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!!
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.
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.
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