Want to join investment banking; is it too late/is my background unacceptable?
I’m a recent graduate, turning 22, who wants to get into investment banking but have a very non traditional background. Got a B.S. in psychology, but have taken a few Econ courses being a prior Econ major. I have a 2.99 GPA, and have experience in sales at fashion, went to a non target school and did not get a finance internship. My only certification is a Wall Street Prep Excel Crash Course for finance, I speak 3 languages, and I match most requirements outside of pure-finance-academics (writing, teamwork, others you’d find in a LinkedIn post usually).
Everywhere I look online, I cannot find anyone who has managed to get into investment banking within a year or two with this background, as they seem insanely competitive. I don’t have a close relative who works at a bulge bank, yet networking seems to be the strongest tool to stop me from being automatically rejected when applying to a job (most won’t even respond to me).
I’d be willing to spend months learning all the finance and material, as I believe I could do it. I’d be willing to start a project to add to my resume. Since I’m a recent graduate I can’t apply to internship or programs anymore (unless someone knows an alternative), but I’m not really familiar with alternatives in the finance field as they 1. Still recruit based on a finance background I lack and 2. Still also seem to not be very helpful for pivoting into IB, due to how exclusive their admissions seem to be.
The only people I’ve spoken to who are close to me keep telling me that since I’m young and at least have a bachelor’s and a full time position in sales that this should be possible if I work very very hard, but they’re not very well researched on how difficult entering this field seems to be, even as a recent graduate. Would love some blunt advice, or any stories people have heard that could make this somehow plausible.
Yes and no. maybe you would get extremely lucky at a no-name bank. otherwise likely not. Edit to make it clear, almost 0 chance you enter IB, focus efforts elsewhere.
what even interests you in IB coming from a background like that? $? you say you are unfamiliar with finance roles in general, so what makes you think you even like IB?
go into sales for a S&P 500 comp and try to lateral into tech sales.
2. It is not possible for you to land a job in IB right now that would be worth doing. Your most likely path to banking would be through an MBA after a role in the back office at a bank, accounting, PWM, sales, etc.
Yeah I think you might have a shot at some micro boutique banks if you network your tail off. Will be an uphill battle
What job are you doing right now? Best bet would be to do something for a few years then pivot via mba - but you haven’t mentioned anything in your profile or background that makes you a good fit for an IB role. Why do you even want to do IB? Do you even have a real understanding of what IB is, esp since you don’t have a finance background? Or are you just pursuing bc it sounds prestigious and for money?
Also, what were you doing in undergrad that you got a 2.9 in psychology from a nontarget? That doesn’t align with the kind of person that will succeed in the massively difficult undertaking it would be for you to break in atp. Sorry to be harsh but I don’t think you’ve thought this through
No amount of networking will save this background. You could absolutely still get into IB, you just need to work a normal job office job, study or cheat on the GMAT/GRE, get into a T20 MBA, and start from there.
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