Everyone says that the first step to a good finance career is investment banking…How screwed am I?
I am a rising senior with very little work experience-5 months, 4 of them is in computer science, and one of them is in finance, which was unpaid. My extracurriculars are rather thin, the only big thing I'm doing is the Fed Challenge for my school this year, and that's pretty much it. The clubs aren't friendly to late starters-I started participating in clubs in junior year and they only allow sophomores and below to apply for e-board. (Part of it is because I’m not Stern, I guess) My GPA after graduation will be a 3.3…if I'm lucky. Right now it's 3.24. I go to NYU CAS, which is perhaps a non-target, and I study economics and business as a minor. I didn't get a single IB internship offer, and apparently the main way to get into IB is through return offer through internship. And all of the analyst jobs out there require 2 years of experience, however you could supposedly bypass that through networking…? To sum it all up, personally I think that my prospects in finance immediately after graduation is rather grim.I'm also thinking about going to grad school to fine-tune my skills and also wait for macroeconomic conditions to improve. Which path should I take?
Lock in on your grades this year, but the marginal gain to GPA won't really change your standing due to it being below a 3.5.
That is correct, most full-time positions hire the large majority of their class from those who were summer analysts at the firm. If I had to guess, the next batch of candidates would be those who interned at other banks. Having very little finance experience on your resume as a senior will make things very difficult.
That being said, I would assume NYU has a strong alumni network. If you're in the city for the summer, I'd try to set up coffee chats with guys you can relate to. Networking is your best shot, and it will ultimately come down to you selling the SHIT out of yourself.
Either a year or two in another role then trying to lateral or getting an MBA might be your best option to get into IB, but wouldn't write off finance completely based on your profile.
Anything is possible if you got that dawg in you
What roles do you recommend, and what kind of people should I network with? Can I network with anyone working in the city, even interns, or should I pick the highest-up people?
Roles like Valuation, Corporate Finance, and working at a Big4 doing M&A type work seem to be beneficial. As far as networking goes, there’s no value add to talking to an intern for the sake of recruiting help. I had a few people reach out to me last summer while I was a SA and I thought it was kinda strange cause 1) unless you’ve accepted an offer from the firm and want an inside perspective on things like culture, what do we have to talk about? and 2) it’s June, do you really expect an intern to give you an interview breakdown and discuss technical questions with you while trying to secure a full time offer themselves? Read the room.
Stick to analysts and associates, VP or MD if you have something in common with them that goes beyond your school brand.
I smell a troll haha, if you are one you’re very good at it
Sorry I was just receiving mixed signals about that haha, I just remember hearing somewhere that you can even network people who just got their foot in the door in order to know other people
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