These careers are so elitist
I've been applying for internships and it's crazy how only the Oxford/Cambridge/LSE students get called to first round interviews and get all the opportunities. It seems the top 5% of applicants get over 50% of the interviews.
I feel like I've wasted so much time chasing this elitist fucking career if my non-target undergrad and A Levels are going to hold me back. I genuinely thought of pursuing something else but no everyone kept saying "it'll be okay just keep applying bro you'll get in somewhere".
It's honestly fucking ridiculous and I just don't know what to do at this stage. I've invested so much time and effort into learning technicals and learning about the field but I'm constantly being overlooked
Obviously I don't deserve anything over the Oxford/Cambridge undergrads and although my A Levels weren't a true reflection of my abilities it does suck that they're still affecting my life so much almost 6 years later.
But I'm just not getting any opportunities at all ffs. Every rejection I get for IB internships is at the first stage even after I've done really well in the online tests. I know this because in the feedback reports my scores are really high but they look at my profile and see my low ranking non-target uni and I'm not diversity so there's no leeway for me and that's it I get filtered out.
What alternative options are there for me? If you're not going to be helpful don't comment.
Tesco’s meal deal valuation intern
I said serious replies only.
Tescos finance graduate scheme
Sainsbury’s then?
Big 4 —> IB or ER
You do need luck for this and then need stuff to go your way I guess. I haven’t done this myself I am only a student. Good luck.
Exactly. The luck aspect is central to this.
So many things can go wrong and you could end up being stuck in a dead end Big 4 career and fail to make the transition.
If you don't get into IB after graduating are your chances really that low? Are there any safer ways to break in that don't require a lot of luck in being able to transition?
I cannot comment on the chances but I’ve spoken to people from banks like Houlihan Lokey whereby they’ve managed to do it.
New giveadvicepls burner just dropped!
You keep barking like an abused dog on different alts, but here is some serious advice:
If you cannot answer yes to at least one of the last 4, then your CV/profile is unlikely to make the cut at BBs/EBs
- Obviously I don't include my A Levels on my CV. I got ABC which is dreadful but you can tell I did terribly in my A Levels because my non-target undergraduate uni is really low ranked (think leicester uni etc)
- Yes I got a first class honours and graduated with the highest result across 200 people in my undergrad cohort.
- Unfortunately I'm not doing MSc Finance at LSE. I'm doing one of their other econ/finance combo courses because I didn't get into their Finance programme.
- How the fuck would I have experience in M&A/PE with a non-target background and bad A Levels? I have accounting experience which is worthless.
- Yes I have numerous leadership positions
- No I am not fluent in another European language. I can only speak English.
- I am not a woman or black but I'm not a white man. I don't know if that still counts as diversity.
Your profile is not terrible in that case. I would suggest networking with no-name M&A shops and PE firms to build experience - try and get a part-time internship or something. Once you have that on your CV aim for off-cycles at Tier 3 shops, somewhere like HSBC. Then you could lateral to a BB/EB after a few years in that role once the market picks up
I heard chipotle accepts low A levels
Like I said. Unhelpful comments not welcome.
“Elitist” is not the same thing as “competitive”
It looks like your application is just not competitive?
It's intertwined.
I've done the best I can since I was 18 years old but the reason I'm getting rejected from IB is because of the mistakes I made when I was 18. I'm progressing well in all other roles. Only IB is super elitist and wants a stellar record with no mistakes whatsoever unless you are diversity in which case there is more leeway.
U got plenty of advice in your first two accounts. The advice you get on this account will not be different than before. It does look like ur just using this forum to vent as opposed to actually asking for advice.
Anyways u should check out hustler’s university. Break out of this elitist matrix and build ur own empire. Best of luck
Lol I've already received great advice from someone who has actually bothered to help me out rather than comment unhelpful things or just attack me like so many people were in my previous two accounts. Sure, I was moaning a lot but whatever.
Clearly people weren't interested in helping. I've already received good advice from someone who isn't a dick.
Good for you boss man. So what is the purpose of this third account and this third exact post.
He is back with another account
As I said, unhelpful comments are not welcome.
hahhahaha get a life whiny ass kid
Unhelpful comment
Your first mistake was being European.
OP, I’m a senior banker in the U.S. that came from non-target / low GPA. It is possible but it requires a lot of perseverance, self-confidence, dedication, forbearance and luck. It also requires equanimity and a willingness to accept with a smile that you will have to work much harder than others and accept less certain odds of success than others because you’re nontraditional.
truth of the matter is that you need to hear that old adage: “whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right”. Negativity is repellent and you ooze it. You also seem to have a hard time accepting that life isn’t fair, and rather than embracing the fact that your track will be unfair and unnecessarily fraught you’re just moping about target kids waltzing in. First off you’re not them and you never will be. Second, these careers are brutally competitive and not a consolation prize for your fragile ego, nobody gives a shit about your feelings and there are legions of just-okay candidates who feel aggrieved that they’re not being treated the same, just like you. You’re not special. If you can’t swallow that reality with grace then you’re not a fit for this career anyway, which is all about sublimation of ego and unrelenting; self-sacrificial service to others.
If you want to be special, focus on finding something adjacent where bankers or the people that hire them will see you, and plan to spend years demonstrating your relentless and dogged willingness to serve your clients at the highest levels possible. Become known as the best, and telegraph your humble desires to be given a shot. And if you totally invest yourself and also get very lucky, it might work out. It might not too, so you need to be at peace with that.
Reading all your posts and comments in other threads, your problem is that you think you're entitled to the best IB jobs with a non traditional background and weak qualifications. It's not going to happen for you. Your best interest would be to accept that. Stop focusing on IB and focus on getting a solid accounting/credit job then lateral into IB when the opportunity comes. That's how most non-targets make it into the industry, myself included. You just don't hear about it because it's boring and requires grit, patience and isn't something to really brag about. You're creating an opportunity cost wasting your time chasing IB.
Never said I'm entitled to the best. Would be happy with a boutique.
'When the opportunity comes' lmao what if it never does? That's the biggest worry for me.
If you can’t handle that uncertainty, how are you going to deal with a decades-long run at a career where you’re one bad year away from getting axed?
So why was everyone telling me it's possible to get in when clearly it isn't for me?
Clearly these are elitist fucking careers that you can't get into once you make a mistake 6 years ago ffs.
My honest challenge to you - why not go ahead and let this dream of yours go. You’re bitching about elitism as though if you just got in the door all your problems would go away. Thats nonsense.
Once you get in the door it stays unfair. You stay non-target, Mr. Wharton stays group head because he has been networking since he fell out of his mom’s hips and you started trying after the on campus recruiting train already left the station. And if you act like a fucking sourpuss about it you’ll just get fired at VP because you can’t play the game. Learn to forgive these people for going to the right schools and having what you lack. Learn to coexist with them in the pursuit of common profit and victory for your clients.
Your life is never going to be easy if you make it in. Grit, determination, smarts, cunning, social intelligence and unwillingness to ever, ever give up are the only things that will get you in after starting so far behind the starting line, and they are the driftwood that you will cling to for dear life while working on your group’s most non-target mandates through your analyst and associate years. Others will swan through plum assignments because they look the part and have less to prove - they’re “the default setting”. You won’t have that, and so you will have to build your reputation and book up from zero by making deep sacrifices for your bosses and clients, for years on end, until they know that when the chips are really down you’re the guy they depend on. And maybe then someday you’ll outflank the people that piss you off today, but it’s going to take a while and it’s not for the faint of heart. I am where I am today because I never, ever stopped insisting that I be the best at what I do. I demonstrated to everyone around me that come hell or high water I would drag their problems across the finish line or die trying and I haven’t kicked the bucket yet. And on a net basis, I love the things I love about this job slightly more than I hate the things I hate about it.
This is not a career for thin skinned people with egos that get easily bent over comparing themselves to others and entertaining un-realism. You have to be able to stay in your lane and remain self-reliant and unfaltering for decades in this business. You’ve gotta love it more than you hate it, and many days the net balance of that equation may be the bare minimum that you need to stay on. There will be years where you work hard and markets, internal politics, etc conspire against you, and you have to keep soldiering on.
There are two types of seniors in this business - the anointed, and the survivors. You know which of those two doors is open to you, I’d take a good hard look about whether you want to spend your professional life walking through it.
While I am all for this venting, say you don't know how the math works without saying that you don't know how the math works
Guys, let's play a game – who can guess what the name of his 4th alt account with be?
So as somebody who knows nothing about A levels, based on this (https://www.surrey.ac.uk/united-states-america/entry-requirements) it seems like ABC would be like somebody getting a 1290 on the SAT or 28 on the ACT?
its time to let go bro you’re never making it
You're just a a hater lol you've been posting on a hidden account multiple times trying to discourage me when previously you said on another account that all I have to do is keep applying to boutiques.
do u think theres only 1 prospect on this forum?? this is why u need to let go man ur not built for this
Drop the uni you went to for undergrad
Leicester
Have you targeted AM roles, regional corp finance firms (Manchester) etc?
Every time I hear "drop your college" I wish somebody would say that little school next to mine: College Of Notre Dame Of Maryland. It was an all girls school. Acronym it now.
top notch stuff giveadvicepls! can tell you've been working on your craft, skillfully trying to bring down the aristocracy, keep up the good work!
Move to the states. Any dipshit can get a sell side job here it seems.
3 things.
1) If your A-Levels are rlly that shit what makes you think you can beat out someone that spent years prepping for oxbridge and the like? You act as if you pull your uni out of a hat and they just happened to wind up at Cambridge. These firms aren’t here to make you feel better they want the best candidate and just because you learned how to walk someone through a DCF doesn’t make up for the 4A* some kid got at Oxford??
2) Pull yourself out of this pit of self pity and just apply man. I go to a non target and have seen multiple BB, EB and even Hedge Funds/PE Firms give out SA offers (quite a surprise to me as well) I’ve gotten interviews at firms I didn’t think would even look at my application.
3) What are you doing now? Are u applying to internships in big4 valuation, accounting, anything else are you applying for target masters programs, can you find a boutique if you really want to do IB that badly then find a way (although I’d think long snot if this is something you rlly want)
You reek of desperation and a bad attitude, and that shows in interviews worse than your grades.
To be fair, that's just life.
I went to Warwick for undergrad. Did decently well at A-level (3A*s) and GCSE (12A*s).
I had lots of first and second round interviews for IB in undergrad, I just never got passed the final round of interviews (had 2 final round interviews in undergrad including by the firm that I did a spring week with).
After undergrad, I tried pivoting towards Asset Management - again, had tons of interviews there and final round interviews for Equity/Credit Research positions.
Even after undergrad, had a few IB interviews including off-cycle interviews.
Landed a FO role at a firm where PM dangled a research position in 5 years time but felt like I was being strung along.
It is what it is. I get your frustration but I can't feel any sympathy for you.
No point complaining about it - you just have to be realistic about things.
There are other roles out there. I'm becoming more focused on getting accounting or something which is more realistic.
Uhh… not sure what you expected. It’s an elite industry because it pays well and there’s an advantage to bringing a network. Well connected kids naturally benefit the firm and there’s no way around it.
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