Hi everyone,
I'm new to WSO but I wish that I had found it earlier :( But here's my first post!
I am currently in my 2nd and last year in community college majoring in Business Administration. I have a 4.0 GPA and was, just recently, accepted into UCLA for Business Economics (not sure if UCLA is considered a target school but i've heard that it has decent recruiting). In my time at community college, I mainly worked as a math tutor and I also got a bookkeeper Internship at a small financial services company (mostly grunt work: answering phones, assembling tax returns, scheduling appointments, coffee etc.) I've been stressing recently over not having done something finance related in the last 2 years (to the point that I've even considered switching to computer science and staying at CC for some extra time) I want a career in IB or Management Consulting and I am FAR from that at the moment. Over the summer I was planning on doing the "Invest like the street analyst" program to learn about financial analysis and M&A/LBO modeling. Beggars can't be choosers so I'm willing to work for free at this point just for the sake of knowledge and experience. I have till the end of September b/c that's when UCLA will start. What do you guys suggest I should do or look into over these 4 months of summer break?
In the same boat as you pal
Small shop (even if interning for free), network extensively with similar storied professionals, study technicals etc.
When do you anticipate graduating from UCLA? If you are going to be recruiting for 2020 SA internships and graduating in 2021, you'll be likely going through that recruiting process in spring of 2019. Between now and next spring you'll need a finance related internship (if not this summer, line one up for the fall when school starts) and will want to line up another for summer 2019.
For this summer/fall, I would agree with thesoggybottomboys - start early on your technicals, interview prep, and networking.
To add, even if you can't do fall you can also do something during the actual recruiting process. I didn't have anything until then and I actually felt it helped when telling my story, why IB, etc since I could use what I was literally living through from day to day.
BearKneeMadeOff ItsTheSoggyBottomBoys Thank you so much for the response. I've had quite a few people tell me about the "Small shops" but i never had the courage to ask them what they were referring to. What do you guys mean by small shops?
Look into local boutique investment banks, PE firms, AM firms, etc. Any type of role that will give you relevant work you can talk about in IB interviews will help, and a lot of the time it's easier to start at smaller firm where you don't necessarily need a long track record of finance work on your resume for them to take a chance on you.
Check out amerigo capital if your in socal
In NorCal :( but thanks!
I'd advise you to target Private Wealth Management and put UCLA on your resume. If you are persistent, you probably could find something as they are easier to get. It's a great Brand-name on your resume.
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