Dartmouth Student looking for advice on how to break into IB

8 ways to demonstrate interest, in no order:

1. Join finance clubs at college. Most usually take 1st sem sophomores at least at my school. Doesn’t need to be “the best” especially if you’re at a target like Dartmouth

1. Get an internship. Summer, school year, paid, unpaid. Just try to gain experience in a relevant industry (lots of smaller PE/VC firms will hire for summers/school year internships)

1. Network. Reaching out to people shows that you’re really interested, even if it might seem like “nepotism” it much moreso just looking for guidance into breaking in from people who have literally been in your shoes that u have something in common with (school, family, anything really can prompt a networking email)

1. Take classes which are semi-relevant. U can major in literally whatever u want, and take wildly irrelevant classes and still break into IB—just be able to articulate how your program of study will relate to success in finance.

1. Craft your narrative. WHY IB/PE/HF? WHY THIS SPECIFIC GROUP/PRODUCT (if applicable)?This one is probably the most important, you need to be cohesive in your explanation of why this career path is something you want. It’s fine if you haven’t always known u wanted to do finance, but explain clearly why it’s what you want to do now.

1. Learn the technicals. Don’t try to memorize the 400Qs word for word (though would say begin by reading the guide), the better route is to actually begin to understand the concepts which the guide discusses. Reading company 10K’s is a good way to get some technical knowledge as well.

1. Start early. Doesn’t need to be this summer. But try to go hard with the networking and tracking applications starting in early/mid December. I started my process much later and it limited my options. Make sure to keep track of company’s application processes from the people you network with(to be honest, a lot of them will only have a small window where you’re actually considered for the role, even if it may still show up on Handshake, etc).

1. Ask good questions. Whenever you talk to anyone, be able to ask them at least one or two questions relating to something they specifically work on within their team. Really seems to make a difference.