I am currently a sophomore attending a lower ivy looking to go into IB. I am from Houston and would much rather prefer to work there as opposed to NYC.
Do any of you guys know how difficult it is to break into Houston IB from a school outside of Texas?
Any tips on how to approach the Houston recruiting process from a school that is not a regional target there?
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That's a good idea. I'll be home a few days over winter break and I'll try to set up a few meetings then.
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Banks in Houston like to recruit students from schools like UT, A&M, and Rice mainly because they want students who will stay in Texas. Houston banks are pretty wary of kids who ultimately want to end up in NYC. During the recruiting process, be able to have a solid answer for why energy and show that you really want to be in Houston.
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Take advantage of the guys that come to campus or alumni you have to network with, but after talking to them, mention that you're looking to go to Houston and ask if they know anyone in the Houston O&G or Energy group. Your best bet would be someone in a related industry vertical where they might share some coverage or someone in a product group where they might've worked on the pricing or M&A modeling or what not for an energy deal (although many O&G groups do their own modeling, CapMarkets guys definitely see a lot of them, and M&A groups are still on most M&A mandates). If you live in Houston also see if you have any family connects and ask your parents if they know anybody. Look for any alumni in Houston IB, even if they're not at a firm you're super interested in. But ultimately, also network the NY guys hard too since you don't want to go all in on Houston where there are fewer spots.
That being said, I don't see why you wouldn't be able to do this fairly easily. Coming from Houston if you're able to articulate a strong connection to the region and you research O&G stuff (it's super different - I don't even know shit about energy modeling) then you'll actually probably have an advantage. They like texas schools because they have alumni pipelines in those offices and because they think TX guys will stay as other posters have mentioned, but if they think you want it, then the brand name of an Ivy and solid creds will still trump some kid from UT.
Appreciate all the responses. I am in the process of networking with alumni there but there aren't that many. I think the main concern I have is getting my application looked at and I am not sure if I will be able to do that by applying online.
Agree with people above, if there aren't many alums in Houston groups, network with alums in Industrials or Energy groups in NY and I'm sure they'll be happy to connect you with O&G people in Houston they work with.
What banks should SAs target?
bump
any other opinions?
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