Looking for some insight on F500 corporate finance rotational programs. I go to a NESCAC (northeast liberal arts) school that doesn't have a finance/accounting program. I'm studying Econ, which is obviously different, and looking to recruit for IB in the next 12 months. Although our school places reasonably well in IB, it's definitely not a target and I want a backup plan. FP&A roles seem pretty interesting, but there's the obvious drawback that I won't have a finance degree when applying for them. So, looking to understand whether a finance or accounting degree is a prerequisite for getting into these undergrad F500 finance rotational programs, or whether someone from a liberal arts background can realistically get into them.
Also, would love to hear from those of you who got into IB as liberal arts majors. Did you have a backup plan, and if so, what was it?
Econ degree is total non-issue for both IB and FP&A, especially if your school doesn't offer a finance program. You do need to put in more work than a finance major to understand the basics because you don't have the classes to teach you, but no one is dinging you because you don't come in with a finance background. Just study technicals well and be able to talk about finance/accounting at a high level to show interest.
IB is pretty doable from those NESCAC schools if you nail it on networking - alumni network is close-knit and they will help you. If you send out a few hundred emails and get a network going, you should be just fine assuming you can make it through a superday. If you're a rising sophomore, I would start hard around October/November talking to alumni (and non-alumni) and getting connections around the street.
Those rotational programs are fine, but I wouldn't worry about them right now as IB recruiting is sophomore spring and those rotational programs won't even open up apps until early or mid fall, and there is no networking to get those. FP&A is kind of boring (basically closing the month and quarter-end books and managing budget) and has very limited comp upside or exit opps. I would go for consulting, corporate banking, valuations, big 4 IB, etc as backups... things that have some more optionality to IB before you take an FP&A job.
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