Graduated from top ivy with no offer- what now?
Just graduated from a top ivy league school (majored in finance) and graduated 2 weeks ago, with no offer in hand. Had a really shitty time at my boutique consulting firm over the summer, plus some other life stuff that made me super unmotivated and depressed during the recruiting season. Realized this way too late, and now I'm really late to the FT recruiting game. Have a 3.2 gpa, and pretty subpar internships so far. What should my next steps be? I don't have the money for stuff like MSF programs so I'm really just trying to get a decent job anywhere in finance or consulting. I know its not the end of the world, but seeing all my classmates get basically the best positions on the Street and me having nothing is super depressing.
In one of your past post histories, you said you go to a low-tier ivy, but now you say you're at a top ivy... Doesn't really matter, but maybe try to keep your story straight is the first thing I'd work on. Keep hustling man, some places are still hiring. UBS, Lazard, Dyal, and some lesser known boutiques just posted fulltime opportunities for our school portal.
yeah, i guess that was kinda confusing. I went to a lower tier ivy but I was in the business school which is really competitive for wall street.
he goes to wharton. low tier ivy. high tier for wall street
yup
Since when was Penn a lower tier Ivy? Lol...
What offices for UBS/Lazard? Would you mind PMing me the boutiques as well?
In the same situation - could I PM you to get the name of the boutiques?
stalker? get a life
Try and get some type of relevant grad degree if it’s at all financially possible. A 3.2 GPA is gonna be tough to get past most automated and HR-led screens. Doing well at a grad program will give you a fresh start and may help you avoid awkward conversations about your GPA. Other than that, network till you drop (its not original advice, but maybe helpful to hear). It’s an easy sentence to write and easier to comprehend vacuously, but if you really do network until you’re exhausted every day, you will run into opportunities.
Don't bog yourself down. The fact that your classmates are getting the "best positions on the Street" should be a motivation for you -- it means that your degree is attractive enough for these firms. How many jobs have you applied for? This is a numbers game. Sure, you're late, but it doesn't mean you're out of the ballpark. Spend some time to catch up, make applying for jobs your full-time job. Create an Excel sheet, track which jobs got back to you, brush up your resume, just keep hustling. Embrace rejections, because at the end of the day all you need is one offer. The fact that you go to Ivy + majored in Finance is already a big plus. Don't let that into waste.
Commission in the military and kill it (and terrorists) for four years. This is a ticket to a top B School and top job in consulting or finance
Work on networking with alums of your school to see if a position is open, especially at these places that people mentioned still have FT analyst positions open. The Wharton name even with the 3.2 should carry you to at least get people to respond and talk to you about potential opps. Keep hustling and applying to finance-related jobs as well.
All about being in the right place at the right time. I know several banks that don't post open positions online because they already have a pipeline of candidates who have already been in contact with them about open positions for a while.
This may sound like odd advice, but I recommend not spending tons of time reading posts on places like WSO about ideal career tracks of going from BB IB to PE so you can get $1mm in comp by age 30; those threads will just make you feel worse and frankly are not how the real world works for like the majority of people in the US.
Apply for ALL kinds of jobs, I guarantee your first job won't be your last job. Maybe you won't make to the "street" right away, but this will hardly define your career. I think many said it before, if you are so motivated, work in a corp job for a few years, go get an MBA and start then.
The worst thing you can do is take too long to do something, it's bad to lose momentum. I think your Wharton network should be your priority in terms of how to find an opportunity, just be wide open to positions.
Agree with this advice! I was in a similar, but somewhat worse position (much higher GPA and more time out of school). Please realize that your Wall Street dream job search wouldn't happen in a vacuum. You are competing against a healthy number of 2020 Ivy/Ivy-type grads and proper laterals for the same roles. I don't say this to daunt you, but to make you consider a more practical path. I spent ~8-9 months racking up email lists and having circular "networking" and "introductory" chats that led to nothing. The few interviews for actual vacancies I received led to nowhere. After a while, I realized I could not count on that path for employment. Your career can't be a crap shoot. Something else may be a better fit, pay well, and make you happier long term! Otherwise, your best shot (after working) might well be b-school or top MSF. Good luck!
A 3.2 isn't the worst for someone from Wharton. Find the best job you can, hustle for a few years, get your mba and rerecruit (if you can show upward progression and get a 740 GMAT, I still like your chances at W/Booth/CBS/Kellogg/Tuck).
Heard FT Partners and Tobin & Co are still hiring
Isn't FT Parnters a legit firm? isn't Tobin a scam lol
They're the firms that grind their employees hard
Worse than Moelis & Dyal?
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