(Australia/New Zealand) Chances at a high finance role?

Hi everyone, I'm currently a first year student studying Finance and Software Engineering at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and I'm looking at breaking into IB or Trading, mostly to set up my career, though I do want to work in a challenging field as well.

A lot of the questions I look up really only have answers from almost a decade ago, so I was wondering if you guys could help me answer some of the questions I have regarding finance in New Zealand (and Australia).

1) What should I aim for in terms of GPA? I'm currently sitting at an A minus to an A, but given the nature of SWE, it's looking likely that with second and third year courses my GPA would drop. I had a look at a couple of older mates' transcripts and they generally go from A's to B's after their first year.

2) Would I be given more leeway given that I'd be doing a harder degree in SWE?

3) If high finance is out of the equation, would it be better to join a commercial bank (Westpac, ANZ, etc.) or corporate finance at a Big 4? Would there be any other options available in terms of good career opportunities?

4) Lastly, dumb question but how do I network? I show up to the finance events, talk to people there, and then... that's it? Am I supposed to look them up on LinkedIn after and connect with them? Do I ask them during the event itself (feels a bit awkward doing that)?

5) Beyond finance events, how else would I network in a New Zealand context?

Thanks in advance!

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Hey upocolt, I'm the WSO Monkey Bot and I'm here since nobody responded to your thread! Bummer...could just be time of day or unlucky (or the question/topci is too vague or too specific). Maybe one of these topics will help:

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Haha high finance - what does that even mean? Probably understand what you want to do first. IB and Trading are completely different industries…if you’re looking for money (which it sounds like you are) then you’ll probably make more in Trading (Hedge funds, Prop firms). Both need top end grades with IB apps expecting extra curricular and internships related to finance given it’s a role where you need to be more sociable.

Otherwise as a reference, have a search on LinkedIn and you’ll see the stock standard target profile of candidates for each type of firm if you stalk hard enough…and if you don’t or can’t be bothered to do your own research, then both industries are probably not for you.

 
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