Investment Banking Australia

Hey mate. I'm an Australian student as well, there are more Aussies on WSO than you think. We had the first WSO catch up in Sydney in Feb, it was great fun. From what I've seen this is what gets you over the line in Australian IB.

University results

• Wam of 80+, Banks want to see solid university results, if you're motivated and do your homework and readings you will get this. It would be more time consuming to do a Maths degree and get a WAM of 80 compared to Comm so keep that in consideration. Without a solid WAM you can say goodbye to getting IB out of Undergrad. Banks say 75+ for interviews but I think 80 is the internal cutoff.

Internships

• Like the US you need to have a Investment Banking Internship if you want to get in full time IB. However I think you need at least 1 IB internship and 1 or 2 other corporate internships in order to get that IB internship, think big 4 accounting etc. These internships build upon each other in order to get better internships.

Extracuricular activities

• Being involved with Business and Investing societies at your university, UBS Investment Banking challenge and being involved with university life etc. This is where I'm lacking personally and I think its easy to overlook. This shows you being well rounded as a person to the banks.

GO8

• It can be possible to get into IB not going to a GO8, its more difficult but still achievable. I know guys who have gone to UTS and Macquarie who are doing extremely well for themselves (Not giving details away but for one of the guys, we are talking very close to billionaire status) in the US, exception of course but its something to remember.

Law/Comm

• I know plenty of examples of people doing straight commerce or + economics and get into IB. Depends on yourself, if you enjoy learning about the law and find it interesting absolutely go for it. Having a law background can help you well into your career, even in AM. Not only does it give you an applicable skill set, you have two more years at university that gives you time to build a resume more internships and more time to study abroad, this is undervalued imo, a negative is that it costs more in hex debt but I would spend another two years at university if it gave me a better shot at IB out of undergrad.

Emotional Intelligence

Having solid EQ is important in IB, you will come up against people who have slaved away studying getting HDs but they lack in personal skills. Use this to your advantage, be chilled and work on being able to hold conversations with people and be interesting. It will pay off, small things like being able to talk sport or the markets can leave a good impression.

Any questions feel free to ask me. It can seem overwhelming and it is, its very competitive out there and don't compare yourself to others. When they are doing better internships getting better results you will feel like crap and that will most likely happen.