Can you take a gap year before full-time IB?

Assuming I get an offer for full-time IBD at GS for next year, is it allowed to ask for/take a "gap year" of sorts to travel, study, etc.? In other words, if I wanted to apply for something like a Gates Scholarship, would the firm ever hold my offer if I discussed it with them?

5 Comments
 

Stopped reading after "Assuming I get an offer for full-time at GS." Did you summer in IBD this summer, have crazy good connections for interviews at GS and other BB's or...thats an amazingly casual assumption to make. Think "A to B then C, Not A to "F&^K it" I got the rest of those letters covered, so let say "Y."

Authored by: Certified Corporate Development Professional - Director
 
Best Response

@JBanksohn - cmw8392 interned with GS IBD.

@cmw8392 - GS is typically accommodating when it comes to Gates/Rhodes/Marshall Scholarships (I've seen it happen before). They want to hire you, so they may be able to convert an FT return offer to an SA return offer. That said, you have to actually get one of these scholarships, or have an incredibly good reason.

On a side note - I know a kid who deferred his FT McKinsey offer to work for Teach for America - so anything's possible. Once you get an offer, have a dialogue with your recruiter to see what's permissible and what's not.

 

First of all, congrats on the offer! I've heard of a few people doing this for TFA, which has a set time period (usually two years), making it easier for banks to coordinate the start dates. It doesn't seem to be a problem, though keep in mind that a number of people usually stay at Oxford beyond their Rhodes period, to pursue an additional degree or do something else.

Typically, deferral shouldn't be a problem, especially in your situation (TFA, Rhodes, etc).

 

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