Always a fun game...
Here's by background:
MBA/MSF from non-target (Boston College) 3.4/3.5 GPA part-time (not that that should really matter) Graduating in May
3 years experience while getting an MBA
- 1 year in FP&A at large consumer electronics company
-> Selected to be Financial Consultant to team requesting $100M 'corporate stategic investment'
-> Selected as part of team to improve the way finance strategy is established & communicated
-> normal FPA stuff
- 1 year in FP&A at fast growing (100% YoY) consumer electronics company recently purchased by major PE fund
-> Helped developed valuation model to compare to major PE fund
3 years work experience pre-MBA at same company
- 1.5 yrs supply chain mgmt
- 1.5 yrs pricing/margin analysis
Highly skilled in XL (and I mean HIGHLY)
Same with PPT.
Took Wall Street Prep's financial modeling/valuation course to get that foundation.
Have had 2 phone interviews but no on-site interviews as of yet. Screwed up the 'how does a $10 increase in depreciation affect the financial statements' question in one (albeit a minor screw up). In the other we both agreed it wasn't a good fit since it was mostly biz dev.
Seems clear that networking is critical, but that still only gets me a phone interview, best case... Also am targeting botique's.
Hence the question, what is a realistic % chance is there that I break into IB, from an experienced IBanker's perspective? What can help increase that %? Is this just a fruitless effort?
0.255 ± 0.0012 %
0.206 ± 0.0011 % if you are HIGHLY and I mean HIGHLY skilled at XL (and XXL too hopefully)
... So you're saying there's a chance. Yes we used to run the financials of a $400M+ company entirely in XL. AKA up to my *** in macros and sumifs and vlookups and hlookups and I don't even care to list everything else...
Any more specific suggestions?
don't screw up the easiest questions in an interview
Clearly. It was my first IB interview and came with about 12 hrs notice, and I had two papers due for school the night before (I know, wah wah). I was caught off guard and not prepared for the technical questions but needless to say won't make that mistake again.
Any recomendations outside of the obvious?
lol you've worked in a finance-related role for 3+ years and are studying business in grad school - i was just expressing my concern at the fact that you couldn't answer the most generic/simple ib question. interviews can be hard to come by at a non-target, so when you get one don't blow it immediately (that will improve your chances!)
I think 13.67 percent.
Is this a legitimate answer? If so, what specifically makes you think >10%?
He's trolling you. Can't say your odds seem too high but I'm sure crazier things have happened. Focusing on boutiques and networking should probably be your strategy.
Yea I got that. I'm actually not 100% sure that was why I got flagged... What I said was that the benefit to cash flow would be $6, not $4 (assuming a 40% tax rate). While in hingsight this is a glaring mistake, it wasn't as though I asked what a financial statement was. Everything else I walked through was correct outside of the implications that would have on the rest of the statements.
Anyways, it's still a wrong answer but there are varying degrees of wrong on that question, although that answer seemed wrong enough to get flagged.
Appreciate the input!
Did you get an MBA and a MSF degree? To my knowledge the MSF is a one year degree while the MBA is a multiyear degree in which case you would be looking at an associate position versus an analyst position.
I think it's going to be tough if you didn't land something while at school. It’s going to come down to networking and how bad you want it. The MBA is too much for an analyst position, and in no way trying to be rude but if you're questioning if it’s a lost cause or not and don't have any prior IB experience, it’s going to be hard to get an associate position.
But hey don't let people on an internet forum bring you down get after it and go get it if you want it.
BC offers a dual degree, after which you do end up with two degrees, but effectively get economies of scale since they reduce the number of electives you need and your finance credits count for both. Basically it adds 8 courses.
I am still at BC but graduating in May.
I've been very aggressive with networking and made some traction, but haven't really had a break through yet. Juggling 3 classes, a full time job, and job hunting (as well as my personal life) is difficult. So in a nutshell I really just wanted to get a poll of how challenging this will be... As long as there's a shot, I'll make it happen.
bump
These questions really have to stop. How the fuck are we supposed to come up with a chance for you to get in...
Same way you come up with a terminal growth rate.
Dude, your chances so bad, they can't be described by a real number.
nice
... not even clever.
You'll never amount to anything. Nothing about you is impressive. Your posts and questions are idiotic.
I laugh when corporate guys say they are "highly skilled" in Excel.
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