Can I break into IB with these credentials? Need help & advice.
Hi folks,
i recently got admitted to the Tulane MSF program (Freeman) with TA(Teaching Assistantship) & a 40% merit scholarship. I'm concerned about the placement in IB though.
My goal is to work in either BB or elite boutique IB In FO roles.
I'll summarize my background briefly for you to contextualize my question.
I graduated from the University of Derby (UK) with First Class Degree (4.0 GPA)(Class president), I founded a finance club at UoD as well as a debate team, also represented my university in the United Nations Model contest. I've acquired numerous online certificates from universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Colombia in STEM fields. And I'm taking CFA L1. By my graduation(Hopefully), I will have all three levels completed. Also, i have 1 y and 2 m of experience in consulting.
My question is, considering my background and education at Tulane (GPA hopefully in upper region 3.5+), in addition to this at least 2 levels of CFA, would i be able to break into I-banking. (considering that I'd be applying and competing for entry-level positions, as an intern in summer and as an analyst after graduation)
My options, as it stands, are to either go to Tulane or wait another year and apply at BC, Vandy, Notre Dame, Marshall, etc... I really dropped the ball not applying in these unis, at a time i had no clue how much better they were.
I need your help and advice, waiting another year and incurring all of these expenses again, as you can imagine isn't quite appealing, but on the other hand, if Tulane won't get me anywhere there really is no option, is there.
Firstly, do you need sponsorship? If you need to be sponsored then it'll be really tough for you regardless of what MSF program you go to. Next, normally I'd say look up your program's placement statistics; usually a university will showcase a list of firms and field their students have placed in from their MSF program, but Tulane does that for every program in their business school but their MSF program which is a pretty big red flag.
I had done some research before on MSF programs to get into banking and it seems like Vandy is the best option as well as a few others that you mentioned, but I never came across Tulane. I don't think there's a huge presence of people on the Street from Tulane, let alone from their MSF program. Between requiring sponsorship and coming from an MSF program that lacks historical placement, it will be incredibly difficult to get an offer at a top BB or EB - even any bank will be difficult.
A few final things. Firstly, I've heard that BBs have a better track record of sponsoring analysts than EBs, but I'd look into that, because if it's true I'd just devote my resources to BBs completely. Secondly, don't ever mention the certificates you mentioned. It's a meme at this point. You didn't go to Harvard, Stanford, or Columbia, anyone can get those certificates, and you'll look like a tool for putting them on your resume or LinkedIn. Thirdly, the CFA isn't going to do that much for you. There are a ton of threads here on WSO about it but banking just doesn't care that much about it. If you spent half that time on networking, you'd be in a significantly better position. And lastly, if you have a year's consulting experience, it may be best to just stick it out 2 more years and save up, and then try to do a top tier, M7 MBA - you'll have much easier sponsorship opportunities and an extremely more broad range of banks recruiting than from an MSF program. You'd also be hired as an associate,
Thanks for the reply.
Yes i would need sponsorship.
The problem is that at my country (Georgia ) there are practically no IBs. So an option that i could stay here get experience and then apply to MBA s is quite not feasible. I was thinking that Tulane could be my stepping stone to IB if not i could always do MBA after as a last resort. But if no IB in the US will hire Tulane grads, even one’s with CFA, that’s for sure is a concern.
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