Rising Senior - Chat am I cooked?
Introduction: I'm a rising senior majoring in Economics with a minor in Stats at a T20. Heavily involved in a competitive club sport, however I have a sub 2.0 GPA until end of sophomore year, currently risen to a 2.5 and by my scheduled May 2027 graduation it should just crack 3.0.
I have no prior professional work experience, am struggling to land and continue through interviews. Was advised to take another minor (considering math, currently enrolled in a few quant style courses) in order to extend graduation by a semester in order to apply to 2027 internships.
Interests: (Geo)politics/currency/macroeconomics (monetary policy, forecasting/strategy). I made a few large successful trades: GEO and the Russian rouble in 2022.
I'd appreciate any thoughts on:
1. Pros/Cons of extending my graduation
2. What roles/careers/industries might be most compatible for developing my interests
3. Actionable steps for improving the quality of company in which I enter the work force
All advice and reality checks welcome, thanks guys
Judging by the fact that you did not mention applying anywhere, I'd say you're cooked. Start cranking out applications and networking immediately.
Also, it's January. wtf does a rising senior even mean in January?
I'm banging out a lot of applications to risk analytics / general vaguely investment related internships as well as searchfunds right now. I'm not concerned with brand recognition at the moment because I'm just trying to get my chops in any work environment.
With non-IB internships (analytics or searchfund) what do I have to do in order to break into global markets at a real big firm? Thanks
I don’t want to sound like a dick but honestly, you’re probably cooked for internships at this point. I’m assuming you’re applying to internships with a sub 3.0 GPA. Even if you network and get someone to give you a referral the 3.5 GPA cutoff for most banks is going to automatically reject you, unless you can somehow backdoor the process.
I’d immediately start looking at masters programs like Vandy MSF or Gtown MSF. Delaying your grad by a semester or two at this point won’t change your GPA substantially unless you manage to get 4.0s from here until you graduate. I’d still network but keep in mind your chances of getting into IB or anything FO from undergrad is close to 0.
Good luck. This is a brutal job market.
Appreciate your reality check, I should have prefaced though I'm being entirely realistic with my applications and pretty much applying to normal companies not IB although this is WSO.
I'm just gunning for adjacently high performing roles not necessarily trying to directly replicate other people's success in IB if that makes sense. Kind of just seeking thoughts regarding general career trajectory towards high performance roles.
It's good to be realistic.
If I'm being honest, you'll probably have to start out in Ops at a MM or Lmm bank, Compliance, trade settlement, IT support, so on and so forth.
Obviously it's not as glamourous or lucrative as front office or your typical roles, but the upside is that the hours are much much better(outside of a few outliers where Ops work 70-80 hours a week), the jobs are usually located in Mcol to Lcol cities so your salary goes much further than if you lived in New York or Chicago, and it can set up you up for a nice M7 or T15 MBA.
Front office isn't in your cards right now, but the most important thing is to get a job and hold on to it for dear life in this market.
FP&A is something I've also seen guys and gals who didn't do so hot in undergrad break into as well.
Appreciate the suggestions commendatore, lots for me to think about
Heh heh. Like a commander.
In any event, just make sure to push Webistics.
I'm in a similar boat with a 3.1 GPA and one project management (non-finance) internship. Do you think there are any other MSF programs other than Vandy and Georgetown that are worth applying to?
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