Female with no intern experience and a recent transfer at a very nontarget school. Will being a female advantage me?

I’m curious to see what you guys would say about my situation. I don’t go to a target school, but if I get a 4.0 at my new school as a junior and acquire serious leadership positions in the student managed investment portfolio and a sorority, do you think I’d have a chance to get into a summer internship for 2019 at an investment bank? I live in Richmond, Virginia but I could branch out for an interning opportunity. How much would they excuse the fact that I go to a non target school because I am female? What companies would you recommend applying for that are friendlier to non target schools and maybe have programs for women?

 

Everyone appears to be messing with you. Being a woman won't help all that much as they aren't that underrepresented. I checked your history and you appear to be stressed and are grasping at anything you can. You likely will not be able to make up for it before you finish school so stop trying to force your way through. Target MO roles in banks and gain leadership/management experience there while you also network. Decent pay, great hours, and you'll be around the people that will help you move forward.

 

I think you're missing out on the whole point of diversity - to give opportunities for students who have no means of getting their foot in the door. If you have no internship experience, I'm not sure if you'd be prepared for IB even if you land a couple interviews as a woman. I suggest getting an exposure in the field first and looking into the relevant skills that you can leverage for IB.

 
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Being female isn't going to lift you up beyond a mediocre resume. Sure, banks want women for all the benefits that come with diversity. But there are enough strong female applicants out there such that employers need not compromise their standards for excellent candidates. Women's programs are designed for engagement with candidates who are perfectly capable but might not otherwise pursue banking because of the culture or their background. Networking is made easier for women; the standards, for the most part, are not.

 

I would disagree - I was a female applicant and secured a better position than the majority of my class with a fraction of the effort. While I did have solid experiences on my resume, they were secured through diversity programs. I can also say that my interviews consisted of comparatively less rigorous questions on the technical side.

 
HighlyClevered:
Being female isn't going to lift you up beyond a mediocre resume. Sure, banks want women for all the benefits that come with diversity. But there are enough strong female applicants out there such that employers need not compromise their standards for excellent candidates. Women's programs are designed for engagement with candidates who are perfectly capable but might not otherwise pursue banking because of the culture or their background. Networking is made easier for women; the standards, for the most part, are not.

This is wrong. I was "forced" to compromise on the quality because i didn't send "enough" female CVs to the HR from the stack shes asked me to pick from. So i gave her extra CVs of females who wouldn't make the cut if they were male, and asked her to give me a break for next times if they don't like what i pick.

 

What can I do to make my resume less mediocre if I acquire a 4.0 at my new school and leadership skills in some of the organizations I'm interested in (risk management frat, investment club) Over the summer, I'm planning to to a global consulting program with my school. Once I network enough with the business school , I'm even interested in starting my own business journal, as I have a lot of experience writing for business in my previous school's news paper. What else can I possibly do to seem less mediocre? I'm not stick on IB by the way, but general front office positions are what I'm looking for...

 

Sounds like the first thing you need is a deep breath. Seriously, you'll be fine. Finance is littered with successful people who didn't go straight to front office out of college.

A 4.0 would be great, but don't lose sight of your long-term goals if you get a B+. Just do your best.

Get involved on campus and shoot for leadership if it's an option. But if your grades suffer because you overextend trying to stuff your resume full of activities, you've done more harm than good. Be realistic about what you can handle.

Network for front office roles, but be open minded about getting your foot in the door through the middle- or back-office. There's a lot of good MO/BO roles that pay ok, teach you useful skills, and let you bolster your resume for front office opportunities down the road. Run your race at your own speed - just keep moving forward.

 

It might be hard, but chill out. Take this with a grain of salt as I am only a junior (but I got an offer) from a nontarget. If you're too high strung, bankers will pick up on it and it could turn they away.

 

It will definitely help with first rounds and networking but tough to move on to superdays without some experience. I got an offer and come from a very nontarget school. I'm hispanic and it definitely helped for getting my first rounds as my peers struggled way harder to get to superdays but once you're there you need more to go on than being a minority

 

Don't be super set on banking out of undergrad as you can always get an MBA and recruit as an associate. Also since you have no relevant experience but a high GPA you may want to consider a top 1 year MSF at WUSTL or Vanderbilt to give you a shot at recruiting at a target. @TNA" Good luck!

 

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