Is this a smart idea?

Context - I’m a British student who will be starting college at a non-target in NY this fall. I’d also like to work in IB preferably in the US over London.

It’s unlikely I would be able to attend a Spring Week in London but should I try to apply for an SA position in London during my sophomore year, in the hopes that I could leverage it for a SA position in the US for junior year.

I believe it goes without saying that a SA position in London would be better than an alternative finance-related internship in the US.

Curveball - I’m entering with enough high school credits that I believe I can graduate from college a year early if I take heavy course loads each semester.

Sorry if I come across as naive or stupid. I’m relatively new to WSO.

 

You won't be able to recruit for London SA from the US, would be very hard from HYP so from a non-target you have 0 chance anyway. If you're going to the US focus on US recruiting (though I question if going to a non-target and paying all that much is worth it in the US; assuming finance is your main goal of uni which it rightly might not be)

 

Will you stop commenting on this subject? You’re British and a university student. You have never lived or worked in the US. You know absolutely nothing about the recruiting cycle in the US and are simply repeating what you’ve read from other university students on this site. 

You do nothing but spread misinformation to other students and give advice that is blatantly wrong. There is zero reason for you to be contributing to posts like these and you do nothing but spread false information. You’re a university student in the UK who doesn’t even work in the finance industry yet. Stop talking about subjects which you know nothing about. 

 

EDIT: was a bit douchey and insensitive in my initial reply so I’ll aim to be more respectful. I’m not looking for an argument since this thread is aimed at helping OP. I honestly don’t see the issues with the comments I make, fair enough it’s not from experience but if I’m well read on a subject I see no issue to drop my 2 cents. I’m hardly passing it off as gospel. Most of the things I say are from Pan European Monkey who is generally the main guide for london recruiting and works in the city. He made the 20 FAQ London edition thread on this site and got a lot of support for what he said; other verified people on r/fc are the alternative sources I use so it’s largely unfair to say im just copying other uni students.
 

People in the know tend to agree that its very difficult to recruit for NYC from the UK or vice versa for sellside due to structural differences. Mainly OCR vs target uni CV screens which filter out non-targets in London and as networking can’t land you interviews here either. That being said you’ve accused me of spreading false information that is potentially damaging to OP; if you believe that’s the case then feel free to correct me and point OP in a better direction. Seeing as though you went to a top US school and are now in London (granted buyside) your advice will be very helpful for them, and also me since it’ll let me know where I’m wrong and discourage me from spewing nonsense. 

I look forward to your comments and thank you for calling me out if what I’m saying is genuinely wrong and harmful to OP. I also hope you’re doing better since the last time we spoke.

 
Most Helpful

i think you can do it, not sure about the nuances when interviewing cross country for sa. actually, i remember reading a wso article about this, you definitely can intern in london sa although the odds play heavily against you, i emphasize heavy btw. in the wso article i read, the 95 to 100 percent sa intern from us were from top us targets rather than non target which is where your at, this will dramatically lower your chances of getting a sa in london, basically your fighting against wso undergrad and they are hypswc. and also for spring week, its very unlikely and in 2016, i remembered princepieman released his sw class on tsr, 0 us students, 0 harvard, only uk and eu, maybe sse, i think 1 guy from sse. i dint use the word impossible because it could be doable and the figure '0' usa students could be that undergrads at usa top targets never heard of spring week. 

just realised you actually need to do 14 day quarantine in uk and usa if you do sa and sw as well as paying for the airplane tickets, taking into account all gov nuances, hr will have a hassle arranging this, i can say that your very unlikely to even get an interview for sw, maybe possible for sa but you gotta network cross continent to compensate for your non target us uni.

bro, just network in us, the effort you contribute to make your london sa is a huge oppurtunity cost waste, focusing in u.s. is much practical, literally and your efforts will actually contribute to getting a job. imo, networking from us to uk and all oppurtunity cost (im not writing all specific opportunity cost, it will take 30 minutes, im not doing it, idc) will contribute a negative expected value. imagine HYPOTHETICALLY, if you put all this effort in us, you will get a 25 percent increase in ib whilst, if you put the effort in uk, it will be a 5 percent, a genorous amount btw. 

tldr, stay in us and focus your efforts there, oppurtunity costs are too costly and risky to bet on

 

Quo vitae ipsum tempore dolor nostrum. Et sed dicta qui autem. Accusantium unde dolor voluptatem dolores ex repellendus doloremque. Magnam soluta nulla vel ea.

Aliquid sunt sit sed saepe hic veritatis. Et non est ad nostrum illum possimus ad reiciendis. Sunt minus ratione quisquam necessitatibus.

Vitae non non et sit a alias tenetur aspernatur. Laudantium necessitatibus ea ut similique et ipsam sunt. Aut consequatur et blanditiis pariatur labore.

Career Advancement Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. New 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

April 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (87) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (146) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
10
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”