Looking for MSF then a BB
Hey guys,
I am currently a undergraduate at University of Auckland, New Zealand. Not that it matters much but this Uni's ranked 80something globally and 24 in Accounting and Finance by QS World University Rankings.
My goal is to break into a BB/Wall St Job and I do have a passion for finance, so I am looking for a good MSF program that will allow me to do so. But, I think I am in a pretty poor position because my gpa is poor, so can everyone give me some evaluations and advises? Thanks for your time.
Profile:
Bachelor of Commerce degree with Finance and Accounting Major
GPA: 3.2 (still have 1 semester to go, probably be at 3.3 when I graduate)
The only EC are clubs and club competitions which I participated in..... and being a English tutor at a Chinese Primary school
Around 3 months internship at a venture capital firm in China.
I was accepted into Uni a year earlier at 17 yrs old, so I earn my degree at 20 years old - I'm not sure if this makes my profile stronger/weaker/irrelevant.
Any advice/criticism is appreciated. Thanks.
You don't need an MSF to break into BBIB in Australasia. There are many opportunities both within NZ as well as Australia. Within NZ, you have Goldmans, First NZ Capital (CS NZ) UBS, Deutsche Craigs (DB NZ), Forsyth Barr among a few other smaller investment banks, while just across the ditch in Australia, you have all the standard "Wall Street" Investment Banks to choose from. In the Australasia part of the world, masters qualifications are not very important for IB, in fact some recruiters even look down on masters. However obviously this is different if you want to pursue a career in HK/China and maybe US where masters qualifications will look more favorable, if not mandatory.
Yes, I will also be looking into working first before getting MSF. But regardless, it's still extremely competitive to get into one in Australia. I feel that there are quite limited networking opportunities leading up to these job areas on campus in my university. I know it's vague but given my profile, what do you think my chances are?
Sorry, should have stated that I'm really aiming to work in U.S., Wall St preferably.
Sorry, should have stated that I'm really aiming to work in U.S., Wall St preferably.
To be honest with you, I think if you believe the Australasia market is tough to break into, the US market will be even more difficult to break into regardless you have a MSF or not. Also the other point I will say is I don't believe your networking opportunities at Auckland University are quite limited since Auckland is a target uni for NZ and most of the IBs do campus presentations there, some also hold cocktail drink events prior to recruiting in their Auckland offices, and DB even offers a scholarship exclusively for students from Auckland University. Unless you went to a target university in the U.S. (Which from what you have said so far the odds are not extremely high), I don't think your networking opportunities would be significantly better than at Auckland. Does this sound about right to you @notthehospitalER
Thanks for your information, but what I really wanted was some evaluation on my chances, given my profile, of actually getting into a BB in the Australasia or a good MSF program in U.S. because these are my only 2 goals.
@eviloctal is accurate. IB is extremely competitive in Australia and NZ, I think actually more so than the US (based purely on number of applications per open spot). For example, GS IB in Auckland doesn't hire every year and this year only took 2 analysts. @eviloctal and I have both interned in IB in Australia (and know plenty of people at UofA) so I would heed his advice.
Unfortunately, with one semester remaining, if you haven't gotten IB yet you won't get it for next year. You are also currently not very competitive for top MSF programs (the ones you need to do to break into IB and Wall Street) because of your low GPA and average ECs. Internship in China is interesting but not enough to get you admission I would guess.
Your best bet is to get a job in Australia (if you can) in something like big 4 - work for a few years, then go back to school. You could go straight from big 4 (for example) to IB in Australia, but you definitely need to do a Masters (preferably MBA rather than MSF) in the US if you want to break in to IB/similar jobs there - and your profile needs a few years of work before you'd be competitive for the schools worth the money/opportunities.
If I were in your shoes, I'd personally look at doing an honours year to extend my degree, and aim for a big 4 type job in Australia for when you graduate. Unfortunately I think it's already too late to get an internship in IB/at a big 4 firm for this summer unless you've locked one down already.
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