Ivy League/Target Schools - How different are your IB interviews?
Hey everyone,
I was just curious for those of you that attended Ivy Leagues or straight up top Target schools how different are your interviews from the semi-targets? I always hear about students from Ivies who enter IB with degrees in Literature, Philosophy, etc. so are they interviewed lightly on the technicals since they don't necessarily have an academic background in finance/econ/etc or is the interview completely different?
For those students I presume it would be difficult to say, as they only have their frame of reference as a context by which to compare to others' experiences. I attend a "top target", and I study neuroscience. I was able to get a SA spot at a BB through reasonable preparation, and also had to go through the traditional first round --> superday route.
I can't imagine the process would be any different for "non-targets". There's probably a reasonable amount of selection bias that is inherent with the best schools. They probably have the best qualified population and largest demographic, numbers-wise, that seek banking jobs. This would explain the prevalence of ivy undergrads at BBs.
1.) We make sure that nobody from a state school is looking. 2.) We throw a big party and cash rains down from the ceiling. The Rockefellers come out and we laugh about our world domination plans.
https://screen.yahoo.com/white-000000112.html
(In all seriousness, the interviews are generally the same. Prestige helps you get the interview, but it doesn't help you get the job.)
At my school (target, no undergrad biz school), there are enough qualified applicants that 1) those sorts of majors probably wouldn't apply to IBD positions, nor would they be selected for interviews, and 2) if they were selected for interviews, they probably have prior finance experience and the sort of questions they would be asked are the same.
I go to an Ivy and am a philosophy major. Some interviews might be less technical, but there is definitely a baseline of industry related knowledge that they want to see you have. They want to see that you researched a bit and studied on your own and have done what any relatively intelligent person interested in a job would do. You don't get away with not knowing what is going on in the markets or being unable to walk through basic financial stuff (DCF, 3 statements etc) because you are a liberal arts cat. That being said, they aren't expecting you to know much more than that. You can pretty much land an interview regardless of major for OCR if you have a decent GPA/Resume.
Generally the same style interview, but they might be more prone to giving you the benefit of the doubt. One recruiter told me "we know you are smart enough for the job because you go to xyz school, so for us it is a question of why you want to do banking." I have also noticed that a lot of times interviews also end up being interviewer roulette. One MD told students at a coffee chat that they didn't care about finance knowledge while interviewing at our school, they were looking for other qualities. They continued to downplay finance knowledge, and then a few months later in my interview from that bank it was by far my most technical. So, your mileage may vary...
Quis officia atque amet quia cum. Corporis voluptatum quas ullam aut corporis itaque. Natus temporibus repudiandae itaque deserunt occaecati. Et earum rerum possimus harum et ullam in.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...