Italian aiming to break into London IB out of undergraduate
Hi everyone, wondering about my chances of getting into IB (BB/EB) in London straight after undergrad. Im about to graduate from a public university in Milan, i got a good GPA (3.8), did 6-months internship in accounting, about to get C1 certification and did lots of extracurriculars (developed an app MVP for high school diploma, pitched a startup idea after a 3-months entrepreneurial competition, collaborated with a VC fund bringing startups/projects from universities and joined a finance club as columnist). What do you think are my chances and which advices would you give me? Thank you all in advance.
realistically, very very low
Mind if i ask why? Is it because i’m from an Italian Non-Target school? i thought maybe proven discipline and extracurricular could make up for it.
Agree with the above, not impossible but very low. Main reasons are:
1. Coming from a public italian school puts you at disadvantage compared to other schools in Europe, banks in London have a specific quota for how many people they can hire from a selected list of university and I have very rarely seen public italian schools in this list in the analyst bucket representation.
2. Everything that you already did is for fantastic to put on CV but you need to realize that almost every student in Europe that wants to break into IB has done the same things if not better.
3. Coming from the italian school system you lack working experience, try to get an internship in a small boutique shop or even Big 4 M&A team, it will help you a lot.
4. Try to contact on linkedin people from your university that work in IB and ask them how they did it, next contact people coming from other public universities. If you come from either Statale or Bicocca you will find very few but if you still might find them working in smaller regional shops
EB/BB almost none. MM very low. For the reasons explained above. Most interns/grads from Italy are from Bocconi or other top EU schools (HEC/ESCP/etc). Why not apply for a Masters?
Is a masters degree usually a requirement?
It's a requirement if I've never heard about your uni in my entire life
cuz im actually aiming at an MBA in 3/4 years
worth to point out my choice of IB has nothing to do with my MBA aspirations. I just feel it would be nice to get to know whats like to work under such pressure
90% of Italian bankers in London have been to Bocconi (masters in finance) + excellent grades.
It’s not a strict prerequisite, but frankly If you’re not pursuing a masters degree you’re not really competitive.
A realistic road would be to start in m&a in Italy & lateral to london after 1-2 years (market may overhiring then, as currently the mood is overfiring). At that point experience & skills will matter more than your degree, albeit you might be shooting for T2 banks, not GS.
If you’re pursuing a master in finance at Bocconi, do like everyone else and you’ll have a shot at IB in London.
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Appreciate your ambition (I think 1% of people aim to achieve this straight from undergr and from a public uni in Italy) but have to agree with others.
As an Italian in the field, I can tell you don't stand any chance right now.
Find a summer internship in a boutique or small bank and apply for a MS at Bocconi, ESCP and LUISS (still a semi-target).
Feel free to PM me, could tell you some boutique names you can target via linkedin.
I would say nearly 0. As an Italian that did his bachelor in a public italian university I can tell you that it is very hard also to even get into the Big 4 (I have been in different student associations during my bachelor and alumnis of those associations tried to push my CV from inside but I always received from HR answers such as "we hire only people that are close to end their master's degree"). Now I have almost finished a master's from a target university outside Italy and I have done few internships in IB and PE along the way, I would suggest you to apply to Bocconi if you want to keep studying in Italy or other targets from Europe if your goal is to work in M&A and you do not want to start from Audit or no-name boutiques. Best wishes and good luck!
Dont listen to the people on here - just do your best, you have nothing to lose!! Good luck!
Oh well.... this was indeed very useful wasn't it?
Hi could I PM you? Got an offer from Bocconi and wanted to know what my prospects looked like before I commit
Sure!
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