Hypothetical IB questions- Prospective IB applicant

Hi Guys, 

I had a few questions regarding IB. Currently, I'm a first-year international student at UCL in London studying Management Science. The question I have are the following: 

1. Is UCL a good enough university for IB?

2. How is IB in London like these days? FO specifically 

3. What can or should I do to maximise my chances of getting a summer internship in Y2?

4. What are the prospects of IB in Dubai? I haven't heard much of anything about this, but I would presume that it's quite lucrative. 

5. Most importantly, is there any way I can apply to IB in New York, or will I be able to transfer over there upon request to my London Office? I ask this because find IB much more intriguing in NY with larger deals happening and mainly because of the much higher pay. I find the pay discrepancy between London and NY quite appalling. 

Please do let me know the answers to these questions to the best of your knowledge. 

Thank you. 

3 Comments
 
Most Helpful

1. Yes (I'm a UCL alum, but thre are a good dozen schools in the UK which will get you into some form of IB - our SA class of c. 20 has 2 UCL students)

2. It's rough, but that's the case worldwide. The question is very broad so I'm not sure if you had a specific area of interest, but dealflow is fairly light right now and we're spending more time marketing than execution versus, say, 18 months ago. Things will pick up though, it's a cyclical industry.

3. Spring weeks, networking, preparation for interview questions, and applying early and broad. By "broad" I'm including smaller banks and even non-banking roles in the Big 4; it's better to have some form of internship than nothing.

4. Not an area I can comment much on, but I get calls from recruiters about ME moves from time to time. The pay is good.

5. You can apply and there's a non-zero chance you make it, but (and I suppose this is obvious) it's much lower probability than getting in the door in London for you (unless you tell me you have US citizenship or something like this). It's easier to transfer after 2 - 3 years having built a solid reputation at a strong brand.

I truly don't mean this to be patronising but don't be too distracted by the money - we're already sickeningly overpaid in this industry and there's much more to life (besides, once you factor in tax and cost of living, NYC isn't too much better - with the tax situation HK / SG would possibly be better).

 

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