Sophomore Preparing for 2026 SA Recruiting
Sophomore at non target here. My school sends about 2-3 kids per year into banking. Have spoken to all the alumni of my school but I know I need to expand my network far beyond that and am going to start reaching out to more and more people. My question is about technicals. I know all the basic ones, and am currently going through the Rosenbaum and Pearl book. Here is a list of materials I want to cover and know really well by the time recruiting gets here:
WSP Ultimate Technical Interview Guide
WSP Advanced Accounting
BIWS Valuation Multiples Guide
Rosenbaum and Pearl Book
BIWS DCF Guide
BIWS LBO Guide
BIWS Merger Model
400 Question IB Guide
WSO Basic - Advanced Guides
Original Horizons Guide
WSP Red Book
Even after going through all of these materials, how do I prepare for the technical questions that are not on any of these guides? How can I make sure that I am not tripping up on any technicals? I want to learn so any feedback would be appreciated.
bump
If you actually study all of that content, you should not miss any technical questions that are asked during recruiting. The exception is if you are recruiting for RX, in which case I would study RX materials as well.
Honestly, I think your list is a bit overkill. If you know the answers to the 400 guide and can explain the rationale/concepts behind each question then you should be good to go. I also recommend doing some financial modeling, that way you can actually apply the concepts you're studying in the 400 guide.
Coming from a non-target means that networking has to be your #1 priority, so I would focus your efforts on reaching out to bankers and preparing for each call you set up. You want to do everything you can to guarantee that they will refer you to other bankers and get you in the recruiting process.
Thanks for the info! I am currently doing the DCF chapter in the R&P book and during class I look through DCF models to see how they are built out and understand them. Once I finish the book I will start modeling as well. Thanks once again for the feedback.
Same here bro, we got this!
Broke into a top EB (PJT/EVR/CVP) from a non-target last year
The biggest hurdle coming from a non-target is not getting an interview in the first place, so I'd be focusing more on networking right now rather than studying this far in advice (unless you think you'll retain the info)
R&P is a good start if you don't have any prior understanding of finance or accounting, though most of my friends jumped straight into M&I400
You definitely don't want to miss ANY technicals (especially for generalist positions where they have a bunch of applicants to choose from). I'd say you can most likely cut most of these resources for your prep. I only used all the BIWS guides and overlevered.com for my prep and did more than fine / answered everything correctly (would also make sure you have behaviorals and story down cold--BIWS and Overlevered cover these too).
One piece of advice for networking: don't limit yourself to just alumni from your school, since you'll most likely exhaust that list pretty quickly / feel free to cold reach out to people on linkedin. Good luck
Super helpful, thank you!
non target who broke in, biggest issue for me was getting the interview, focus more on networking
best way for me to remember the technicals is to do mock interviews with friends, or try to teach my friends technicals , or walk around your house or outside and just talk to yourself about it , once you are obsessed with these concepts you’ll come into your interview with such conviction and confidence in your answers it’ll be a good look, good luck
Makes sense, appreciate it.
I have a document that compiled a lot of the more advanced technical questions if you would like.
that would be super helpful, please if you dont mind sending it my way. [email protected]. I cant thank you enough!
Just sent, let me know if it's helpful at all
do you think you could send it my way as well?
What is the horizons guide? I haven't heard of it
What is the horizons guide
All these are great and should cover everything, but another great resource I used last year was liquidityshark. It has previous Q's from a decent amount of banks.
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