College Freshman: Need Advice

I'm a freshman in college. I'm set on investment banking and I'm trying to learn the concepts. So far, I've done accounting and excel courses. I've also finished the 'Integrating Financial Statements' and 'Discounted Cash Flow' modules on A Simple Model. I do understand most of the things I've learnt but is there any other resource (preferably free) through which I can learn things in more detail or with exercises and stuff. Is there a list/guide of some sort that lists out the things one should learn to break in to the industry? Is what I've learnt so far enough for a basic internship in PWM/Search Funds? I just feel a little lost and I'm worried I'll mess up in club/internship interviews.

8 Comments
 

What you've done is amazing. Keep networking and when networking talk about the things you're doing in your own time to learn the business.

However, please don't forget to have hobbies. Take a dance class, acting class,etc. When during a network call you're asked how are you say something interesting like "I just took a comedy class, but I'm a total joke", something that shows you're not a drone. Being personable is just as important as the hard work you're putting in. 

 

Good stuff so far. Network, talk to people in IB/PE/VC/ER/PWM/HF/Corporate Development and get a feel for if banking is really what you want to do (after talking to people at a lot of banks and in a lot of fields, it honestly confirmed my interest in IB and the coverage group that I wanted to do). Cold email people who could get you an internship, PWM is where a lot of people start, I personally did 2 corporate finance internships Freshman/Sophomore year and ended up getting IB internship my junior year. If you have free time, which you probably do, study the behavioral guides, technical guides (DCF/Valuation/Accounting/LBO etc), practice a few interview questions so you'll be good to go whenever you have one. 

 

You'll be amazed how much you will develop from a technical standpoint the more time you spend diving into the material - that doesn't always mean new courses or guides - sometimes, that means staying up to date with current trends in the industry. I vividly remember getting over the hump of where you are now, it took a lot of time, but things just started to click even more than I thought they would. For me, the more time I spent reading things in the WSJ, the more everything started to come together, giving me a better grasp of the big picture. 

The moral of the story is you have to trust the process. Learning about IB takes time and patience - you're off to a great start, and you have plenty of time. Keep at it, and you will have no issue getting an offer down the line. 

 

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