SA Prospects
Hi,
Please excuse my ignorance- I realize I'm incredibly late and I'm trying to salvage this as best I can. I'm a junior finance major from a semi/non-target with a ~3.25 GPA trying to get into investment banking. I had little direction as far as what I wanted to do career-wise early in college and my GPA reflected that lack of drive. However, I do have a significant upward trend (if that is considered at all) with very solid grades in my business courses, and I expect my GPA to be up to roughly 3.35-3.4 by graduation.
I have no previous finance internships, but my previous employer would serve as a very strong reference. I compounded all these disadvantages by waiting until very recently to start applying places, as I was sick during the little on-campus interviewing we had (for IB anyway), although I assume my GPA would have precluded me from getting interviews with the few BBs that were here anyway.
I very recently applied to ~15 mid-market/boutique firms. I have a few questions as I wait to hear back from them. First of all, given the stats listed above, do I have a realistic shot at getting a SA position this late in the game? If so, are there any resources you can direct me towards for finding firms that are still hiring SAs for this summer? If not, what can I do to this summer to make myself more competitive for full-time positions after I graduate next May? Right now my plan is to work as a teller at a small bank/credit union or in corporate finance at a decent sized (Fortune 1000) company, but am completely open to suggestions, as my goal is to end up in IB in NYC, California, or Chicago.
Thanks for any advice- I realize this is somewhat lengthy and appreciate any responses.
Keep trying, but understand your competition is tough, there are semi/non target kids out there that have held a fortune 100 internship, and an IBD internship by their Junior year, all of this with a 3.5+ GPA. Your best bet is networking into a MM Boutique. Go for the corp fin over the bank teller, because no offense but its not good do be doing menial jobs like a bank teller, whilst your in college.
Lol. No chance.
This kid is fucked.
Time to start applying at accounting firms, insurance companies, and the corporate finance departments of F500 companies. You'll get into I-Banking in a few years if that's what you really want, but not right now.
Long-term, landing in IBD straight out of school doesn't have a huge bearing on your career prospects. Where you are in five years, on the other hand, will have a huge bearing.
save yourself some time and pursue another career. esp from a non-target you have to be (a) on top of your shit and (b) scrappy as hell. you have to realize that your GPA even at a target puts you at the bottom of the list
the only firm i know of still looking for SA's is Chiang Pipernancial Partners, you might want to try them
Take the internship you have now. You may need to take a BO job and then get an MBA to move into IB. If you still want to try for IB then I recommend you look at the MM boutiques. Search this site on how to get a SA/internship/interview and start doing all of it during the Summer...........the things you learn getting internships are used for FT recruiting. Also, take as many interviews as possible (even if you don't want the job) so that you can practice and get your story down.
Thanks to those who confirmed what I expected tactfully. Some of the responses seem to think I'm only trying to get in at the BBs- am I still completely SOL for SA/FT even at boutiques? Does the fact that my FIN/ACC GPA is ~3.8 (significantly higher than my overall GPA) have any impact whatsoever? Thanks again for the feedback.
If your major GPA is high make sure you put that on your resume.
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