My conversation with HR: The real probability of you entering a Bank's graduate program?

It is less than 1%. No you did not see wrongly. For every graduate position, there are more than 100 people applying and only one will get hired. Even getting a summa cum laude is easier than getting into a bank's graduate program.

I knew it was bad but I did not know it was that bad. For those who made it inside, congrats. For those who don't, don't blame yourself too much.

17 Comments

Not surprising. This seems to hold for good grad programs at nonbanks too. But there's more to it than just that number. There is a lot of overlap in the applicant pool at most BBs, for example, and obviously each applicant can only end up working at 1 bank.

 

Tried to find the reference, but didn't, so maybe it didn't happen. But Jamie Dimon was quoted semi-bragging about how JPMorgan gets 100,000+ applications a year for a few thousand hires. Granted, that's across the firm, but still.

"There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat."
 

That maybe true, but think about it this way those 100 are likely also applying at GS, MS, all the other BBs, MMs boutiques, ultimately it is more a question of how many applicants in aggregate for how many IB spots in aggregate. It's like med school, many schools will have sub-10% acceptance rates, but an applicant will have a roughly 50% chance of getting into a med school. Also, you have to remember some people are simply non-starters, no experience, bad school/major/grades.

 

This. It's honestly not that hard to get into ibanking if you're at a decent school, you just have to follow the right steps. Even at schools like Berkeley, Virginia, Michigan, Georgetown, everyone who seriously recruits for banking gets it. At top schools, it's even easier. It's certainly much harder to be summa cum laude. Of course, if you're at a shit school, or are lazy and have shit grades, it's going to be extremely hard to get into banking - as it should be.

 

What is worse is trying to get a full time offer now after you become the 1%. What is even worse than that is actually keeping that full-time offer or still wanting it after a few years of experience!

 

Yes, at the BB I spent my first two summers at, the CEO told us that the admit rate was 1.5%, over 40,000 applicants with 450 summers accepted. The numbers are pretty dismal, shows how you have to absolutely hustle to even get a) an interview, b) succeed in the interview process, c) perform well enough in the internship program to merit the return offer, d) do it without losing your drive to the point you no longer want the position.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 
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latitude4310This. It's honestly not that hard to get into ibanking if you're at a decent school, you just have to follow the right steps. Even at schools like Berkeley, Virginia, Michigan, Georgetown, everyone who seriously recruits for banking gets it. At top schools, it's even easier. It's certainly much harder to be summa cum laude. Of course, if you're at a shit school, or are lazy and have shit grades, it's going to be extremely hard to get into banking - as it should be.

Georgetown is more of a target than you think. See Bankerchick's thing about that.

APAEYes, at the BB I spent my first two summers at, the CEO told us that the admit rate was 1.5%, over 40,000 applicants with 450 summers accepted. The numbers are pretty dismal, shows how you have to absolutely hustle to even get a) an interview, b) succeed in the interview process, c) perform well enough in the internship program to merit the return offer, d) do it without losing your drive to the point you no longer want the position.

That 1.5% would be yield (accepted offers), not offer rate (or admit). I wonder what the yield/offer spread is like.. maybe like 50 bps? Less? Anyone have an idea?

"There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat."
 

Curious what the number is if you extract anyone who is obviously not up to snuff - i.e. even just extract anyone below a 3.0 and not from a top 50 university. See if they have a screen for that.

If you went to Wharton and can hold a conversation without puking on your tie, you can probably get a banking offer. If you're the same person but you went to South Dakota State, well, it's not impossible but it is tougher.

if you like it then you shoulda put a banana on it
 

Didn't Mcdonalds only have an acceptance rate of 6.2% last year?

Yeah but I get it. Bank Grad programs are certainly not easy to get into.

 

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