Our students have landed positions at all of the top firms, including:
Why is a Career in High Finance Prestigious?
The main reason? Money.
In 2023, 1st-year analysts at the top banks earned up to $180,000 in their first year. Yes, $180,000 right after university. More than 3.3x the median pay in the US (similar metrics in all global finance hubs). This is not an outlier. The average pay at the top banks was over $150,000 USD.
The second reason? Incredible exit opportunities open up after only a year of investment banking. Private equity, venture capital, and corporate finance are among the many doors that open up for young high finance pros and can pay upwards of $400,000 per year just a few years out of school.
In short, if you land a role in high finance, you will earn incredibly high pay and open up amazing career options.
This also means that hundreds of thousands of candidates get rejected during the application phase.
However, with 17+ years of experience helping students break into their dream high finance jobs, we know how to get you one of these lucrative roles.
What is WSO Academy?
12-week program to dramatically improve your odds at landing a high finance offer.
Here are some of the perks you get access to as part of WSO Academy
Lifetime access to exclusive networking resources and support community to help you land interviews
100+ hours of courses to train and polish your skills to help ace your interview
Unlimited bootcamp seats to push your real life technical skills
Accountability coach to ensure you are never playing catch up with your milestones
Unlimited support to ensure you land that high finance job
And finally, A GUARANTEED JOB IN HIGH FINANCE.
10 Pillars of WSO Academy
Crafting Credibility™
- Resume Rebuild - 1:1
- LinkedIn Profile Revamp
- Meet the High-Finance Expectations
We make sure every single line on your resume is optimized for maximizing conversions to interviews. From the proper format to improving your bullets, you’ll go through our intense resume review process in weeks 1 & 2. We’ve mastered this process after serving over 10,000+ clients. You’ll get matched 1:1 with a professional on Wall Street to make sure your resume and LinkedIn profile stands out among the thousands of other candidates.
The Internship Edge™
- Automatic WSO Internship
- Directly Relevant Experience
- Unfair Advantage
All WSO Academy students get accepted into our competitive Finance Research Analyst Internship [under 10% acceptance for those applying directly]. This experience gives you a great way to build your CV and LinkedIn profile with relevant experience to dramatically improve your conversions from application to interview.
The Networking Map™
- Proven Templates Modified for Your Situation
- Software to Dramatically Tilt Odds in Your Favor
- Step-by-step Map & Benchmarks to Ensure Success
After countless success stories over a decade, The Networking Map is our proven process to help make sure you are landing interviews and getting referrals from the top firms. From the proper tone with tailored templates to software to help you dramatically scale your outreach, we have all of the tips and tactics to make sure you are leaving no stone unturned.
Technical Masterclass™
- Make hard technicals look easy
- Learn the most critical concepts fast
- 1:1 mock interviews
Wall Street Oasis practically invented investment banking interview prep over a decade ago. After collecting over 30,000 interview questions across thousands of investment banks, we know the patterns and the concepts you need to know fast. Most candidates waste too much time trying to study every possible technical question while our students learn our framework to answer any tough technical question and get access to our massive database of real questions from actual firms (to give you confidence you are ready).
The 7 Stories™
- Ace every Behavioral Question with Ease
- Professionally Crafted to Your Profile
- Mapping Questions to Stories
With 1:1 guidance, use the WSO Academy framework to craft 7 detailed stories that you can use repeatedly across all of your informational interviews and more formal interviews. After crafting The 7 Stories, you will be put to the test across countless mock interviews to tweak and perfect them (and your delivery) even more.
Practice Makes Better
- Up to 25 Mock Interviews with Wall St Pros
- Honest Feedback to Help You Improve
- Shore up Weak Points, Feature Strengths
We believe grit and a growth mindset is what allows great candidates to become exceptional ones. With Practice Makes Better, you will receive an incredible level of individualized guidance with up to 25 1:1 mock interviews with actual investment bankers (not recruiters or career coaches). After each mock, you will get honest and detailed feedback to make sure your next interview is incrementally better.
Unlimited Support
- 24/7/365 Messaging to team of Wall St Pros
- 3 Open Weekly Office Hours with CEO
- Community Improving Together
Trying to land an internship or a full time job in investment banking is a tough process. Going it alone makes it even tougher. When you join WSO Academy, you gain access to the current students and massive mentor network that make our community so special. Share interview questions, recruiting intel and job opportunities to help move each other forward.
Database Access
- 35,834 Interview Questions
- 80,113 Salary Datapoints
- 40,556 Company Reviews
Over 150,000 submissions and growing fast…No other database comes close to this level of detail, accuracy and unfiltered insight. Get direct access to over 35,000 interview questions across thousands of financial firms and all the top banks. Get access to over 80,000 salary submissions so you know how much you should be making at various stages of your career. Get access to over 40,000 company reviews to learn where you might fit best and avoid the firms and groups with poor work/life balance.
Course Library Access
- Hundreds of Hours of Online Content
- Faculty of top Investment Bankers + PE Pros
- 20+ Courses | 500 Lessons
As part of WSO Academy, you unlock not only our famous IB Interview Course, but also our entire library of online courses (for life) as well as any new courses that come in the future. This is an incredible library of knowledge (300+ hours) that can help you not only in your recruiting process, but throughout your entire career. These materials are super engaging with gamification and interactive quizzes to make sure you understand and retain all the critical conceptual topics needed to ace your interviews and land an offer.”
Lifetime Membership
- Access Academy Alums
- Help Gain Inside Track
- Private Slack Community
As part of WSO Academy, you will be part of an exclusive club of top alumni, all striving to advance their careers in finance. This powerful network will only get stronger as more and more alums get more senior, just like the broader WSO network has over the past 17 years. Develop meaningful and long-lasting connections with the current and future leaders of Wall Street.
Is WSO Academy for You?
WSO Academy is NOT only for target school or 3.7+ GPA students. We have helped applicants from all backgrounds dramatically improve their odds.
You are interested in investment banking, private equity, management consulting, equity research, asset management or other high finance roles as a career and are motivated to break in
You have been rejected (or ghosted) despite applying to hundreds of competitive jobs online
You are unsure of how to best network with professionals in high finance roles to land interviews
You struggle to answer the most difficult technical questions that you need to ace to land the offer
Your answers to the behavioral questions are good, but not exceptional
What WSO Academy Members Say
Emily Zhang
I was super late and exploring options outside of banking, as the finance pool in Canada was very small. I needed a process that has been proven to work, and the designated mentors helped iron out my story. The tips and practice you guys gave me really helped.
Jacob Seed
I think WSO Academy is definitely worthwhile, and it's really good to have that type of community that can work with you throughout that process. You don't feel like, you know, you're kinda going through it blindly.
Grace Oakey
Wasn’t until I joined WSO Academy that I had a much clearer path to achieve my full-time goals! Process is the most important aspect I focus on as should everyone else. Thank you for all of the guidance over the years
Victor Davis
I was taught that you follow a certain path and that things work out and you get a job. But I didn’t get one after university which is why I joined WSO Academy which taught me the actual skills that are needed to get a job.
F. J.
They helped refine my stories, provided valuable feedback for my responses, and taught me a new approach to answering technical questions that bankers want to hear. I highly recommend anyone interested in IB opportunities seriously consider WSO Academy.
E. S.
I found WSO Academy helpful in getting my story together, doing mock interviews, and reviewing my resume. I definitely recommend it! I received my dream offer, and really think the program made a huge difference is helping me get that.
L. S.
Definitely worth the investment. The mentors are very responsible, thoughtful, and nice and know how to bring out the best in you. They prepared me with many really good technical questions when I thought I’d already prepared well enough.
K. B.
This is one of the best investments that I've made in a long time and not only because what I learned in our sessions helped me secure the role I was recruiting for in short order.
D. A.
Just wanted to update you on my recruiting process - I just accepted an offer. Really want to thank you for all of your help. I would definitely have done way worse in my interviews without your guidance on how to phrase my past roles. Thanks again and super excited for this summer.
A. U.
Completely revamps your approach and gives you the intelligence to charm the interviewer by coming across as a knowledgeable and experienced banker that knows the ins and outs of the industry as opposed to "not just another ambitious college student"
Free Resources On Joining The Waitlist
We know that the low acceptance rate (<8%) can be demotivating. This is why we will give you exclusive access to two resources when you join the waitlist for free. You can use them whether or not you are accepted into WSO Academy.
WSO Academy Leadership
WSO Academy was founded and is currently run by Patrick Curtis who is the CEO and founder of Wall Street Oasis, the largest online community focused on careers in finance with over 900,000+ members and 20mn+ unique visitors every year. The head mentors for WSO Academy were selected from a pool of over 1,000 mentors and have helped thousands of students break into careers in Wall Street over the past decade.
Patrick Curtis
Patrick started his career as an Investment Banking Analyst at Rothschild before moving to Tailwind Capital as a Private Equity Associate where he worked for 3+ years. He then left to start Wall Street Oasis to help those interested in a high finance career. He has an MBA from the Wharton School and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Williams College.
Cindy Wei
Cindy was an Investment Banking Analyst at Evercore. She then moved to VC as an Associate at ClearSky and currently works as Assistant Vice President with Greenbacker. Cindy has a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting and a Minor in Computer Science from NYU Stern School of Business.
Abhishek Jhabak
Abhishek's career at Nomura in London has witnessed remarkable growth, where he currently works as an Executive Director. He began as an Investment Banking Analyst and then Associate, followed by a promotion to the role of Vice President for 3 years. He is a graduate of Shri Ram College of Commerce, having earned a Bachelor of Commerce.
Timothy Weil
Timothy has worked as Director at UBS and Barclays Investment Banks for over 11 years. He completed his MBA from the Ross School of Business and holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Virginia. He also has a Master of Engineering Management Degree from Duke University.
Conor Brown
Conor was an Investment Banking Analyst at Goldman Sachs. He then moved to Private Equity as an Associate at Vista Equity Partners. Conor is currently pursuing an MBA from the Wharton School and has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from Amherst College.
Michael Liu
Michael worked in M&A Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong. After that, he worked as a private equity senior associate at Warburg Pincus and Crescent Capital in Australia. He is currently pursuing his MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.
Yuee Wakabayashi
Yuee worked for many years across top banks like Morgan Stanley, Stifel, and Deutsche Bank as an Analyst and Associate. He also worked as Head Of Corporate Development at NuMSP and recently as Vice President of Corporate Development at SavATree. He is also the Founder of Medley and currently is the Vice President at Accordion. Yuee has a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from NYU Stern.
Max Adams
Max worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at Lazard and Qatalyst Partners. He currently works as a Private Equity Senior Associate at Vector Capital Management. Max has an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Brigham Young University.
Sereena Tucker
Sereena was an Investment Banking Analyst at Wells Fargo. She then worked as a Private Equity Associate at GCM Grosvenor for four years and currently is attending Harvard Business School for her MBA. She also holds a BA in Economics from Yale University and is an active mentor across several associations.
Wais Achikzad
Wais has 20+ years of work experience across top banks like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley in various capacities such ranging from Manager to Vice President. He now runs Xen Culture, where he helps financial companies solve their talent needs. Wais has a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from Boston University.
Andy Yan
Andy was an Investment Banking Analyst at Credit Suisse. He then worked as a Private Equity Senior Associate at Thrivent and currently works at BlackRock as Vice President. Andy has an MBA from The Booth School of Business and a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from the University of Chicago.
Isabel Vulakh
Isabel was an Investment Banking Analyst at JP Morgan. She then moved into Corporate Finance roles at biotech companies Roviant Sciences and Korro Bio, where she currently works as Assistant Director. Isabel has a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from Baruch’s College and The City University of New York
Adna Pekmezovic
Adna was an Investment Banking Analyst and Associate at Bank of America. She then moved to VC, and currently works as Investor with Portfolia and VP at Octant Partners. Adna has a Bachelor of Business Administration from The George Washington University School of Business.
Nick Bhasin
Nick has worked in Investment Banking at Chestnut Hill Partners and JLL. He then became a Private Equity Associate with The Carlyle Group and now works as a Director at Lincoln Avenue Capital. Nick has a Master’s Degree in Real Estate Finance and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from NYU.
Edgar Company
Edgar was an Investment Banking Associate at Barclays for 5+ years. He then worked as an Investment Associate at Pamplona Capital Management and as a Consultant at Simpling before moving to Surca Capital, where he works as their Socio Director. Edgar completed his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.
Alex Banh
Alexander Banh has worked as an advisor for many years at Converge Technology Solutions Corp., QUAAF, and Apex Advisory. He is currently the Director of FP&A at Converge Technology Solutions and a Teaching Assistant in AI in Finance at the Smith School of Business. Alexander has an MBA from the Rotman School of Management and a bachelor's in Economics, and a B.Com in Strategic Finance.
Alice Shang
Alice was an Investment Banking Analyst and then an Associate at Lazard. She then moved to VC and worked as an Investor with TCV and is currently a co-founder of Digital Health Startup. Alice has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.
Charles Pontvianne
Charles worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at SGCIB and Rothschild. He then worked as an Associate at Greenhill & Co. and became a Vice President. He currently works as Head Of Corporate Finance at Ÿnsect. Charles has a Master’s Degree in Finance from HEC Paris and a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from McGill University.
Christopher Newhouse
Christopher started working as a Crypto Derivatives Trader at GSR and is currently a Co-Founder of Infiniti Labs, a Web3/Blockchain Advisory and consulting firm. Christopher holds a Master's degree in Quantitative and Computational Finance and a Bachelor's from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Craig Irvine
Craig has 20+ years of work experience across top firms like Merrill Lynch, Macquarie Group, and Citigroup. His professional journey has spanned from the position of Vice President to Managing Director. Craig also holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from Yale.
Daniel Ochoa
Daniel was an Investment Banking Analyst and then an Associate at Morgan Stanley. He later left and founded editide to equip investment bankers and other corporate professionals with better tools to build their presentations. Daniel has a Bachelor of Science in Statistics and Economics from the University of Chicago.
Eduardo Vildosola
Eduardo was an Investment Banking Analyst at Goldman Sachs. He then worked as an Investment Associate at Gray Cube Sports and Microlumbia Impact Fund. He is currently an MBA Candidate at Columbia Business School.
Faye Teng
Faye was an Investment Banking Analyst at Jefferies. She then moved to Private Equity as an Associate at Strattam Capital and a Manager at ThoughtSpot. She is currently a Teaching Assistant and researcher at The Wharton School. Faye has an MBA from the Wharton School and triple degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.
George Jian
George was a Senior Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company. He worked as a Senior Associate at University Ventures. He also held positions at UBITS, Petlove&Co, Degreed, and ForgeRock as an Investor. George currently works as a Vice President at Riverwood Capital and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Princeton University.
Guantong Sun
Guantong worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at Nomura and Lehman Brothers. He then worked as Vice President at Fortress Investment Group, Associate Director at Golub Capital, Vice President at Pretium, and co-founded Labyrinth Data Works. He currently works as the Senior VP and Head of Investor Relations at Turning Rock Partners. He also holds a Bachelor's in Finance from NYU Stern School of Business.
Himanshu Singh
Himanshu worked as an Analyst at Nomura. He then worked as an Investment Banker at Deloitte, UBS, and Nomura in M&A. He currently works as an Investment Banker at Hannam & Partners, specializing in M&A in the Financial Institutions Group. Himanshu holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Information Technology from NSUT.
Marvin Thiel
Marvin was an Analyst at Nomura and Stephens. He then worked as a Private Equity Associate at AnaCap and currently works at Pollen Street Capital as an Investment Director. Marvin has a Master of Science in Business Administration from Bayes Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Heidelberg University.
Maximo Gonzalez
Maximo worked as an Analyst at MarshBerry and Rabobank. He then worked as an Associate at Platte River Equity before moving to Grupo Trust, where he currently works as their Director general.
Panpan Xiao
Panpan was an Investment Banking Analyst and then became a Senior Associate at Citi Group. She then worked as an Investment Manager at Pictet Asset Management and Equity Analyst at Schroders. She currently works as an Equity Research Analyst at Fidelity International. Panpan holds a Bachelor's in Accounting and Finance from the University of Bristol.
Paul Mazurek
Paul worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at J.P. Morgan. He then worked as a Private Equity Senior Associate at Insight Equity before moving to a Vice President role at Stellex Capital Management. He currently works as a VP at Pacific Avenue Capital Partners. Paul completed his Bachelor’s Degree from Fordham University in Finance.
Peggy Xu
Peggy was an Analyst at Deloitte, then worked as a Corporate Finance Analyst at Pacific Blue Australia before moving to RBC Capital Markets, where she worked as an Investment Banking Analyst. She is currently working as an Investment Associate at Future Business Partnership and is also pursuing an MBA from the London Business School.
Peter Tarwid
Peter worked as a Strategy Analyst and Senior Strategy Analyst in Corporate Strategy at Cengage Group, then worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at Barclays Investment Bank, and currently as a Private Equity Associate at Stone Point Capital. Peter has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Brown University.
Zachary Gilbert
Zachary was an Investment Banking Analyst at J.P. Morgan, followed by roles as an Analyst and then as an Associate at iAnthus Capital Management. Zachary is currently the Director of M&A at Principal Holdings Group. He also holds an MBA from Duke's Fuqua School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.
Alyssa Karbel
Alyssa worked as an Asset Management Analyst at Goldman Sachs for 3 years. She currently works as a Research Associate at Wellington Management. Alyssa has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from The Johns Hopkins University.
Taro Tan
Taro was an Associate at Kirkland & Ellis. He then worked as an Investment Banking Associate at Moelis & Company and currently works at EQT Group as a Private Equity Associate. Taro has an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a Masters of Law from Harvard Law.
Ajmal Tahir
Ajmal started his career as an Equity Analyst at Strategic Analysis Corporation, where he worked for 2 years. He then joined the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan as an Analyst and currently works as an associate. Ajmal has a Master of Engineering in Applied Science & Engineering and a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Science & Engineering from the University of Toronto.
Frequently Asked Questions
While a 3.5+ GPA helps, it is not a strict requirement to land a job in these competitive careers. We go through every application individually to determine if you have a shot.
It is true that top firms hire most of their talent through target schools. However, through proper networking and brushing up on your skills, this is a hurdle than can be overcome. Again, we go through every application individually to determine if you have a shot before guaranteeing you a job offer.
We have designed the program to be done over a 12-week period followed by continuous preparation at your own pace after that. If you are accepted into the program, you would have to put in ~10 hours per week over the 12-week period, but the benefits extend well past the 12 week period. You also get the following:
- Access to the private academy Slack community for life
- Continued 1:1 support from WSO Academy Head Mentors for a full 18 months (enough for two full recruiting cycles)
- Unlimited access to our live instructional weekend bootcamps for a full year
- Full WSO course library for life
WSO is fully committed to make sure every single student is striving to achieve their best possible outcome.
Yes, we currently have over 45 head mentors helping us with the day-to-day sessions and over 1,300 mentors in our deep roster giving us deep global coverage across all major financial hubs. No matter whether you're targeting London, New York, Toronto, Hong Kong or Singapore we have you covered (among hundreds of other cities).
If you are older than our average student, that should not deter you from applying. Here is the historical breakdown of enrollment percentages across stages:
Freshman/Sophomores (1st Yr Uni in London): ~30%
Junior/Seniors (2nd/3rd Yr Uni): ~20%
Pre Masters/Post Uni: ~15%
Doing Masters: ~20%
Post Masters: ~15%
While we do skew younger, we have also had a lot of success placing older candidates after already graduating university. Part of the reason we see higher numbers of students applying early in university and early during their masters programs is this is when most of the recruiting windows are open for high finance careers (very early for internships that lead to full time offers).
James Kerrigan
Awesome
Artem Sylchuk
Wow! Amazing! Cool!