Hello - Looking for some advice in within the Australian financial scene

welcome AmbitionandDrive... there is a ton of advice on the GMAT in the business school forum (drop down in blue nav bar under "Forums").

I'm not too familiar with Uni of Mel, or finance gigs in Australia, but we do have a strong contingent of Australian monkeys, so I encourage you to sign up for happy hours in your area here: //www.wallstreetoasis.com/events and start building your network :-)

Also, I'd use the search function (click on the icon in the upper right corner)...

Welcome and best of luck! Patrick

Thanks for the responses.

I am not adverse to graduate programs, but I think it much more likely to score a junior analyst position at a boutique joint than land a grad position in an IB. I do not have a HD average due to slacking off in my first 2 years of study, my last year of study is a HD average..I want to do Honours to get First Class which will speak volumes over 2 years of being slack.

Sorry I was unclear in my original post - I'm not adverse to working hard just will not realistically land an IB grad position with my UG grades as I hear you have to be 90%+ average, president of a large financial student group and running multiple businesses...

Appreciate your insight kanga, please pass on any more advice in relation to this post.

Unfortunately, you most likely won't get a top job at a financial firm in Sydney coming from your school and with your grades (and presumably, relative lack of experience- since you haven't listed much relevant experience). Additionally, both SA recruiting for this summer and FT recruiting for next year finished months ago, so you don't really have an "easy" avenue into financial firms (this is more relevant for large banks obviously- boutiques may be different). Your best bet may be to do an honours year and try and recruit for a SA position during the year. However, a MFin at Melbourne or in Sydney (USyd, UNSW) would be even better than just an honours year, which in all honesty may not be sufficient (more likely isn't than is).

Which specific financial role/job are you aiming at? Financial/accounting roles at "regular companies" (ie not large, established banks) may be within reach now (if any are still recruiting)/after your honours year. IB etc will be much tougher, and at minimum probably will need the MFin, increased experience etc.

In my opinion your best option would be: find a somewhat relevant job this summer----> honours year---->more relevant financial internship (big 4 etc) following summer----->MFin-------->IB etc internship during your MFin----->grad position at a bank FT upon graduation. Relevant extracurriculars, networking etc alongside all this. With a path like that, you'll maximise your chances at getting a grad role at a bank. Note: you won't get into a bank in an entry-level position by circumventing any grad programs, that's the only way in.

While in your situation you can put in some long-term effort and get something like IB in the end, keep in mind there are no guarantees and so consider carefully how badly you want something like IB (if you do want it/something similarly competitive) before deciding to put in a few years of this kind of effort. To illustrate the competitiveness, I am interning in IB this summer in Sydney- my bank had hundreds and hundreds (don't know exact number) of applications and took 4 interns. Someone I know is working at a bank in Melbourne that took 4 interns from ~1500 applicants. That being said, even if you put in all this effort and don't get IB/something similarly competitive, you'll still be in a much better position career/education wise so there's no real downside I can see.

PM me if you have further questions. I am at UMelb and heading into IB in Sydney this summer/after I graduate FT so I may be able to answer some of your specific questions.