Internship for a noob
Stupid question, but I'm new to this. When do you get an internship? It's hard for me cuz I spent 2 years at school A (comm college) with a 3.3, but one semester into school B (target) I have a 4.0...When I apply for internships do I put my 3.3, 3.65, or 4.0? Obviously I'd like to stick w/ the 4.0. Do you apply for internships during your senior year? Junior year?
Also, keep in mind that I am double majoring in BA's, no finance experience whatsoever.
Hate to sound like an idiot askin these questions, but I've searched the forums and come up with a few contradicting answers...if you could just answer these it'd be nice
your still going to get contradicting answers regardless...just list the two gpa's and the two schools to be on the safe side...
*eagerly waits for someone to contradict
Do NOT list both GPAs. Just list the one for the college you're at. Nobody truly cares what you got at Santa Rosa Community College, but if you DO put it down (3.3 is pretty low compared to the GPAs of most kids going into IB) they might wonder. Better off just to put down 4.0 at Berkeley, and if you want you could even just leave off the comm college - plenty of people do that.
How did you get into a target with a 3.3 CC GPA?
My target (Berkeley) takes most of its transfer from California CC. Also, before going to CC, I went to the Air Force Academy, so my high school scores were pretty solid. 3.3 from community college, 4.0 from berkeley (Only a junior), history + econ double major, no finance related work experience.
RE: Grades: Listing both colleges and both GPAs is the most accurate (and most honest) way to depict your grades.
RE: When?: The most common (and most important) time to have an internship is during your junior year summer. This is usually a 10-week program from around June 4 to August 10. Lehman Brothers is a notable exception, running two 8-week internship groups with start dates staggered by several weeks.
Recruiting takes place from mid January to early March but varies by school (example: MIT has IAP -- think super long Christmas break with a project thrown in -- and their IB recruiting doesn't start until February). If you are currently a junior, it is very late to start applying for this summer.
Since you're at a target school, you should create an online account at your career office ASAP. The site should let you look at what employers recruit on campus and on what timelines.
RE: BA degrees -- If you're smart, hard working, have good grades and you're at a target -- you shouldn't lose sleep over your lack of finance training. However, you should read up on the basics of corporate finance on your own time.
Is it possible to get an analyst position after my senior year?
Yes, banks recruit full time analysts at the beginning of first semester of senior year. I know many people who joined banks this way. There will be plenty of banks on campus at Berkeley.
Thanks for you're help, hopefully my BA + no WE will be outweighed by my good GPA + motivation :)
Also, is a summer highly important to being a summer analyst? Or is it not that big of a deal?
What do you mean by "is a summer highly important to being a summer analyst?"
I'm sorry, haha, summer internship :)
The "Investment Banking Summer Analyst Program" at any bank is what everyone is referring to as a "summer internship".
Sorry, my last few posts have been f'd up, lemme just start it over:
Is a summer analyst program needed/highly advised to land a full time analyst position after graduation?
On this site you will see plenty of acronyms. Here are a few that don't show up in the FAQs window:
"SA" = Summer Analyst "FT" = Full Time [Analyst or otherwise] "IB" = Investment Bank or Investment Banking
Example: You want to land an IB SA position at a BB. If you don't, you'll apply for the FT instead during September/October of your senior year.
You should definitely go read some reference books (Vault, etc.) to start building a picture of how this process works.
The answer is YES, the internship really helps. You can read about this in other threads. On of the top 30 threads right now is about this exact topic.
OK, thanks for all your help.
Can you get a school year internship in IB? Night analysts have shitty lives, but hey, that would definitely help you with your work experience and may very well turn into a FT offer.
It would be hard because I don't know anyone in the IB industry, let alone any "respectable" industry that would look good on a resume. From what I understand however if I can keep my 4.0 I'll have a legitimate shot at an internship/position during my senior year no?
4.0s often get you in the door for an interview, but not always. A perfect SAT score AND a banking internship didn't get me in all the interviews for front-office jobs when I interviewed for a full-time job. Often, most of the open slots get taken up by the summer interns.
My suggestion is that if you don't have connections, you'll want to make them however you can. Do whatever you can to talk with I-Bankers and be interested in what they do, how they got there, and what advice they'd have for you. Everyone loves to talk about themselves, their work, and their advice. Be a good listener who seems to actually be thinking about what they're saying, and it'll be easy to make friends.
I would suggest using the GPA listed on the transcript your bank will be requesting. If they don't post your GPA, I'd suggest using the line "School GPA: 4.0", or better yet, "School GPA: 4.00," implying you didn't round up from 3.951. They didn't ask for every number, so provide the one that is arguably most relevant and conveniently happens to look best for you.
Please try to use your best grammar when communicating with the banks, naturally. If you're seeking a job in investment banking, your job is to come off as though you can competently write reports that will make your bosses look smart to firms they're doing pitches to. Make sure your resume is pristine. Managers will expect it to be nicer than anything you'll turn out for the bank, and they'll expect your work for the bank to be pretty close to perfect.
I would suggest taking at least one finance course before you need to line up your internship, but I've seen people land jobs without any finance or econ background. (These people usually had connections, though.) At the Big Ten school I went to, they were pretty flexible about accepting outside credit in basic courses. You may be able to get credit for your course even if you take it online this summer. Don't worry. We'll have plenty of time to pick on you when you're interning.When would you suggest we start getting contacts? Freshman year or maybe later?
Hello all,
Just found out about this site, lots of good info. As for your questions, I graduated from Haas last yr, and know lots of JC transfers that were able to cheat "the system" by putting their JC GPA as their official GPA with the UC Berkeley title. Nobody at the Cal career center checks, and I know many unqualified JC transfers that were able to get internships and job offers through this route.
Personally, I think Haas is a joke, especially since they decided to expand their acceptance pool. I graduated from there last yr, so I am only commenting from my experiences, but I felt that the program was very weak. Too many of the ppl there were focused on grades, so much so, that they complained to the professors and hinder the educational aspect of the courses, resulting in a “dumbing down†of the subjects to the point where you do not learn the necessary material. I was able to study 2-3 hrs in advance for many of my biz exams, and still be able to set the curve. Besides the economics segment for the program, there was not much I can positively say about the program. There were few finance courses and they were usually poorly taught. Furthermore, there were not many resources available there that could help you in obtaining an internship/job, and the career center there was horrible. Most of the ppl I knew that got IB internships and jobs went through connections with either business frats, social frats, clubs, or personal networks. Hopefully, the program has improved in the program in the past yr. I noticed that their ranking in Businessweek improved significantly since last yr(133), so I can only hope that they maintain this trend of trying to improve at the UG level.
-batmananalyst
It's one thing to round in your JC GPA with your berkley gpa, but to flat out lie deserves to, and hopefully will result in these people getting caught by HR and FIRED.
We have seen it before on this board, and I hope to see it again. Embellishing is one thing, lying and taking an offer/interview/whatever that should have gone to someone else is another.
I hope you are right, but from my experiences, it hasnt happened at Cal. Once you are in IB, esp at analyst level, the work is not very hard to do, you just have to have the right traits: work ethic, ability to handle stress and pressure, and etc. While you must have the work ethic, it isnt rocket science. You just need to get your foot in the door, which usually requires a high GPA. Thus, many ppl just put their JC GPA as their listed UC Berkeley GPA, and use that to get their first job.
I felt that ppl that went through the entire program (4yrs at Cal) kinda of get screwed since they on avg would have a lower gpa than those transfering in from a JC (My GPA was 3.8/4, so obviously Im not complaining). My biggest gripe with the system is that there are many great Cal students that get passed over because of lower GPAs than GPAs listed by JC transfers, despite being more intelligent and hardworking.
So do you guys think it is okay to leave off community college from my resume and cover letter?
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