Taking another shot at IB SA with improved credentials

Hey guys feel free to provide your input. I just finished my junior year at a non-target, went through IBD SA recruiting at a few firms including BB's with no luck. I am thinking about delaying my graduation to take another shot at SA recruiting

First Time Around: -3.3/3.4 GPA -BB (UBS/ML) PWM Internship

Not very impressive as you can see, but I was able to network my way into interviews. If I give it another shot here is what my profile would look like:

-3.5 GPA -BB (MS/GS) Finance Division SA - 2015 Summer -Boutique Healthcare Equity Research Internship -BB PWM Internship

Let me know what your thoughts are, I feel like I have a good rationale for delaying graduation/ taking another shot at IB SA recruiting by improving my grades and doing two additional internships.

8 Comments
 

Since you're from a non-target and dont have actual recruiting, I'd personally just try to lateral or get a job through FT recruiting.

This is my reasoning:

You would be an IB SA in 2016, then you start working in Summer 2017 FT (assuming you get an offer). You'd pay for another year of school where your GPA could either increase or decrease, take on the risk of not getting any IB SA interviews, and forego one year of working FT @ $70,000+ (assuming you get this BB internship return offer).

I'd only do this if you're on a scholarship or paying for school isnt an issue for you

 

The opportunity cost is quite high... if you go to a non-target, i'm assuming you go to a state school where you pay roughly ~20k a year for tuition, housing and living expenses. You are missing around $80k of first year pay as well. At a non-target, there is a chance you wouldn't be able to get a IBD SA gig simply because banks don't do OCR. I would recommend just doing PWM for a few years and a solid MBA later.

 
Best Response

I was in a similar position to you and I decided to delay my graduation by a semester. It made a difference for me in a couple of respects: 1) I was able to hit restart on networking for SA and I essentially had a plan and blanketed 30-40 firms in the fall 2) The strong junior summer experience (MM FO) got me way more interviews than the previous year, even had a GS/JPM/MS IBD interview from an online application

If you decide to follow through, don't do a semester. Do a full extra year and avoid the why December graduation question. That was a fucking pain in the ass even with a double major.

 

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