To Sternies

Citi actually told you the rejection was because your cover letter was terrible?

do you live in the water st dorms?

wait nvm...thought your avator looked like them...

stole my avatar from a pic some trader in global equities sent me, I live off campus.

A first year analyst who was formerly in BAP looked at my resume/cover letter and took it upon herself to as tactless as possible.

Are you for real? The BAP kids are such tools. I'd legit be interested in knowing the name of that person who said that shit to you because I might know them. In fact, I have ideas as to who it is, and such douchebaggery is not surprising. Don't let that shit get you down.

whats BAP?

BAP (beta alpha psi) is a business fraternity at most schools; however, it is a "society" at NYU since they can't cut students (or they will lose club money).

haha I'm guessing my original question isn't going to get answered till the next rejections at midnight...

to be fair, a lot of the bap kids are actually pretty nice.

and so far, i only know one person who got in to citi ibd.

and no worries, i'm pretty sure we're all freaking out...

gl

what was so terrible about your cover letter?

0/9... guess the cover letter was pretty bad or my resume or my gpa. 3.5, 1520 SAT, two leadership positions, blackrock internship = no interviews...pretty lame.

really? I think you should not give up and also try looking at your resume I mean my cover letters are like super generic, since I thought people dont even look at cover letters

depressed...

Things are really that bad huh...

FT wasn't good either, but wow!

beta member too

.

PM me if you want the email addresses of the Citi HR girls.

if the people with 3.7's are getting rejected, i have no idea what i am going to do this summer...my stats are very similar to your's. i think it's time to change my strategy -- to what, i have no idea...

if it's any consolation, if the markets are so bad, they probably wouldn't focus hiring on ER...

I haven't had the chance to talk to many people in Stern yet but there are definitely interviews going out (I have 5+). My best advice would be to revise your materials and network like a beast (that means A LOT). I know its tempting to think that your materials are sufficient and that by now its all just a roll of the dice, but the more you can polish your materials, ESPECIALLY your resume, the much greater your chance. Just think about it, 0 out of anything more than 4 or 5 is definitely a signal that you're not triggering what the banks are looking for. Think of something different to put on and swap it in there, make sure there are absolutely no typos, your margins are matched up, your format is 100% consistent, etc, etc.

Also if you're very interested in a specific division, do your best to get a longer conversation going with somebody in that division at the rest of the networking events. Introduce yourself by your full name, stay for 10+ minutes, bust out your best questions, get their business card, send them an email that night thanking them for telling you something interesting AND ask them to look for your materials when they come through (DON'T be too tacky though, like "please please get me an interview, I reallllly want it" which I'm sure some Sternies do, but make it explicit that you've applied and would like their help). I know its sometimes hard to get a good conversation going when there are 20 nerds standing there not saying anything, but try to find one of those random employees that sneaks over by the food or into a corner. If you can get a 5-1 ratio or even less, which I did at both MS and GS (so its possible at all of them), you're in good shape. This really should work, and although it may not get you into multiple divisions at the firm, it will at least get you to the division you want the most.

Lastly, its still early enough to land a very respectable offer. Many of our resume drops haven't even hit yet, so get those materials looking great and start applying EVERYWHERE! Who cares if you don't want a back or middle office position right now--if that's the best you can get, TAKE IT--many people can transition to front office within a few years. And seriously, screw your classes for the next few weeks and go at these internships 100%. It will be much easier to get a FT offer from the internship than the slight GPA boost you might get by paying attention to your classes right now and half-assing the rest of recruiting.

Good luck to my fellow Sternies with the rest of your SA decisions.

PS, don't hate on BAP either!

thanks bullybear, what were your stats if you don't mind me asking

Stern 2009, 1400-1500 SAT, 3.9 GPA, good extracurrics, worked 3 summers in accounting at a random company in NYC suburbs (jr, sr yrs in HS and as a frosh @ nyu), did PE in the city last summer at a small shop where I got a lot of exposure.

GPA is probably my biggest asset, at this point it appears to be what's putting me ahead of a lot of people with perhaps even better work experience but slightly lower college grades.

banks go to Stern for experienced hires (since you're in the city and don't have school on Fridays)not for GPA. I know someone from Stern who has a 3.96 and has no interviews.

Analyst 2008, can you explain why you think banks are looking for "experienced hires" to be SA's. Also, having a 3.96 in Stern should be getting this person a lot of interviews, maybe revisiting the resume would be a good idea. Granted, I'm a 3.9 and didn't get interviews everywhere, but I'm still batting over .500.

Yeah, I can see your point TheKing. I guess it is hard for many resume pickers to take GPA over solid work experience. I guess it depends on if they're looking for raw talent/book smarts versus demonstrated work experience or some other random differentiator. I think its typically a combination of all things that make the total package, and a 3.9+ should be a base for a strong package, even with weaker credentials in other areas.

I do agree with your assessment though that the work experience is probably weighed more heavily for Sternies than other schools, since the opportunity is much greater for us to get experience during our academic year. I surmise that it looks pretty shady if somebody doesn't take advantage of that opportunity and presents him or herself as a pure academic on application materials.

i mean, not to sound like an asshole or anything, but what raw talent could you possibly have that would make you a "better" investment banker than someone else? the only raw talent i can think of is the talent of being able to sell yourself; other than this, i will tell you what doesn't take any raw talent in being an IB analyst:

1. stealing bain/mckinsey research quotes for an M&A offering memorandum
2. building the same general a/d model 20x over
3. whipping up an lbo after you've had to do it a million times
4. doing precedents/equity comps (god knows this prob just kills any talent you actually do have)
5. repurposing industry/equity research for an ipo prospectus
6. pouring through diligence material for 14, 15 hours on a saturday for a monday morning diligence session
7. doing a dcf (hahahaha)
8. making 7 rounds of edits to a pitchbook before it gets to your MD, only to make another 7 rounds 7 more times, many of these edits cancelling each other out (oftentimes, many of the stupid edits that get taken back are made by your associates; always beware of associates or anyone with an mba, they have this weird tendancy of being retarded)
9. explaining to your publishing team how to use powerpoint, which apparently is something they are paid to be able to do, but always manage to fuck up somehow
10. repurposing the same basic investment hypotheses for each deal you do (i.e. strong management team, strong forecasted cash flow generation, etc etc)

this is what analysts do on a day to day basis; pretty depressing; a high school student could do this stuff

so yeah, if you really want to become a banker (or a businessperson period), then it just comes down to selling yourself well, because that's what the job is in and of itself; if you let gpa get in the way of that, then that's your own fault. ask yourself this: if you can't sell yourself past your gpa (in some fashion, whether it's through cleverness, a backstory, or whatever it takes), how are you ever gonna be successful on wall street (or business in general for that matter) period?

nice, got one, TD securities corp fin & leveraged finance. Didn't get Lehman which was the one I wanted the most though. Anyone have any information/opiniona about them, there hasn't been much discussion on these forums about Toronto-Dominion.

That post is going to literally discourage practically every prospective banker.

Haha, very nice ebitdame.

I agree with you that GPA is not everything, but I don't think that the Street isn't looking for talent either. Yes, banking might not be the toughest work for the smart people in banking jobs, but imagine how much worse that task list looks for college grads in some crappy corporate gig.

Also, I think "raw talent" might be something more looked for by some smaller shops who pay attention to keeping analysts beyond the BB 2-n-out, hedge funds (especially quant), and trading floors compared to IBD.

And if banks aren't looking for raw talent, why do they go the the universities known for accepting the most talented (or legacy) students? I totally agree with you that it doesn't take the brightest people to be able to do banking, but that seems to be who they want to hire.

SternMonkey, does your real name rhyme with Sharmine?

hat?

i am still batting .000

this is quite depressing...

I really need to be more discrete about my identity...

LOL SternMonkey got owned

gorillaface:

there is only one carmine, and i am he.

sternmonkey:

You are sexy

everyone:

i only applied only one, didn't get an interview, and i'm not sweating it.

presidente, my name rhymes with hat, so I was alluding to that. (Another rhyme)

I know have two whole first rounds, 2 for 25 :)

i am so good -- at guessing people's identities

sadly, not at getting jobs. i actually think of 2/25 as a very good ratio...

too many sternies

At least your school has 98 positions posted... I think my school had like... 2.

Wish I went to a target where at least there were places worth applying to on campus.