Division 1 athlete ibanking future

Good Evening fellow monkeys,

I am very curious to others thoughts on my potential to enter ibanking next year (2011) with a FT offer. I come from a non target school, my gpa is only 3.3, and I have only found 2 alumni on linkedin that I have reached out to in investment banking. Additionally, I am a finance major and economics minor. However, I will graduate as a 4 year division 1 athlete and have been a RA the last 2 years to pick up the rest of the schools costs that are not covered with the athletic scholarship. Furthermore, I am currently an intern at a big 4 in the valuation and business modeling group. I appreciate any feedback I am given and wish everyone well who are currently in their SA internships.

Cheers

13 Comments
 
Best Response

Banks love athletes as it means dedication, competition, aggressiveness and teamwork - all skills that are very good to have in an investment banking setting. Your GPA isn't that bad - you can always chalk it up to heavy extracurriculars - just brush up on your technicals and impress the hell out of them in the interview. Your main challenge will be convincing people that you want to work in banking / understand what it entails. You have to come up with a "path to banking" that makes sense. Also, when you address the lifestyle / hours / hard work question that you will inevitably get, tie it to your athletic experience and describe how your dedication to your team became a lifestyle unto itself with no real beginning or end, you just did what you had to do to prepare yourself well and go out there and win the game.

 
jhoratioBanks love athletes as it means dedication, competition, aggressiveness and teamwork - all skills that are very good to have in an investment banking setting. Your GPA isn't that bad - you can always chalk it up to heavy extracurriculars - just brush up on your technicals and impress the hell out of them in the interview. Your main challenge will be convincing people that you want to work in banking / understand what it entails. You have to come up with a "path to banking" that makes sense. Also, when you address the lifestyle / hours / hard work question that you will inevitably get, tie it to your athletic experience and describe how your dedication to your team became a lifestyle unto itself with no real beginning or end, you just did what you had to do to prepare yourself well and go out there and win the game.

Horatio,

I am in a similar position. I am a former professional soccer player who graduated with an MBA in Finance in 2009 with an overall GPA of 3.75. Since then I have been a Director of Programs at a personal training company and was wondering if banks would be interested in me but in another field. I am extremely interested in using my degree, and very eager to get a job in the banking industry. I have recently gained a lot of interest in Basel II, stress testing, risk analysis and was always a bit of a numbers junkie. I don't know if there are maybe some other fields/areas of banking that would better wso/">suit my background?? I'm also curious on if I should include my athletic achievements in my resume, and if so to what extent. Do I list my accolades such as playing for the national team, etc.?? I would really appreciate any advice!!

 

hey agree with horatio, lots of MDs love to hire sportsmen/women cause they feel that these pple are disciplined and dedicated, always commited, always wanting to win.

most of the analysts i knew were of either sports backgrd or hold leadership positions in some clubs..

i got my job partly because of this too.

but of course this applies when u get the chance to talk to the MDs or VPs etc..

 

Had a similar profile, 3.4 GPA, semi-target, but was a D1 athlete and many of my interviews went, "walk me through your resume," and as soon as I hit baseball that's all we talked about for 20+ minutes. It definitely helps out in interviews if you play the experience the right way.

 
jimbrowngoUHad a similar profile, 3.4 GPA, semi-target, but was a D1 athlete and many of my interviews went, "walk me through your resume," and as soon as I hit baseball that's all we talked about for 20+ minutes. It definitely helps out in interviews if you play the experience the right way.

same case for me... one guy asked me if I hit a HR off any aggies cause if I did i was not getting a job

 

Man you should have no problem getting a job at one of the banks. Athletes can get away with lower GPAs and degrees from lesser known schools. Be sure to highlight the fact on your resume so it is one of, if not the first, item noticed. We have numerous athletes at my firm and although they aren't always the best in the technical department they are leaps and bounds ahead of their peers when it comes to relationship and communication skills.

“Whatever you do, don’t be a victim. If you’re in a bad situation, try to fix it. If you can’t fix it, move on. Don’t whine.” --Jack Welch
 

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