Breaking into IB with 1 year of full-time work experience and low GPA

Hey everyone, I'm feeling a little lost in life right now and really need some advice. To give you some background about me, I currently work at an investment consulting firm in the due diligence space (i.e. Aksia, Cambridge, Mercer) as a first year Analyst. I come from a semi-target school and was unable to secure an IB internship during my junior year of college because of my relatively low GPA (3.23). I am trying to lateral into IB right now but I am not exactly sure how to do it and how to network. Despite my low gpa, I know my resume is at least good enough because I got a first and second round IB interview at a BB firm (GS/MS/JPM) without any networking. The recruiter said she really enjoyed talking to me, so FIT/behavioural questions is not an issue. Unfortunately, I was unable to proceed to the superday because I failed the modeling test. I know, that's completely on me and I'm disappointed in myself for it. Even though I prepared for it, it wasn't enough because I was under severe time pressure and I got anxious. Plus, I didn't know how to set up the revolver (ughhh). I dont know what to do now because I've been applying to other firms but have been getting rejected. I recently did my CFA level 1 (and passed) to show to recruiters that I was academically smart enough for IB. I just feel like the longer I wait, the lower the chances I have to get into IB. any guidance would be really helpful. Thanks everyone! 

4 Comments
 

Yup.. I was surprised too. Another analyst probably left their team so they wanted someone as a lateral hire with experience, so they don't have to spend much time training them

 

it's totally do-able (I did this myself, semi-target - 3.1 GPA lol and this was back before covid when 1 or 2 banks at any given time were hiring, max.). Learn the BIWS 400 questions cold, buy a modeling guide and learn that cold (I did WSO elite modeling package). Network with anyone and everyone who will talk to you. Find people that made the same move, ask them how they did it, use their methods. Stick with it and you'll land something, especially in this environment. 

 

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