Possible to break into IB from community college?

Am going to community college then transferring after a semester to Umass Isenberg business school, a non target but with some good placement on the street within the student led funds. Currently a recent high school graduate and interning @ asset management firm in nearest city to me. My grades in high school were mid. 3.5 GPA and denied from Isenberg so I am giving another whack at it. Chances are community college fucks my resume and makes me an unappealing candidate, but if I can pick up the pieces my sophomore year when I transfer and get into one of the funds at UMass could I place onto Wall Street and work in IB even with a missed freshman year of college?

26 Comments
 

Some people will judge, but as long as you can give a you good reason for why you went to community college (for me, it was to stay close by so I could support my family), it shouldn’t hinder you

 

I mean, anything's possible with enough work.

Realistically, I don't think anyone's going to look down on you for using CC as a bridge between High School and College, but if you're really concerned that it's going to fuck your resume and make you an unappealing candidate, you can just take it off your CV and not mention it unless asked about it in an interview. Since you're only going to be there for one semester, I really don't think it's the iceberg/titanic situation you think it is my man. 

I will say this though, as an aside - given you've been denied from UMass, and you're transferring after one semester at CC, why not apply to transfer somewhere that's more "target" instead? Unless that's the best college you think you can possibly transfer into, you stand a much better chance at breaking in if you transfer elsewhere. 

 

This was a topic of discussion for me… I looked into transferring to Cornell because the community college I’m going to has a program where you can go there. Bad news is you have to stay 2 years at community college and you can’t transfer into the business school, you have to take a weird major like agricultural developmental studies.

 

Ahh look in all honesty, i’m not from the states so my understanding of the way things work over there is mostly limited to what i’ve read online and heard through friends, but wouldn’t you still be best going to cornell as it’s an Ivy/more prestigious than UMass and will have better On Campus recruitment programs?

I’m not sure if things have changed, but it was my understanding that your major wasn’t that important in the states, especially if you’re at a target/semi-target.

 

I know a guy who took a pretty insane path -

>CC for two years

>Recruited for IB during his sophomore summer. He networked as if he had already transferred

>Transferred to our non-target university with a BB SA offer already locked in

>Led our finance club and investment fund almost immediately

>Finished his junior and senior years chilling and giving us advice. Stand up guy

>BB (JPM, GS, MS) full time

>MF PE (KKR, BX) associate

Legend

 

Definitely possible. I know a kid that did community college, transferred to Berkeley, and is killing it banking rn. At this point as long as the skills come across and you put yourself in a position to succeed people don’t care where you go to school. 

 

Yes - I did it.  Never came up in a negative way when I recruited.  My back story included working a labor job for a couple of years btwn HS and JUCO - people tended to appreciate the effort that it took to go from working>>JUCO>>Uni>>Banking path.  If someone asks about it in an interrogative way, just say that JUCO was the only affordable option at the time.  If you were to get dinged for that answer, no way you would want to work at that bank anyhow. 

 

Although I'm only a sophomore in college, one thing i've learned/seen is that pretty much anyone can make it into IB one way or another as long as they're willing to grind. There are always boutique firms looking to hire an analyst, and UMass Isenberg is a decent enough school to achieve that. Sure, you might make 80-100k all-in your first year while the BB/EB kids will make double, but after a year or two you can lateral, making it to the same spot. Sure, it may take you longer, but thats the price that you (and many others like myself) have to pay for fucking around in high school. In the long run, this is just a minor hiccup, no one rlly cares if you broke into a BB at 24 instead of 22. You're still a kid making a shit ton of money in your 20's.

 
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