Common alternative path if Investment Banking doesen’t work out?

Andrew T:

I just finished my freshman year at a semi-target school (3 out of 8 BB’s recruit for their IBD). I’m attempting to do the right things. I’m getting good grades. I’m taking a finacial modeling course in my free time. I’m networking using school, fraternity, religious, and family connections in the IB world. I am preparing to take the SIE exam (the new pre-requesite for the series 7/79) this coming october. I am also currently interning for a boutique shop geting experience with mostly M&A and some capital advisory, altough at a smaller scale compared to the BB’s of course. I know that despite this my chances are very, very slim. I want to have a second plan. I won’t even call it a backup plan or plan B because I know that this (if i’m even lucky) will be my realistic path. I also don’t want to be in complete devastation and shock when IB will probably not workout. What are some paths that students take when they don’t make IB? If I am a freshman now, when should I be prepared to realize this? (I hope I don’t sounds like some apathetic person who is unwilling to work for what it takes to break into IB. I just am a realist that wants to be prepared for all avenues in my future). Thanks for your advice!

your first problem is that you will be in "complete devastation and shock when IB will probably not workout."

If you can fathom your worst nightmare, not working in IB, than you can fathom what you can do instead. Relax and keep working towards goals, short term, medium, and long term goals.

You have an IB internship after freshman year, you already understand that networking is the most important thing, and you are working hard to learn finance.

You will break into investment banking, if that is what you want to do. No doubt.

It is good to have back up plans, but a wise man once said to me: "Be careful where you set your expectations, for you'll surely exceed them."

I think for you right now, as long as you continue to network your ass off, you would have no problem breaking into MM IB. But with with 3 years of networking and internships behind you, there is no reason you can't wind up at a BB if you want to. Set the bar high. You will do big things.

You're at a semi target, already networking, have an IB internship and think your chances are "slim"? Is this some attempt at gaining validation? Get out of here.

the hell is the SIE exam?

One thing that I've heard a few people do from non-target school is go into consulting or something similar for 1/2 years and during that time prepare everything you need to know for IB whether it be interviews or just in general, and join as a first year analyst 1/2 years out of college when you have some great work experience on your resume.

I think @monkeymalc98" is referring to consulting at a Big 4 accounting firm. Very common path, although as a non-target student, I'd argue banks are becoming increasingly accepting of students from untraditional universities. I expect this to continue going forward.

To answer your question, other roles are banking related functions - PWM, trading, equity research, IB at a small firm. Varying degrees of difficulty to break into but those are common roles with decent career paths.

But really you need to take a breath, I get that it’s a nervous feeling as a freshman but you will be beyond burnt out if you are so consumed by IB. Have a good GPA sophomore fall (but enjoy yourself as well), attend networking events/any early OCR events, reach out to alumni and come out swinging for applications in February. You will be fine.

Are you joking?

I want to first of all echo a lot of the previous comments and say that you really need to calm down. Being at a semi-target with good grades, having a boutique internship after freshman year, and starting to network already means you are probably in the 90th+ percentile regarding preparedness compared to other potential IB kids your age

but I want to add a piece of advice that I received from an older colleague. He described investment banking as a club and once your in the club, you're in the club. People lateral to different banks in IB all the time, but the important (for some people the hardest) part is breaking in. While definitely important, your first job or your first SA stint is not going to be the single deciding factor about your career path. If you want to go into IB, you need to do everything in your power to make sure that first job out of school is in the field. If you do strike out at the BBs, you could easily land a job at a no-name boutique which shouldn't be too difficult considering your trajectory. I think you should definitely shoot for the BBs, but people forget that there are a lot of banks out there. Instead of having a back up industry, you should open up your options to the types of firms you would be willing to work at

I wanna hear more from OP about networking through religious connections. Like hey Father, you tryna pass my resume around? I can really bang out a DCF, amen.