I currently am a freshman at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the not so good University of Illinois campus, studying finance. I have read the other forums about breaking into Investment Banking from UIC, and still have some questions. Obviously it is going to be very difficult for me to get in the door from UIC, so I was wondering what other things would make me have a better chance at getting interviews and internships aside from the old standards of Networking and good grades.
Would having an RA position for campus housing on my resume help?
I currently am in a leadership role in UIC's Finance and Investment club, and am considering joining the Econ club, and possibly the accounting club. With transfer credit from courses that I took during high school at a community college, my GPA is currently 3.72.
Does anyone have any suggestions of what to minor in? I was thinking about changing my minor to math or statistics, it is currently Information Technology.
As for internships, I feel my options are limited. There are a few students from the business school here that get internships with Prop shops, and alot more with UBS Private Wealth Management. Would either of these help? Cary Kochman, co-head and MD of Americas M&A for UBS did his undergrad at UIC. Is doing the PWM internship at UBS and trying to contact him my best option?
How would having a job at a Prop shop look on my resume?
Would learning a programming language like C or C++ help?
How would a huge amount of volunteer hours look on a resume for banking?
I applied to transfer to University of Illinois at Urbana Champagne for next fall. I was accepted as a general education student, with the possibility of transferring into the business school, but not directly accepted to it for this year. If that happens to me again, should I go to UIUC and try to transfer into the business school? How would an economics degree from UIUC look for banking?
Any other suggestions that would help me land a spot in banking would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
Wow, that's a lot of questions. Before we get into them, I have a few of my own.
What do you mean by "banking?" Did you just hear about investment banking and just want to do anything, anywhere, or do you have a specific function in mind? You're mentioning M&A and prop shops and programming and you're kind of all over the place so I'm guessing it's the former.
GPA is solid, you are starting early and you seem ready to follow some advice, so you're in a good spot right now.
By the way, why on earth are you minoring in IT if you know already that you want to shoot for banking? That's kind of like minoring in auto repair while shooting for pre-med.
Since you are a freshman you probably haven't figure out what exactly you want to do in banking and even if you have it will probably change over the next four years. I think right now you should focus your networking efforts on getting a paid/unpaid summer/off cycle internship at a BB Private Wealth Management. Once there I am sure you will have the opportunity to reach out to other people in different divisions so that you can 1) figure out which area of banking you want to get into 2)network so that you better position yourself to break into that division.
don't worry about taking a non-traditional path. Look up Neel Kashkari. Remember him?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neel_Kashkari
Kashkari got an MBA from Wharton
jhoratio, I mentioned Prop Shop and programming because I was wondering if having those would help make my resume stand out. IT isn’t really my minor, the real term for it is a minor in information systems. I chose that based off the advise of a career advisor and because it requires that I take alot of business statistics classes and data mining. Should I just minor in statistics?
I am interested in M&A advisory, or equity/ debt underwriting.
No they won't.
First of all you should start reading about what investment banking (m&a, capital markets, etc.) actually entails. There are about a jillion summaries available online from various websites. Then read the dozen or so "day in the life of an investment banker" websites out there.
Most big investment banks also have sales and trading desks, but this is something almost entirely different from the client service aspect of i-banking. S&T and M&A are two very distinct career paths. If you want M&A, then a background in programming and trading won't make you stand out, it will make you look like you don't know what you want to do.
I agree with the other responder who said try to intern with a Private Wealth Management group. It's a fairly typical early internship and can expose you to a lot of concepts in finance.
Regarding your majors, honestly it doesn't really matter, just work hard and get some kick ass grades. That said, if I were you I'd stay away from these wacky majors that sound like they're degrees from DeVry or something. Just major in something normal. The thing about getting into banking is that you're not really trying to "stand out" per se, but rather "fit in."
Kashkari graduated from UIUC, which if I am correct is a very good engineering school. It also sounds like he had a pretty solid mathematical background in Aeronautical Engineering, should I do a pure math minor? Currently at UIC, all I am required to do for my degree is get through Calculus for Business, which is an easier version of Calc 1. I am going to take the regular Calc 1 so I can keep the math minor open to me.
Try to transfer if it is an option. I go to a non-target with a decent alumni network, but going to UIC seems like it would be very tough. Maybe try to transfer to Urbana...
In my opinion, by far the best option for you right now is to transfer to a target school. Transferring to a school like columbia, cornell, duke etc. would open up a lot more doors for you. However, you will pretty much need to get a 4.0 (it's possible, trust me) in both semesters you have left and impress some profs in order to get amazing recommendations (also shouldn't be amazingly difficult at UIC). It will also help if you take a lot of very hard sounding classes and do well in them. If you think that's a financially feasible option for you, then don't waste time on extracurriculars or networking with UIC alums, but focus only on your grades.
It is an excellent sign that you are researching your career early on and fortunately you have options to consider. First, you need to consider whether transfering to another school is worthwhile and, to me, that depends on which area in finance you want to enter. If you want to work at a BB or MM firm focused on M&A / ECM / DCM / etc., then I would strongly suggest that you explore transfering (UChicago, NU, Michigan or Indiana) and continue the path that you're currently on. If cost is an issue, just go down to C-U... or stay put.
If you stay at UIC, utilize the fact that you're close to downtown to secure an internship at a financial firm while going to school. You can manage b/n 20-30 hrs/wk while going to school and companies love cheap labor (especially in this environment). Experience and a qualit name on your resume will separate you from the competition when on-campus interviews comes around. If you need to, go down to C-U for their on-campus recruiting. Make sure that you get an internship at a reputable financial services firm during the school year and then apply like mad for the PWM summer internships in Chicago (MS, UBS, Citi etc.). PWM is the easier division to get into initially and then you can transfer after you build a strong network.
Utilize the fact that you live in the city and go to a school that can accomodate a school / work lifestyle. Excel in your coursework and get a strong internship.
Good luck!
I forgot to add, don't go to C-U for Economics. You would be better served by double majoring in Accounting-Finance at UIC with a stellar GPA. If you're ambitious enough, and double major, accumulate enough credit hours to sit for the CPA right after undergrad. If you have a Acct-Fin major, CPA and relevant work experience, you will be good to go.
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