I have to take a gap year/start a semester late as an Econ major at a target school. What courses/skills are worth investing into for finance? Is there anything I can do or learn that’ll give me an edge as an aspiring intern?
I’m looking into IB or any other Finance stream
| +68 | Wealthy Parents / Jaded | 22 | 8h |
| +45 | Venezuela Debt Restructuring - LAZ vs CVP | 18 | 5h |
| +43 | How are hours rn for SA (interns) | 24 | 4h |
| +40 | Background check issue IB Full Time | 23 | 9h |
| +29 | Boutique firm wants access to my LinkedIn? | 13 | 32m |
| +27 | Investment Banking in Mexico | 7 | 1d |
| +26 | HL vs WB | 19 | 2d |
| +24 | MM bottom bucket bonus | 9 | 2d |
| +24 | UBS GIG, LevFin, FSG Interns working Sundays and 85 hour weeks their first week? | 12 | 5h |
| +21 | Excel macros for QOL formatting | 0 | 2d |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
Travel. Seriously. There is nothing you can do pre-college to improve your chances, especially since you're already at a target school. IB is not going to be a hard path for you from your position. High school or gap year internships are useless by the time recruiting comes, and while you'll eventually have to learn technicals for interviews that takes approximately 2 weeks and should be a focus in your sophomore year, not now.
Go on one of those gap year programs and see the world for a bit. You'll never have this kind of opportunity again, go learn something about yourself and get some good stories in the meantime. Everyone I know who has done one of those said it was a life-changing experience.
Thank you! I'll definitely look into other activities I could do
I agree. Nothing to do before starting uni / starting work. Don’t worry about that. Travel. You’ll possibly never have that chance again in your life. Solo travel is the best.
If you really want to be productive, learn a language when you travel. You could go to South America and come back fluent in spanish, that would be pretty cool. Moreover, as an interviewer I would rather speak with someone that has cool travel stories about some remote Caribbean island than some nerd that tells me about a finance competition 🤷♂️
It’s hilarious how much further I’ve gotten sharing stories of my times in Bogotá/Buenos Aires/Mexico City than anything related to classes or jobs.
Yeah for sure. I am at a top group currently and I spent my first interview talking about my trip to Rio for 10mn (interviewee was going there on hols), and last interview literally spent 25/30mn talking about jiu jitsu and martial arts.
My previous job one of the partner lived in Hong Kong so we spent about my exchange semester there for quite some time as well.
Ultimately people want to recruit PEOPLE, and financials are just to sense check if you can do the job.
As someone who took a gap year before starting college, I have to echo what was said above.
Travel. See the world. Meet new people. Find what you love.
I was lucky enough to explore a good chunk of the Western Hemisphere before going back the New England/Mid Atlantic for college, and I wouldn’t change it for anything. In fact, looking back, I would have spent even longer abroad.
You can sign up for one of those “gap/year abroad” specific programs, but unless you want to be surrounded by the same kind of people you’ll end up with in university, except even more insufferable because now they think they’re “cultured” from a little bit of traveling without their parents, I would recommend doing some solo travels. Stay in hostels, meet the locals, find a small non-profit in some tucked away place and volunteer with them for a few months. Try to make a path that hasn’t been tread before and you’ll be astounded by how fast you’ll grow up and accomplish.
Go skiing, learn how to play golf and align logos
Re the 'travel abroad' point - try to do in a way that collects unique experiences and lets you learn new and interesting skills. I.e. don't just sit on a beach for one year - you can also pick up skiing, learn to play tennis, or a new language etc. All valuable and interesting skills that will last you a lifetime.
I do agree that it’s definitely the time to get some unique experience.
however, as an American being 18 or 19, tbh even going to a beach somewhere in South America or so it Southeast Asia will give him a good exp if he speaks with locals.
But if he can learn cool new skills like new language, skydiving, skiing, trekking, martial arts or something, it would definitely be the cherry on the cake.
I think this is the time to have fun, not to plan for the future. And while having fun cool stories will always come.
Yeah but my point being if this guy is going into IB this could be his last chance to pick up one of those skills for a long time
On the contrary, I’m African and female but thank you for suggesting these activities! I’ll deffo look into it! This might be far stretched but, some leisure sports are common with certain occupations, is there something like that for IB
Sapiente quos voluptatem odio quam asperiores aut dolorum at. Sapiente voluptatem facilis corporis sed. Minima quia repellat voluptatem pariatur cupiditate.
Quia harum numquam in rerum qui tempore eos. Cum ratione quis ipsam in nostrum consectetur alias nemo. Dolorem animi sit enim recusandae molestias. Nostrum aliquam sunt recusandae expedita eligendi incidunt. Voluptatem modi ut quos eum itaque et excepturi.
Laudantium aut excepturi eius ullam nam sit. Perferendis non numquam porro qui odio ut. Quam possimus in laudantium consectetur.
Natus hic voluptas et sed sint rem harum ea. Impedit nobis fuga voluptatem eum. Sit assumenda adipisci magnam modi quis sed.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...