UK (London) Medical Student to Finance (IB) [Advice Needed]
Hey everyone! I haven't seen enough from this forum to know if mine is a unique situation or not but I was wondering if the people here could help out with my situation.
To explain, I'm currently in my 5th year of study as a medical student and just finished my third year due to resits from lots of personal issues I had come up in the last couple years. I didn't progress through this year so have to think about pivoting my career path.
I am guaranteed to do an intercalated BSc next year which I'm hoping to use to pivot into finance/investment banking. I am currently studying at Imperial College London and the BSc will likely be in Management from Imperial Business School (with a focus on medical management). This will be one year long and I will graduate next year.
The way I understand it is that the best way to get started in terms of work experience is to apply for spring weeks and summer analyst positions which I am starting to look into now. I don't pretend to have a wealth of information on this so any advice in general is appreciated, no matter how basic it might seem!
I also have some questions that I was hoping I could get some help on: * Is it a good idea to look at spring weeks now, to do them during my Management course? - Should I also be looking to apply to summer analyst positions now? * Is my degree being a one year long intercalated degree rather than a 3/4 year long course a hindrace? * I want to do a Masters in Finance if this is financially and logistically possible for me, I understand this means doing the GMAT, etc. Is this worth it for pursuing this career path? (assuming I am able to get a place in a good IB feeder programme, which again I'm not sure if I will be able to). * I’m not solidly stuck in stone on pursuing finance, are there any other similarly compensated careers I could look at in my position? * How much will my background of struggling in medical school get in the way of any applications/further study? I am concerned about this but I don't believe it to be representative of my capability.
Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to answer some or all of these questions, I've had the rug pulled from under me a bit this past month so any advice is much appreciated while I try and figure all this out!
*You're ineligible for springs because you graduate in a year's time. Springs are for pen-penultimate year students.
*You're only eligible for some summers because you graduate in a year's time. Summers mostly go to penultimate year students.
*Yes, see above.
*MFin can help by 1) Rebranding 2) Enhancing knowledge, 3) Extending graduation date which makes you a penultimate year student (which you can indicate now).
*Good luck finding many other careers that compensate like high finance. Potential other areas: tech sales, high ticket recruitment, consulting.
*Depends what "struggling" means but probably not. What will impact more is probably your lack of experience. IB is very competitive.
This is incredibly helpful, thanks for the response.
I guess my follow up here would be what would be the ideal steps to be taking? I have a tonne of medical work experience + some treasurer society experience but beyond that you’re right in fhat I’m lacking in relevant finance experience.
I start my course at the end of the month, is it best to go for the SA opportunities where I can find them or would another route be more suitable?
SAs or OCs yes. You can expand eligibility by indicating a masters on your CV/applications. Cast a wide net.
Read this and this:
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6940372
https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/investment-banking/20-most-freque…
Apparently we're not allowed to link external sources... So mods removed my post. (Very weird mods!) So DM me.
Also worth looking at consulting. You’d probably come in as a Junior Associate and it’s a relatively well trodden path, much more so than from medicine to finance.
Imperial is a target for any finance or consulting firm. Your challenge will be professional experience to date.
Just so I get this clear, you will not graduate with a medicine degree and leave with only an Imperial BSc in Management ?
Yes, that’s correct.
That sucks. You should get your story straight and decide how you want to spin this, because I can guarantee that the first question they ask you after you introduce yourself in interviews, will be about your education for the last 5 years.
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