Seeking Full time or Going to grad school?

Hello guys, so I am currently a junior at a top 20 private college, major in Finance and Accounting. I got 2 superdays for 2 bulge brackets' IBD this fall but all got rejected after the interviews; I kinda lose hope haha but I still keep working harder after that. i am an international student and I heard full time recruiting is harder; my parents insist going to a master degree program can be a way of getting a job. I am now really confused and want to listen too you guys' opinions: Full time recruiting OR Going to grad school, if i want to stay in the US to pursue a career in IBD?

Thank you very much in advance!!

 
Best Response

It sounds like you got rejected for a summer analyst position? If that is the case, you can still pursue IB. Try and find a SA position at a boutique or middle market. Still opportunities to pursue that route. Additionally, you can pursue a corporate finance, PE, or finance internship for this summer between Junior/Senior year if you do not land a SA position.

Ideally, you want an IB SA position between Junior and Senior year. However, come Senior year, individuals can break into Full-time IB Analyst roles without doing a Summer Analyst, it is just more difficult.

So pursue a boutique or middle market this year. If you cannot land one, then land a finance internship. Then come recruiting next fall for full time IB, be prepared and pursue a full time role.

*To address your masters degree portion of your question, it is not needed like it used to be in IB. If you want to pursue a career after two years as an analyst or attend MBA school you can. However, if you get a masters before you go into IB, you would still come in as an analyst with everybody else having a bachelors. If you get a masters after your two years as an analyst, you will come back as a first year associate while your other analysts have two years and are almost VPs. Now days, firms are starting to promote analysts to associates without attending a masters program hence no real payoff. There are numerous what if scenarios, it all depends on what your career pursuits are and how successful you are come full-time recruiting. But doing a masters before hand is not ideal.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

M
 

Thank you so much!! So one of the problem is that corporate finance/Finance firms normally won't consider international students or they only recruit a little...boutique also does the same I think.

Full time is really hard right? As I understand most summer interns will get full time offer.

 

You are welcome. Honestly, it does not matter which path within finance you travel, you will encounter a difficult path. I know international students that get Fortune 500 internships in the US or they will go back to their home country and work for a major firm there. Concerning your situation, you need to identify what you want to do, sketch a plan out on how to get where you want to get, then start pursuing your goal. There will be numerous challenges on your road to your goal; however, you just have to keep pushing.

Full time is hard, internships are hard, everything worth having in life is hard. Nevertheless, an internship at the firm is not a prerequisite to land a job at the firm. You just have to do everything to make yourself the best candidate possible and craft your story into a story that the firm wants. This is not an excuse to not pursue a SA position or a finance internship, but just a statement that it is not required, but preferred.

M
 

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