Study Abroad Sophomore Spring

Hi everyone!

I am currently an incoming sophomore wanting to break into a BB for IB.

So I'm in a bit of a debate. I had to take my second semester of freshman year off for personal reasons. This means that I cannot internally transfer/change my major until this fall. Conclusively, I don't have the right nor guarantee that I will be able to get the classes I need in order to graduate on time during Spring 2023. 

I have two choices. 

1. Risk it and hope that I can get into my classes for Spring 2023.

2. Study abroad in Switzerland where I will also be doing a banking internship. (Non-IB Banking, think more Impact Investments).

I already have a finance internship under my belt in commercial real estate. I am interviewing for Private Equity/Search Fund and IB internships for this fall/late summer.

My concern is that I would be off-campus away from OCR. Would this eliminate my chances at a BB? I've been networking for the last three months and should be prepared by the fall.

Please let me know what you would do in my situation.

I attend a semi-target and have the ability to graduate a semester later if needed.

8 Comments
 

From my personal experience I would prioritize landing my SA IB offer before studying abroad.

For a bit of background - I attended a VERY non target school in terms of banking and was able to get a PE internship for my sophomore summer and IB SA for junior summer. After my sophomore summer in PE I then went to Europe for the fall semester with offer in hand and not a worry in the word. 

Id say you are in a really good spot - you already started networking and have a legit internship under your belt as an incoming sophomore. Again, I would focus everything towards networking, landing a sophomore internship, doing well in classes, and getting that IB offer. 

At the end of the day it's your decision to make, but its a hell of a nice feeling when you are ripping down the slopes in Gstaad knowing you have all your shit figured out.  

 

Hm, tough spot. I will say that being off campus is not going to eliminate you (most likely) for IB. Every bank has been running online processes since covid, but are moving steadily towards more in-person events. The in-person events are usually given high weightage as well (i.e. most EBs and a few BBs ran in-person invite only chats at my target that were indicators of first rounds/helped you better connect with analysts). 

Honestly it is still very possible to do, but it will be harder in terms of missing in-person events. Further, people may not be super happy with you studying abroad during recruiting season (may look like you arent prioritizing recruiting/banking). Keep in mind you have a lot of time before making a decisions though and a lot can change in a small time period. 

 

It does set you apart from every other kid that is recruiting in the US. Idk might help you stand out a bit, not sure if it could be in a bad way though.

 

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