Hello WSO community this is my first post and would appreciate any help or advice!
To start let me give you a little backstory on myself. I am currently a junior at a non-target with minuscule alumni connections, by that i mean i could not find any IB alumni and one of my professors actually told me id be better off to transfer once i asked him if he had any connections on any thing outside of WM. I also live in a fairly small town in Texas around 350,000 people. I have always been very interested in finance since i was a kid. I always knew i wanted to do opposite of what my parents did. Parents weren't around much when i was a kid and always made terrible financial decisions, constantly borrowing money, etc. I initially planned on going to a school in NY/Chicago/Houston where i could network easier in a larger city. Long story short, shortly after HS my girlfriend got pregnant which really changed everything. I ended up staying in the same town and networking as much as i possibly could. Since my town had no IB options i ended up creating a relationship with a team at a bulge bracket firm in the wealth management space. I got an opportunity for a summer internship and got hired on as an client associate role after my internship was over. I have been with my firm for a little over a year now and i am currently a junior which scares me because that means i don't have much longer in school and i am had a really tough time finding any IB internships. I have expressed interest in IB to my upper management to see if i could get some contacts but any time i do they immediately shut me down and tell me that they do not know anyone outside of the WM division. That being said i feel very stuck right now, I am very grateful for the opportunity that i have had but i know that overall exit ops aren't great for WM and probably don't look the best on MBA applications as i will be competing with Ivy league kids who have had IB internships. I would appreciate any advice on what i should considering doing at this point in order to set my self up for an IB role or any role outside of WM at this point. I have been networking as much as i can on LinkedIn and a few MD's asked me to forward over my resume but have not heard anything back i am assuming because my GPA is not super high and the fact that my school is so unheard of.
Thanks,
GPA cutoff for IB is usually a 3.7 so if you have anything below that I wouldn't count on getting many replies without having contacts. Believe me it sucks, I've been there as well. I would continue to network with as many people as possible, maybe reach out to friends elsewhere in the country and parents and the like. It isn't always easy, but if you keep at it I'm sure you'll get where you want to be soon enough!
Hi LB12,
Many students are in the same position as you are right now. It shocks me that your coworkers at the WM division do not have any contacts. Generally, the funds within their portfolios, whether it's equity, fixed income, hedge funds, etc., are more likely to accept interns like you to continue building a relationship with the wealth management teams. I would do everything in your power to reach out to the managers and establish the relationship.
Hope that helps, FierceFalcon
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