I’m interested in how your school choice affected your ultimate career path.
Did you go to a target or no? Did you up at a BB EB MM out of school? Or if not, how did you end up there? Or if not, where are you now and where do you want to be?
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mthomas711, way too quiet in here. What about these resources:
Hope that helps.
Went to a complete no-name European school for Bachelors, interned at EB and now tier 2 global bank. I have noticed that after the first internship (I had done one at a local bank before EB), odds of being invited for more interviews start moving quickly. Will do a Masters at a big target school next year, hope to move to a BB SA position after and leverage that to a FT offer.
Note I am still only an intern so not much practical experience, but from my own experience I would say that coming from a target school definitely helps in the initial selection process, when I began applying it was simply impossible for me to be invited for any interviews whatsoever. After stacking up other achievements however, being top of my class etc, I stood out and started getting invited for some.
Once you're invited for the interview, your school doesn't matter anymore, only your personal skills. It's an even playing ground there, although some interviewers might prefer people from their own alumni base when 2 applicants have the same skillset.
European target, T2 Consulting
Went to a no-name state school and ended up as the principal at KKR
European taget - heading to IBD BB SA
Non-target state school. Known well regionally for industry I'm in.
Consulting -> PE
Schools: Shit non-target --> Top tier MSF Work: Unemployed (effectively) post undergrad --> Big 4 bval (post grad) --> Corp Dev --> Restructuring consulting (A&M/ALIX/FTI)
My undergrad really hurt.
Big 4 BVAL. Love it.
My back-up should banking not pan out.
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State school to tier 1 BB IBD NYC.
NE lib arts non-target -> FP&A
State school (top 100 US News) - MM IB - accepted MM PE offer for summer
Top 10 undergrad business program and ended up in a perpetual state of depression and anxiety
Top 20 University (semi-target) -> EB (Centerview/PJT/Evercore)
Total non-target —> Big 4 M&A —> MM PE.
Sorry to hijack this thread, maybe you can start another thread. But what really is Big 4 M&A - I'm genuinely curious. I work in Corp Dev in Big Pharma and I never heard of Big 4 doing M&A (maybe some QofE work, but nothing else). So what sort of deals are you doing?
Simply put, and depending on the region and firm, Big 4 have “Corp Fin” teams that essentially operate as MM M&A advisory boutiques. Mainly sell-side M&A (strategy, deal valuation, CIM creation, market approach, dataroom handling, etc.) and some capital raising (debt and equity) advisory. Success fee based as well (again, depends on group and region). Were talking about $50m to $500m deals for the most part.
School: went to a City university known for its business program but only Big 4 recruits from us, graduated from the liberal arts school not business school with an Econ degree lol Work: graduated with no full time offer, had a Bullshit internship expereince under my belt for 10 months and a 2 month PE internship that was also bullshit and didn’t teach me shit. Took an internship position at an EM brokerage shop doing “research” work which was basically grunt work. Brokerage shop was trying to set up advisory arm while I worked and was staffed on a ton of projects, deals never went anywhere tho. Started CFA L1 while intending to learn basics of finance which I was seriously slacking in. Worked for 8 months and then got lucky and landed a job at a small boutique, got the job simply because CEO liked my personality the most out of all other candidates. Future: See myself doing boutique for a year, passing CFA L1, getting all my licenses in the year, then latereling over to a BB either in NYC or LA. Long term goal is to move over to LA MM PE from NYC since I’m sick of NY already. Would appreciate any input/advice from those who were on a similar path to mine. I have no aspirations for the MF since the money isn’t good enough to be slayed on the daily esp since I don’t think the MFs are going to be able to keep up the historical returns they’ve been able to present in the past.
Went to a shitty no name school in Jersey, which just happened to be physically close to the HQs of the some of the largest Big Pharma companies in the world. Networked with some mid level alums and landed a Big Pharma Corp Dev role out of college. Progressed to Manager level. I can not believe how lucky I got there. Could have easily ended up nowhere - location matters!!!
Still thinking of going to a Top 10 B School to remove the stench of my undergrad and recruit for MBB.
Went to a non-target SEC school. I'll be at a MM doing equity research and couldn't be happier. Making good money in a cheap city doing something I love and I can still go mountain biking on the weekends.
My man
Question: Did you go to a target or no? Answer: No. Both bachelor and master at non-targets.
Question: Did you up at a BB EB MM out of school? Answer: No. I did PWM at UBS.
Question: Or if not, how did you end up there? Answer: I got here due to family connections and my previous work experience.
Question: Or if not, where are you now and where do you want to be? Answer: Currently, I worked at a family office (~USD 40 Billion AUM). I am pretty happy with my progress. Next stop would probably set up my own investment holding company while still at my current job.
(i) Shoveling asphalt on a road construction crew ==> (ii) One of the finest junior colleges upstate NY has to offer ==> (iii) Semi-target ==> (iv) MM RX
Forever humbled by the smell of kerosene and a wheelbarrow full of asphalt. The prized summer analyst internship of all upstate NYers
Ironically, I made significantly more at the road construction gig than I did at any summer internships during college. Being friendly w/ the right folks in the right unions can make you a few bucks when you have no other options.
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Non target undergrad.
Wealth management --> back office --> business development at HFT prop shop. All within 2 years of graduating.
Target Public --> F10 FLDP
Hoping to attend a T10 MBA in the next 2-3 years
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Semi-target for bschool, but I was premed. BB now but not in IB.
Top state school (Berkeley, Michigan, UVA) -> EB (Centerview, Evercore)
Non-target Canadian uni -> Top-tier MSF in UK -> SA at a EB -> Hopeful FT offer
Before my Masters I completed an IB internship and worked at a central bank.
Complete non-target --> Commercial Banking --> EB
Non-target state school to EB coverage group
Semi-target --> took some time off after school (had a parent pass away senior year) --> networked into a large HF
Service Academy -> TX private school MS Economics -> Military -> BB veterans internship -> BB MO Associate, promoted to VP
T20 LAC semi-target with solid placement/OCR, to west coast community college, to west coast non-target, to lower BB FT.
community college ->
community college --> non-ivy target school ---> TMT at a top BB (GS/MS/JPM)
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