Qatalyst?
Seems like a great shop but obviously super competitive. Rising sophomore wondering what the interview process is like, how to prep for the interviews, if they care what school you’re at, etc. Any advice and insight appreciated, thanks.
They recruit incredibly early (early March this year) from a small number of schools. Only know Harvard and UChicago for sure are among those schools--probably the other HYPSM too. Q makes no attempt to recruit from my school which is a semitarget/target for BB/EBs. Second-hand info from this forum indicates extremely technical interviews. Even more technical than EBs. 10+ interview rounds supposedly.
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/investment-banking/qatalyst-inter…
Interesting thanks. It seems a bit hard to get info on them since only ~70 people work at the firm in aggregate.
Can attest all is true, only recruit from Harvard, Wharton, U Chicago, Berkeley, USC, and BYU. Things kicked off in March this year, they only have around 5 spots, Super technical and a million interviews.
Kinda nuts cuz I go to another top Ivy and even tho we have representation everywhere, Q won’t even talk to us lol
Kinda crazy I go to the other top Ivy that you didn’t mention/don’t go to and our alums responded way faster than their BB counterparts
Look at their SAs… this is so obviously not true
They kicked off in march for SA 2024? Or 2023? Also do you think it matters that I’m from Y/P not H/W? I have no idea why they’d care about that if I know my shit but it sounds like they do.
They have 0 people working at the firm from either Y or P, so it’ll be hard to get a look. However, with enough networking, it is still possible.
2024? Sounds really early for a recruiting timeline
I see a ton of ucla kids and a texas kid interning on LinkedIn
They don't recruit from USC.
This is not great information. Obviously alumni are going to pull for kids from their alma mater and Q has specific teams for their "target" schools with everyone else being lumped in the "non-target" pile. But Q does not care about your undergrad prestige. The interview process is brutal and if you can hack it you will receive an offer. Plenty of kids from IU Kelley / USC / NYU getting interviews and offers in recent years. I also found found that the analysts were very happy to talk to people not from their alma mater.
Attend NYU and have literally not heard of someone interviewing or even getting a response from Q analysts. I'm assuming you grouped us in with USC incorrectly here because I think there was a SA 2023 from USC but no one here can get an in with Q. Will say that they at least posted applications on our handshake this year though.
there is also a kid from UMD
Their main targets seem to be Wharton, Harvard, UChi, UCLA, USC, Stanford, BYU and Ivey.Really strong students from schools that has alumni at the firm will be able to get a first round through networking too, like UT Austin, Brown, Kelley, other ivys.Interviews are 3-4 rounds, then a 4-5 round superday; technical as fuck - however, the finance technical aspect of it is a bit overrated on this forum. Knowing the tech industry inside out, knowing a subvertical super well, being able to pitch a long and short, pitching an M&A and knowing FAANGM and companies Q has advised inside out is the most important bit of prep you can do.
Lmao you mentioned UCLA / USC / BYU before Stanford (and Berkeley). Qatalyst recruits heavily out of Cal and Stanford....
Interview process is the hardest on the street. Prepare for phone interviews of straight grilling before you are allowed to get FaceTime or any personal questions. The technical questions are also nothing like the guides so you better know them inside and out and know LBO & M&A models by heart. And all that is if you are able to even get a look which is close to impossible without an intro from someone.
Lots of info getting thrown around on this thread so thought I'd add in how my class faired with Q. Attend NYU and recruiting was near impossible with them on our end. Not exactly complaining because we do have great access to other EBs/BBs but no one from Q responded to me or anyone I talked to (including multiple people with extremely strong profiles who got multiple other top EB offers). As for the interviews, saw some old Q questions floating around somewhere and they were a mix of tough technicals (but nothing too different than EBs) and interesting behavioral (not your generic TMA a time). They also had some very specific tech questions that seemed much more specific than other industry-focused boutique banks. Even if you get to the interview I put the odds as being quite slim.
Alright prob will stick to recruiting at the BB/EBs and just take my shot in the dark with Q then, thanks!
Yeah, don't want to throw you off from recruiting for Q, just wanted to be honest about it. Looking at Q's deals made me star struck and I felt I wasted an outsized amount of time trying to get to them, just to hear they really only took kids from their target universities. Wish you the best of luck – and if you have any questions, I'd love to help anyway I can.
I know someone who made it very far in the process and didn’t get the offer who told me a bit about the interviews. What I’m reading above seems accurate - the interview process is extremely long and challenging. You need to know technical concepts like 3-statement modeling, M+A, LBO, etc. extremely well beyond just memorizing guides. There’s also a big emphasis on tech and tech M&A and there are a lot of follow up questions to make sure you really know what you’re talking about.
Interviewed with Q for both summer and full-time before accepting other offers, but generally would say 1) reach out to HR, 2) the analysts are pretty nice and are willing to talk to kids who didn't go to their UG, 3) definitely a lot of interviews. Think for summer at one point they asked for an essay on "why tech" if I remember correctly
Where did you take over Q if you dont mind me asking?
An NY M&A/RX seat
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