Any Prep a HS Student Can Do?

Is there anything a classic corny, future-centric high school student can do, in order to prep for, (hopefully) a career in IBD?

Or should he lay low until undergrad?

Referring to internships, courses, or events whatnot.



I am graduating next year, and my greatest desire in life is to work in IBD (at least I think I do). I have been dreaming about this since I was 13 and am desperate to achieve this dream of mine. I have done everything that I can; that I know of, to actualise this dream (satisfactory grades, extra-curriculars, NPOs, volunteering), just about everything. Thank you elders, for any advice that I can get.

 

Network; this will help you learn more about IB and the groups within it, as well as related careers (ECM, DCM, private credit, leveraged finance, ect... don't close doors too early, there's tons of front office finance careers besides IB). This will help you decide which groups and firms to target but will also build connections who can flag your resume and let you know when applications open, pull you into their team, and basically help you get a foot in the door. You can ask about how to prepare from them, learn about their day to day, past experiences in other roles and recruiting process, tips and tricks, and they'll be able to offer personal advice and what you should do in college to help position yourself. Go on LinkedIn and use the filters to find people; once you know who to reach out to you can look up their firm's email format to reach out. Target analysts, they're more likely to respond and will have the most relevant/helpful advice as they went through the process more recently. Also, you won't get responses from everyone; maybe like a 3/10 response rate just so you know not to take it personally. Send out maybe 3 emails a day and keep a spreadsheet of who you talked to, what their firm/position is, when you have a conversation, and notes on what you talked about. Reach out to them every few months and step it up to every few weeks once you start recruiting; the longer they know you the more likely they are to help you out once you start applying. Pm me if you'd like an example networking email or have any questions and good luck!

 

Background info:

Graduated from high school this year and got into a target

Get info extracurriculars and take classes that make you a competitive applicant for a good university.

Look into the Wharton’s investment competition (they had one last year but I’m not sure if they’ll repeat) it might peak your interest. I started finance/business-related clubs in my school but from what I’m seeing, you don’t particularly need to do things directly related to IBD in high school; just be good at what you do and that should help you get a foot in the door.

 

I’d strongly recommend getting certifications in Excel, PowerPoint & Word through Certiport. Use the GMetrix prep courses & buy the full suite (link: https://www.gmetrix.com/Products/Details/MOS-2019-Practice-Tests-Full-S…). I did this and honestly it was something that I was asked to expand upon in 3/4 of my interviews. Shows that you know how to navigate the interfaces, which is what they’re most concerned about when looking for Freshman summer SA stints. Feel free to respond/PM with any further questions!

 

You should deep dive into the pussies and not think about investment banking

 

Far and away the most important thing you could do is getting into the best college you can. Reading Rosenbaum & Pearl right now will do almost nothing compared to going to an Ivy+ or Stern/Ross or whatever.

Write interesting and genuine college essays that get the admissions officers' interest (being into finance doesn't generally set you up best for this other than for business schools). I don't know what satisfactory grades mean but keep them up as you should aim for 3.8+ from prep school or 3.9+ from public school (usually doesn't hold you back in admissions at that point but might be even higher these days). Try doing something very special/independent/prominent in the extracurricular you're most interested in. Make sure your junior year teachers love, or at least like, you; letters of recommendation matter so much more than anyone thinks at first (it's why the social smart kids usually go to better schools than total nerds). ED to a school that matches your needs. Don't come off like you do in your post in your interviews and essays.

If that doesn't work, become Mormon then go to BYU then GS.

 

Thank you so much for these recommendations! I often work with the PDF format, so for me, this discussion is quite useful. I read many articles and some monographs in PDF format. I need this in order to write my academic research. On the site https://writix.co.uk/write-my-essay I get a lot of help in writing articles and research on various subjects.

 

The only thing you can do is get into an Ivy/MIT/Stanford/etc. Nothing else matters.

 

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