Prepping for IB technical skills

Hi all, I am someone who did not have much prior exposure to business, accounting, finance, etc in high school. Going into college I was accepted at Notre Dame Mendoza and am looking to try to develop all the technical skills required for any IB internships or any other finance internships that use a similar skillset, as I want to get one the summer after my freshman year. Because of how early firms recruit I do not think I will be able to develop them in time in my first term at Mendoza, especially with the mandatory freshman classes.

I am currently doing the WSP Accounting Crash course for beginners and am starting to understand the fundamentals of the three major financial statements. Do I need to go to a higher level of accounting than what is taught in the course? What else would you recommend I study/do to prepare myself in the next few months? I am thinking about doing the 7 models and evaluation methods course in the summer. Academically on the school front it is pretty chill until I graduate, and want to get ahead. 

Also, I am looking to buy a new laptop as my current one is old, what do you recommend between $1,000-1,500 that runs PowerPoint, Excel, etc well? Would love to hear all of your thoughts on these questions!

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I’m not familiar with the WSO courses but I would highly recommend going through the M&I 400 guide or IBVine. Getting good at accounting technicals will be super important for building a base of understanding and for recruiting.

I’d try to study at least an hour a day until you receive an offer. Look up “Aswath Damodaran Session 1” on YouTube to better understand valuation work. “Rx Interview Guides” (specifically the Overview, Q&A, and Structural Subordination) are great for understanding credit.

 

You could try reaching out to local funds in your area and see if they're willing to take you on as an intern this upcoming summer. They probably won't give you any super important work but you'll still "be in the room" and can learn a lot from the folks at the firm.

 

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