Getting into Investment Banking late
Hey guys, I'm currently going into 3rd year at a nontarget Canadian university studying Finance (my school is mostly known for our accounting program & consulting exit ops). I hadn't really known what I wanted to do till this summer but want to get into IB now.
Background: - My GPA is not competitive : currently sits at 3.1ish due to me working during the school year and partying a little too much. - Work experience : I've worked in a customer relations roles this past school year (hotel front desk) and at a financial services firm (don't really know how to describe it - sell insurance, investment clients money into mutual funds, seg funds, GICs...). I'm also on my school's investment fund and do equity reports.
I've been looking for a job in IB, just applying for 60+ jobs to no avail (mostly in the US). I plan on applying in Canada when the recruitment cycle starts.
I am also thinking about extending university by year to recover GPA, maybe take a minor in statistics (+take coding classes) to use as a bounceboard to get a MBA or MSc at a more prominent university.
In your opinions, what would be the best path to take to hopefully break into IB? My father has contacts at RBC Dominion Securities that I may leverage for a job next summer or try to get a job in consulting so I can get a resume boost before applying for IB at the end of my 4th year.
Is it frowned upon if you apply 4th year for a summer analyst program (if you're doing 5 years)?
Any help is appreciated. Thanks
I think you sound pretty competitive in terms of extracurriculars but because of your GPA, you probably won't be getting interviews through the traditional route. If you can get your GPA up, I don't think applying in your fourth year out of five would be frowned upon, since most job applications only specify when they want your graduation date.
Thanks for the feedback. What would be a good place to apply to get a resume boost and hopefully make it easier to get into IB?
Also, how does an exchange look for IB? I'm going on exchange and the most I can bump it up to is a 3.3 at most since my exchange classes do not affect my GPA.
Any way you can delay the exchange to your fifth/final year? 3.5 is the minimum cutoff for the bigger firms, local boutiques might take you. if you can delay your study abroad and use the time to boost your GPA do it, a 3.3 is still not very competitive. Exchanges aren't really a huge plus or minus as they are pretty common. Any local IB, PE, even accounting firm that would let you do a semester internship is a good resume boost.
Agree here. Traditional bank screens may block you out via software if 3.5 GPA
Alright, thanks - I'll try to get my grades up.
Lets say I manage to get my GPA to 3.5 by the time I graduate, will I be competitive to get into IB without IB experience? What type of experience should I look for that will potentially help me get into IB after university?
Would it be easier for me to do a few years of work in something else and the go for an MBA at a reputable school to get into IB?
bump
Definitely want to try to get up that GPA in your last year. If I understand you correctly, you have 1 more full year after this one, right? Your penultimate year is when you want to apply for summer analyst roles, so it sounds like you're doing it correctly.
The background on your school's investment fund definitely helps. I'd consider applying to some boutiques (given that the low GPA may be an automated (like, literally automated by their screening tools) ding from many BBs). If you're cool with working in NYC rather than Ontario/a Canadian banking hub,) has a bunch of boutique banks on it
Thanks I'll take a look at it
Great - best of luck!
Would a minor in Statistics/CS help your GPA? Know those classes could be tough. Outside of GPA boosting though, I think those are both (CS in particular) great things to study for personal development
I'm not sure if it would help my GPA but I it's pretty easy to get a Minor in stats as I only need to take 3 classes to be able to minor.
I am not looking to minor in CS as that would require 6 extra classes. That being said, I am looking to take the 2 introductory classes so I can learn python and c++. I am also taking a coding class while on exchange (I think it's java and SQL if i remember correctly)
Yeah, I mean it's all great stuff to learn. Python is a particularly useful language w/ applications across a number of finance apps as well as typical CS use cases
Was in same boat - low gpa and took me 5.5 years to graduate. I delayed, redid classes ( to replace gpa) and did internships - lots. If you lie like I did you can be a junior many times in a row. :)
Where are you now? Did you end up getting a job in IB or the area you wanted?
Yeah, went non-target, boutique Chicago , bb nyc, and now PE.
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