Creative Post-Grad Looking to Exercise Left Brain Thinking
Hey all,
I've spent a few hours searching WSO for someone in my position, and I reached a dead end. I was hoping you guys could give me some advice.
I'm a recent Northwestern graduate who majored in Journalism. I'm trying to break into investment breaking.
Before you start laughing, there are a few points I'd like to mention.
First, Northwestern's journalism program is considered the most prestigious in the country.
Second, while I may have no work experience in analytics, I am by no means inept at math or strategy. I received a 5 on my AP Calc BC exam, a 770 on my SAT II Math, and a 2310 on my SAT I. I also received an A in Northwestern's finite math course, which covered high-level game theory. I simply chose to major in journalism because that was what I was most passionate about at that point in my life.
All that being said, I graduated with a cumulative 3.4 GPA. My work/internship experience is in advertising, professional journalism, and music marketing.
So I've narrowed my options for breaking into investment banking down to two possible paths.
1) Make a list of boutique firms in Chicago. Cold-email them and beg my way into an internship. Foster connections from there.
2) Don't even bother with the internship. Find a job in PR/marketing/journalism for now, and work towards getting into a great MBA program.
I prefer path #1. But if you guys can explain how path #2 is better (or how neither paths are good), then I'll definitely take your advice into consideration.
Thanks in advance!
don't break any investments pls
also don't mention your ap or SAT scores to anyone ever. sit the gmat if you want to brag about test scores. also look into http://www.commerce.virginia.edu/mscommerce/Pages/default.aspx
Thanks for the reply. It sounds like your opinion is to get a master's, then. If you don't mind, can you clarify on your point about not breaking any investments?
Also, I looked a little into the McIntire's MsC program, and it seems like an awesome third option. For financial and personal reasons, I'd like to grab a year of career experience before diving into a program like that. I'll definitely keep it in mind, though.
Have you looked into equity research? I think that sort of work may be a better fit given your journalism background. Either way, it seems like its going to be a long shot for you. Best of luck!
Thanks for the reply. I understand that my path is certainly going to be difficult. But if I don't try to make it now, I know I'm going to regret it for the rest of my life. And that seems like the harder path overall.
I'll look more into equity research. I just assumed it would be easier for me to break into investment banking, since that's the route my non-finance peers took as well.
It is definitely easier to break into vanilla IB since everything is much more structured. Recruiting for ER is much more ad hoc and there are just generally fewer positions available.
Many ER analysts view their work as almost investigative journalism, which is why I mentioned it. To get one of these gigs you need to demonstrate passion for investing/public markets and not some amorphous bullshit of "liking the business world and want to work with smart people."
Like what the others above said, you will need to network to get the ball rolling. You also need to understand how financial statements work/fit together and some basic valuation/forecasting techniques - there are some guides on WSO you can use. I would try building out your own reports to get some exp.
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