How to phrase my story/'Why Investment Banking?' answer as a Non-Target Engineer

I am currently a rising sophomore at a non-target majoring in engineering and finance. I have been networking hard with both alumni and non-alumni, but recently, I have not been getting a great response when I tell them about myself and why I want to do investment banking. To simplify my story, I learned about IB through my dad's PE firm's deals (he works in back office though) and I really want to help advise companies. I realized this is a pretty generic reason for why IB and may even be wrong as an analyst since there is no client interaction. I love to problem solve (hence my engineering coursework) and I want to work with very smart and motivated people, so I was wondering if I should include those reasons instead. Any other advice or things that I should do to make my story better?

1 Comments
 

Quaerat provident impedit molestiae blanditiis. At dignissimos doloribus et omnis labore et. In nihil sed culpa rem voluptas quos. Aspernatur culpa molestiae amet voluptas sed non praesentium.

Rem itaque at a aut ex officia labore dolor. Natus ut porro et laborum. Unde illo voluptatibus itaque reprehenderit excepturi ab. Illo voluptas nihil ut qui itaque ea distinctio.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (23) $182
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (82) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”