RE: Developing Finance knowledge & C.V + Tips to revise A-Level + How to land Spring Weeks!

Hey,

Hope everyone's good.

For some context I'm an A-Level leaver, between college (uk) and university. I've recently made the decision to retake my A-level Statistics as this was the poorest of my grades. I'm also interested in M&A/Consultancy in terms of long-term careers. I wanted to know what available resources are out there to help me develop some more knowledge on these industries, develop my extracurricular section of my cv or otherwise, and how to revise my A-Level Statistics subject.

So far in terms of experiences to develop my finance knowledge I've done :

- TheForage - Virtual Experiences (like case studies) - J.P.M IB, doing Citi IB one now. Done a BCG consultancy based one.

- Financial Modelling Workshop (bit out of my depth, but I definitely learnt from this). Covered some excel functions with a financial model to use in real-time, still a bit clueless on 3-part DCF, would be high priority to learn.

- Morgan Stanley Summer Academy 2022 - very basic finance knowledge on all different sections of the institution

- 'Trader Mind’ (ran by Alpesh Patel) – established foundations on how people trade in financial markets.

- Attended an Evercore seminar ‘How do Investment Bankers add value to deals?’ – covered how M&A worked in the energy sector. (Don't remember this to be great, but was definitely an insight).

- Attended a Blockworks webinar on ‘Crypto’s Institutional Landscape’– featuring the VP Global Head of Strategy at NASDAQ.

- Signed up to an email newsletter covering M&A - Believe it is called 'The North Star'. Super interesting read. Where I learnt about case studies of Ackman.

Another thing I'm interested in is how to land Spring Weeks when at University. I would love if any recent interns can run over the following: process from C.V. screen to offer, what interviews (competency / knowledge orientated), and what other things to keep in mind/generic tips.

Thanks!

6 Comments
 

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RE: Spring Weeks,

You'll want to apply as early as you can, Goldman normally opens first around July, and most are open by November. Create/find a spreadsheet to track your progress, expect to make 20+ applications. These are a great leg up in securing a summer analyst internship after your second year of uni.

Here's what to do in your first semester:

- Join the IB/Econ societies.

- Attend any workshops/speaking events by banks.

- Continue refining your CV.

- Work on your cover letters: most applications require one and if you've already got it sorted you can apply the day the apps open!

Good luck!

 

For someone who's just gone through it. Sort all your CLs early and make sure they're tailored to each firm. I made mine super tailored which got me 5/6 interviews so far but I was soooo stressed and burnt out trying to do them quickly but also to a good standard. Would've saved so much time if I wrote them out before uni. Same to interview prep + test prep. From my experience interview prep takes a lot of time cuz I was trying to perfect mine which takes a lot of time. If you have quality interview answers at the spring week stage you should pass most interviews. Also practice tests - makes a lot of difference and pointless throwing away applications because you don't meet a certain benchmark. And most important - apply early. Get access to lse applciation tracker and get in habit of checking everyday to see whats opened.

 

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