whether it looks so

2. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

I (we) are trying to acquire a greater percentage stake in a formerly public company. We currently have a significant control position, but would like to sell the company and require over 90% equity stake to not have to deal with sign-offs from the many disparate shareholders. There are no significant (i.e. greater than .2%) shareholders remaining EXCEPT for "Cede & Co. Depository Trust", which holds around 10%. As far as I can tell, "Cede & Co. Depository Trust" simply represents shares held in street name. My question then is how to track down where these shares are held to potentially acquire the shares we need to get over the 90% equity threshold.

Didn't even know CBRE, JLL, and others had an IBD and Capital Markets Group. How are these jobs? Pay?

What are your thoughts on exit opps (PE / VC / Corp Dev / HF) for an analyst at a no name boutique with well connected MD's? Not a complete no-name but one that has a recognizable brand in the niche market it focuses in. Does anyone have personal experience successfully jumping to a legit buy-side firm from a lesser-known boutique?

How hard is it to get interviews in such a case? Even if the analyst were to get interviews, will he / she be at a big disadvantage compared to a peer who is at a BB / MM / elite boutique, assuming both candidates have the same amount of knowledge? How much weight is put on the name of the firm?

Tried the search function, but didn't have much luck. Thanks in advance.

So I was able to connect with a MD at a boutique investment bank by networking at a PWM internship I had. He took me under his wing for the summer, and a few times a week he took the time to run me through the technicals for a few of the live/prior deals he was working on/once had. During those mentoring sessions I gained a solid understanding of the financial modeling and valuation work the bankers were doing. Albeit it was not a "real" summer analyst position, I was hoping to still list the experience on my resume. I'm not sure how I can go about listing this and would really appreciate any insight.

How hard is it to lateral after one's first year at a BB to a better bank (BB or EB), in a different (better) group? Or lateral within a bank to a better group? When I say better, I mean a group with more headhunter attention and greater optionality for exit opps.

So I have a few questions. I'm graduating in a month from a top LAC in the west coast I have 2 most likely 3 job offers right now.

The first is a 3 month contract with a boutique consulting firm to work on 1 project over the summer. They work do most there work with 2/3 F50 companies. I would be put on a project, see how I do and then evaluated for a job when they hire in august.

The second is working as an associate at a mutual fund company. <1 billion in assets. Would be doing a little bit of everything. Same deal applies as the first.

credit analyst at a regional bank. Go through training then start working.

How prevalent is weed, coke and molly respectively among investment banking analysts in NYC? I know plenty of college seniors entering banking who blaze, and a few who roll or do coke, but I wonder if most people stop doing these things in college.

How often do analysts blaze (while drinking on the weekend, for example) and how looked down upon is it? This is actually more of a general question as well: at what age (if ever) in the working world does it become weird or immature to pull out a bowl or blunt when hosting an apartment party on a Friday night before going out? How prevalent are other drugs?

Is there generally any advantages to networking with Analysts? The only advantage I see is if you hit it off with them, they can refer you to an Associate, VP, or MD. So, essentially, to work your way up the ladder.

I know at smaller boutiques, Analysts are the ones that review resumes and make the shortlist, but is it the same at BB's as well?

If anyone has any advice, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks and God Bless!

Any insight?

http://untappedcities.com/newyork/2013/03/28/patri...

From the site:

"This may be one of the whackiest (an awesomest) events we’ve heard of this year. For lovers of Patrick Bateman and American Psycho, BBQ Films, an experiential cinema social club, is hosting an event that will more than satisfy your inner deviant. On April 6th at the Tribeca Underground, come to their special movie night party to celebrate Patrick Bateman’s 27th birthday. As Bateman’s the guest of honor, expect decadence and unabashed 80′s glamour. What’s even crazier is that tickets range from $25 to $3000 for four (with an even higher VIP level that comes with a custom Valentino suit sold out already).

I'm interested in investment banking and was wondering if an internship at an online brokerage company (relatively well known) would be beneficial for my post freshman, rising sophomore summer. Or would PWM be better?

http://www.startupbros.com/networking-without-netw...

Figured this might be a good article for some of you

v

Hey guys,

I am trying to secure an intership for the summer associate, and I found out that a solid MM shop is looking to fill a spot. Obviously, it would have been nice if I have been networking with this MM shop since the beginning of the recruiting cycle but I just did not have MM shops on my list.

I obviously want to network and get to know as much people as I can between now and whenever they decide to stop collecting resumes, but will this effort fire right back at me?

If it is still OK to network, what suggestions do you guys have in terms of answering questions that are along the lines of "what other banks are you looking at" "why haven't you received an offer from anywhere"? I interviewed with BBs, went to superdays on 2 but no offers.

Current freshman at a top-5 school (lol guess) with a decent GPA (3.6). Right now, I have no offers from all the places I've applied, but that was expected given I'm a freshman.

I'm from the Charlotte area, and I know there are a lot of middle market firms. If I'm down to do something unpaid, "for the experience", how do I contact a firm/whom do I contact? For some firms - and these are very small firms, looks like the MDs graduated from where I am now.

Hello fellow primates,

Long time reader, first time poster. This site has helped me so much over the past year or two that I wanted to take the plunge and sign up now that I have secured an offer and know what I'm doing next year.

I finally figured out my housing in NYC so I've come to the question of what I'm going to do this summer for the month or so I have before I have to report for training.

Basically I just wanted to see if anyone had heard of any great advice or stories for things to do before starting training and then the real thing.

Europe? Vegas? A month spent banking sleep at home? Let me know your best experiences/ideas.

Hey monkeys:

Have a project to do for an upcoming interview at an investment bank, where I need to find a company with certain characteristics.

CapIQ help required: The first step is to identify companies that have the following profile:
- Market cap between < $400mm
- Revenue growth of > 10%
- Long industry/company description

Can anyone please pull this information for me? I'm a college senior and don't have access to capiq?

I will give SB's to anyone that can help! Please send to jay.gordan89 (at gmail)

This is a bit time sensitive

From most to least at my school

ΚΑΘ
ΚΚΓ
ΑΦ
ΠΒΦ
ΔΔΔ

The rest do not care about finance

So I am 22 years old, dropped out of high school due to long term medical issues which led to my guidance counselor telling me, it is better for me to drop out and get a GED versus spending 2 extra years there and then go to cc and transfer.

For the past few years I have moved around the country a few times and have worked and just now settled and about about to go to the local CC (i live in NJ) and transfer to either Rutgers or Montclair. I have seen over the years (I have been interested in this for a while) that you really need to go to a top business school where bank recruit.

Would I have a chance at entering if I after getting a bachelors, got an MBA from an Ivy league?

I saw this article in the NY times and I wanted to receive your opinion. Do you think this would open the doors for bribes instead>

[quote]
Tips Bankers Like Waiters

Forget Europe’s bonus caps for bankers. It might make for good publicity for the politicians, but wags in the City, London’s financial district, are already joking about ways to get around it.

So why not, for example, put a ceiling on salaries and let clients reward good service, just as they do in restaurants? That could allow banker pay to shrink to a more realistic level.

Hi everyone,

If the ultimate goal is ibanking, would it be wise to take an extra year of school if you have an offer for an unpaid internship at a very small regional investment bank, even if you have full-time offers in other areas of finance in the realm of consulting, commercial banking, and a one man private equity shop? Could you just use the real banking experience to hit full-time recruiting in September for investment banks? I've never gone through ibanking recruiting before since I didn't get into finance until later in my college career so I won't be seeing the same people again.

.

I've been accepted to both McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas and Cox School of Business for the BBA Scholars and University Honors programs at Southern Methodist University. I get the idea that I'll be a mediocre student at UT and get recruited by a decent firm after graduating; at SMU, I'd have all the privileges and resources that BBA Scholars and Honors students enjoy, not to mention an incredible networking opportunity and individual attention. I know that UT is better known on Wall Street, which is where I'm hoping to make it after undergrad. I would like to start out in investment banking. Any thoughts? Pros/cons of each school, aside from cost?

I sometimes start nodding during meetings longer than an hour and sometime, when the work gets slow or I have to read a lot, I might even nodd a little on the desk. This gets worse when I get less than 6/7 hours of sleep and after I eat. I don't really drink much coffee maybe half a cup a day.

Would this disqualify me from a career in banking? How often do you have meetings in banking at the analyst/associate level? Does anyone else have the same issue/how do you deal with it?

I have an MM banking offer from Bombay, and since I'm originally from India and it's a fairly reputable bank, I'm giving it serious consideration.
However, I've never been exposed to the banking culture in India. Does anyone know how exactly it differs from the US especially at the summer analyst level? How is Bombay specifically for interns?

People always overstate the difficulty of getting into banking from a non-target school. You don't need to transfer to a better school; you can break in. It is called NETWORKING. I will now proceed to teach the two steps for breaking in from a non-target: