December graduation effect on job opportunities

I should note that I am in an ideal financial situation. I have been living at home to save money and my parents are paying for my college, which is a big state school. They wouldn't mind paying for an extra semester because that is what they expected to do in the first place. I have no significant expenses and have been interning part time during the school year, so I have the opportunity to save a significant amount of cash.

Yes. Cabo. Spring Break. Partying. Girls. No Homework. Did I mention, girls?

Or just start working in december as well. But I would stay the extra semester and live the life

or finish in december and just work like 20-30 hour weeks while on campus for the rest of the year

You could start in Jan/Feb and still do training in July. It's been done before. However, it depends on whether there's a need for analysts at the time.

i AGREE w/ the above poster, it does happen more than one would assume.

don't do it, enjoy your life for those 6 months instead.

plus, your bonus won't be any higher.

People do it and travel for a couple months prior to starting.

I'm going to try to travel I think. Though the extra money is tempting, but not really worth it unless they give you an extra half year of seniority and a bonus for the time. Otherwise it is just another internship.

You will get a bonus for the time, at least I did.

It worked like an associate stub bonus.

didnt hear of others getting a bonus for the time they worked but do know of people who started earlier than the class - id advise to not do it. enjoy your last few months of freedom. also think of the tax implications of working an extra few months

But won't that extra 6 months experience give you the inside track on top bonus bucket after your first full year - crucial not only for the bank account and pride, but for PE exit opps?

^^ Is it possible that you might become a second year analyst after working six months?? I've seen this as a possible question that can be raised when getting an offer so was just wondering if that is actually possible..

^^ In that case I would rather take stupid classes and chill out in school.

its also a question of responsibility. i don't personally know anyone who has done it (just heard of it), but I tend to believe that banks won't treat you as a true analyst until you've gone through training.

unless you are an accounting/finance whiz.

you may just end up doing formatting and comps for six months and get treated like a glorified intern which would suck a big one.

well, did you get the offer from ib yet?

^^ well I definitely know that they treat you as an analyst and working in january isnt that big a deal (atleast according to Goldman Sachs people)..but i dont know whether they give a stub or not..not sure about giving you top bonus either

Well it doesn't seem like you would automatically get the top bonus. But if you have 3 months of internship experience, then 6 months of work experience, it seems like when compared to others in your class with either 3 months experience of 0 experience, that since you are going to be able to better know the people in your group/have more experience at the job that you will outperform them and receive the top bonus.

What about starting in April? Since it's only a couple of months, will they not let me do this? Or do they always need all the help they can handle?

If I want to start just 2 months before the actual start date, will they let me do it?

From what I see, most firms do hiring in october-november for entry level, and then you start your training in july. So you'll have to wait the 7 months before you start your job.

But I think thats actually good for you, because you'll be able to relax from school appropriate amount before you start doing your 80-90 hour work weeks.

Some BB firms let you start early in January after you graduate and you receive a stub bonus in June.

There's a post out there about the reasons not to do this.

This fall will be my 8th sesester, so going into the spring 09 would mean an additional semester.

I think it's possible. There was an analyst in my class who graduated early, started in February and then went through training with everyone else in the Summer.

Still don't think it's a good idea, as ideating noted.

If graduating in December, would company's look down on you traveling, studying for GMAT, etc before the summer regular start instead of working for them right away?

They have a good article regarding reasons why NOT to do this... I am in the same boat, and I think I will be studying aboard in spr 09'

Study abroad or travel. Once you have the FT offer, the firm won't know or care what you're doing for the rest of the year so long as you graduate and show up for training. Why start work early? You've got the rest of your life to work.

just graduate in the summer like a normal person.

Based on my personal experience, I wouldn't worry about it.

I am graduating post graduate in Summer (December-February in Australia), and have an offer with a Big 4 to start January. I've been upfront with everyone I've interviewed with, in that I may have one subject remaining by the time I start work. I've not had problems with firms crossing me off the list because of this.

Some of the graduate positions are still available to those who graduate within 2 years, so this might be an option. Each firm is different, so go read their graduate position criteria.

Also look into the internship criteria, because they are generally for the penultimate year. And talk to your university program co-ordinator and university careers office.

Generally you apply to graduate by submitting a form to your uni, so you might be able to just submit the form to graduate later if you don't get an offer and the company where you want to work doesn't take graduates from the last 2 years. I don't know too much about this, so I'd look into it before you try it.

Good luck. Remember not getting a graduate position isn't the end of the world, there's always grad school, and other entry options. Every company that rejected me suggested I apply for other roles within their organisation, so you're going to be fine.

are you interested in investment banking? What else is on your resume?

I am extremely interested in I-banking. I have worked for 2 years at smith barney doing pwm, and co-founded a company. Beyond that I have taken and will be taking classes that focus specifically on investment banking skills. These classes include financial modeling and accounting for finance.

i would not graduate, take like 2 classes, and absolutely live it up at college. dont know why you would ever want to leave college early to be honest...you have plenty of life left to not be in college...

I did the above. I took 3 BS classes and just slept all day then partied at night. It was awesome because 2 of my roommates/best friends did the exact same thing so we just balled out for 3 months.

100% agree with the above posters. college was awesome...sigh

Hm.. This would be graduating early or late? I presume early.

I would take the minimum amt of classes you can, probably 2. Agree w/ above posters or knock out CFA/GMAT, one or the other. There are classes I wish I took in college, so make sure you pick good and easy classes.