London IB Advice
Hey.
Long story short I did badly on my A Levels and went to a non-target uni and got a first class econ degree. I was working in an accounting firm after graduating and got 9 months accounting experience.
I'll be starting a master's degree in econ at a relatively prestigious uni for the master's level (Imperial). My initial plan was to apply for a broad range of roles across finance, consulting, and banking. However, given how ridiculously competitive IB is, I'm not sure whether there's any point in applying if it would just be a waste of time.
Obviously I don't stand a chance for full time IB grad roles since I don't have any relevant IB internships. I'll be targeting IB summer internships even though the master's degree is only 1 year long, so technically I'll be in my 'final year'. A few banks do accept final year master's students for summer internships. Off-cycles are more competitive since many people would already have 2/3 relevant internships, so I'll only be targeting summer internships.
How low are my chances? It seems that almost all summer internships go to penultimate year students at target undergraduate universities. Imperial business school is more of a semi-target and it's not even the MSc Finance course.
Should I even bother with IB or just focus on applying for consulting and corporate finance roles? My A Levels were absolutely terrible (ABC) so this may just get me auto-rejected anyway despite having a first class degree and a decent master's degree.
If it is worth applying for IB summer internships, do you have any general advice regarding applications/CV/cover letter/interviews?
Thanks :)
Its good that you’re targeting summer apps, many banks still hire 1y MSc degree students. Cant speak about your chances really, but imo you can def break into the industry especially given the Imperial name + relevant accounting experience. Can you try targeting lower-tier BBs, MM firms or regional boutiques? Where do you want to end up as a FT analyst (being realistic obviously)? Also, expect the worse, the job market is still bad so there’s very high competition for the top spots
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Will be tough but never say never. Network your ass off and hope for the best.
Well… Imperial is not a relatively prestigious uni, it’s one of the best universities in the world according to all top rankings. Even if it is for a masters, the Imperial College brand is a massive name on any CV.
As per your IB point, yes it is extremely competitive, but everything is in London. If you want to do banking so bad, just network as much as possible, apply early to everything (BB, EB and LMM no name shops) and get ready for interviews. Most banks will reject you straight away, but eventually you will land some interviews. With a masters degree from imperial and some accounting experience under your belt, you’re already better than 90% of candidates.
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No, because of the competition. You’re competing against people with past IB summer internships, Europeans with 2 off-cycles and MF/UMM PE internships under the belt
Some banks will reject you immediately because after all this is a numbers game. Each position receives hundreds of applications and banks can’t interview everybody. As a result, there are a lot of very good candidates that don’t even get an interview, and this process can be very discretionary.
For instance, when I was at uni, various big 4 firm rejected me without interviewing while other “more prestigious” names like Morgan Stanley, Barclays or UBS invited me to first rounds and super days.
No need to declare your A-Levels anywhere (apart from when the application portal asks you to input them, then it is unavoidable). Do not have them on your CV and have your undergrad grade displayed. Do not think anyone will care if you're through screening, the rest is up to you.
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They can do that during background checks. It all depends on the third-party company
They only do that when you've got an offer so you do not need to worry about background checks. Just focus on getting past screening, if you are then you have nothing to worry about. It is free game when you land an interview, (most of the time) they are looking at everything but your grades by that point.
Doing the same masters. I have seen a few people who got IB roles. Including a guy in TMT at GS.
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Hot take: if you did badly in your A-levels, I don’t believe you should be aiming for IB
EDIT: MS all you want you failure non-target c*nts! If you can’t be assed to pass basic A-levels how can you have the motivation to go through a model at 3am after your VP has hit you with a ‘pls fix’ after working on it all night all ready ? The truth hurts !
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There's 3-4 years between A-levels and FT and it's during a period where you're probably the most or second most malleable you will ever be. People can change.
i MS’d you and I go to a target with w 2 A stars & an A. Lol. You’re just a loser
One of the most retarded takes I’ve seen and I did well in my A levels.
Apply for summers, make sure you put the work in to tailor every CV/cover letter going as much as possible, and tbh you should land something. You've got accounting experience and a masters at a strong uni so should be sound - but end of the day it's a numbers game so don't get disheartened if you do 15+ applications without anything (I think I had 2 interviews out of ~35 apps for my summer internship and one of those offered me a gig).
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Make sure you hit the exact skills in the job app - if it says teamwork, make sure you say "I'm good at teamwork", not "I work well in a team", and give an example. Everything like that to make sure you don't get filtered out automatically. No need for a "narrative"
Unrelated to thread. But any year 13s out here waiting for results day. TAKE A GAP YEAR. If you bomb your A-levels and go to a non-target, it is worse than just waiting a year.
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Lmao what firm is only accepting first time A-Level results. I cannot imagine that being a thing.
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