Breaking into US firms from overseas

I'm currently studying business & management in Korea. It's one of the top universities here in my country, but since not many would know it in the US, I'm wondering if there would be any disadvantage for me in the application process. I've heard that getting a work permit is quite difficult in the US and that therefore US firms are not especially keen on hiring international students, especially if they're from outside the US. I'd like to know how true this is. I have 3.6+ GPA and will probably make it 3.7~8 GPA until I graduate.

Now I'd like to know whether I'd have a reasonable chance at getting an internship in BB firms in the US. Further, assuming that I've done an internship at a boutique IB firm or at one of the top management consulting firms (MBB), would there still be any disadvantage for me in the actual hiring process?

My questions are quite blunt, but I guess what I'm curious about is that ceteris paribus, would the fact that I'm studying at a foreign university make it any harder for me to break into a US IB firm?

 

Might be sensible to apply to a top 1-year MFin program in the States, especially with a STEM classification (like MIT Sloan). You should have a good chance of getting a job in the States after graduation (this is my plan, come from a much smaller country).

 

If you don't have a US citizenship or green card, you simply won't be able to work in the US. Even with that aside, unless you have some family connections here, I don't see much reason as to why BB/EBs in the US would recruit a student in Korea. If working in the US is what you really want, your only option would be to first recruit for HK/SG offices and then lateral later on. I've seen some Chinese kids come to US for masters in finance or statistics to try out for IBD recruiting, but none of them were really successful due to the short time frame (1 year) and language problems, etc.

 
kingkang:

I hate to break it to you but your school is a for-profit school, you would have no shot at Wall Street. I suggest getting an MBA from semi or target schools (in the US) and not from for-profits.

Thanks for your prompt reply.

I had suspected something like that would reveal to be true. What do you say about the ideal age to get into a MBA? Am I old enough, is it about time? (I'm 24)

In Brazil, people commonly start a MBA course when they are 30+.

I just would like to know if maybe it is possible to get transfered from an outside of the US IB unit to NY.

Thanks once again!

 

Hi frankw93, check out these links:

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Hope that helps.

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