Being international sucks...

physicx — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:08:04 -0400

I go to a non-ivy (but top10) school and the BB bank im at had on-campus recruiting earlier this year. I was bored at work today so I was just looking for something to read in our database, and I came across a folder which had like all the resumes/evaluations for the campus recruits. It was interesting to see how detailed the forms were; they had things like "how would you rank this candidate amongs peers" etc...

Well curiousity got the better of me and i dug up the interview evaluation for a friend who was rejected. What was surprising was that all the people that interviewed her gave her very favorable reviews, and she was ranked #3 out of 15 or so people who made the superday from our school. I was actually ranked #5, and everyone ranked from #1 to #6 except for her was given an offer for SA. that leads me to believe that her international student status had a significant part in the selection process

for those who actually recruit, is this true?

How bad is the current crisis compared to previous ones?

physicx — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:07:13 -0400

Everyday I hear worse and worse news... and I heard one of the associates saying that the subprime crisis is the worst in 20 some years.

That got me thinking, how does the current crisis compare to previous events (e.g. Asian IMF, Tech bubble etc...) Would appreciate it if any veterans can shed light on the issue.

no full time offer from SA position

physicx — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:12:38 -0400

basically i am pretty 99% sure that i won't get a full time offer from my SA position (don't really get along with MD, also there are talks of other people in the group getting laid off) at a troubled BB. however, i do want to leverage the experience for FT at other banks. But i also know that the first thing they will ask me is "do you have an offer from ur SA position" so how should i answer it? my friend said just lie about it, but i am very uncomfortable with that.

No SA offers... what now?

physicx — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 01:04:59 -0500

It was a hellish week and a half.
3.9 Math major at an Ivy. No previous finance experience.
Had interviews with GS, MS, CS, Lehman, UBS, BoA.
Made it to Superdays for MS and Lehman, but ultimately no offer from both.

What options do I have now in terms of getting a finance internship and using that for FT positions?

Thanks.

what should you know about the firm before interviews?

physicx — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:40:21 -0500

i have a couple of SA interviews coming up, and i've been researching the basic things like the firm's stock price and recent deals that they have done. do you think this would be sufficient knowledge?

can anyone explain this?

physicx — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:15:13 -0500

i got first round interviews with places like merrill, goldman and lehman, but i got rejected outright from citi, wachovia, HSBC and bear stearns.... kinda strange. also i feel bit more pressured because SA positions at the above firms are more competitive.

what do you know about us? why XYZ bank? question

physicx — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:27:28 -0500

i have a few interviews coming up for SA positions, and i know these questions are almost always asked at all banks. to answer such questions, what kind of research would you recommend? would you recommend searching for the XYZ bank on places like wsj.com or finance.yahoo.com and know what kind of headlines they've been making? should you be familiar with the numbers they report at SEC?

Apply to more than one SA position?

physicx — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:43:10 -0500

Is it advisable to apply to more than one SA position?

I am primarily interested in investment banking, but I heard investment management is less competitive, so I was thinking about applying to investment management as well at a few BBs. Has anyone done this and been successful? Or do companies want to see a "focus".

will this matter?

physicx — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:43:10 -0500

i applied to an SA position for a BB last year, and due to some stupidity on my part i didn't respond to the first-round interview offer and didn't get the interview (mix up with emails... i was away on holidays when they asked to rsvp). i am in the process of applying to the same bank, and my friend was telling me that they will REMEMBER the fact that i hadn't rsvped in the previous year (i.e.

S&T vs Ibanking, which would be better for me?

physicx — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 23:50:55 -0500

Basically I thought I wanted to do ibanking, because I prefer working on longer projects, but my friend suggested that I should look into trading because:

- i am ridiculously fast with numbers (math major)
- more predictable hours
- similar compensation
- better training for PE/HF