Pre-Med Regrets: [24M] to IB is it too late?

Hey all, 

Please excuse the somewhat incoherent idea flow. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

As a youth and high school student from a low-income area, I never heard of banking, hedge funds, or private equity. I ignorantly believed that Wall Street is where people go to trade stocks--that's it. So, in an effort to be a respectful son to my Asian parents, I completed my BS in Biology at Emory(2020) on the premed track. Currently, I am less than a week away from starting an MPH program at an Ivy. While this sounds completely absurd, I absolutely despised biology, chem, etc, but I kept going because I thought I had come too far. Now, my CV is filled with hospital volunteering, research, etc. 

During undergrad, I took one semester to study only economics and math. And, I loved it. However, since I didn't have the first clue about a career in finance, I decided to go back to bio, big mistake. 

Is there anyway a person of my background can break into IB? I was thinking maybe a consulting internship next summer followed by an advanced diploma in econ at Cambridge(1yr program) + internship + MFin at Cambridge --> analyst? I don't know. 

Thank you to anyone who can offer any advice. 

Cheers

11 Comments
 

I think you can easily break into IB and land a Healthcare Coverage group. (At every bank, the Healthcare team works on all M&A/LevFin/Debt/Equity projects but for healthcare/life sciences companies.) Either get into a relevant business role (e.g. PWC valuation) and lateral into IB as an analyst, or work in healthcare for 3 Years then do an MBA and get into IB as an associate, or learn technicals ASAP along with an unpaid IB internship this fall and use your IVY league network to get into IB after this MPH program.

And nobody asked but life is too fucking short and you’re too fucking young to be living with regret. You want something, go get it. 

 

All you have to do is get an interview, talk smart, and understand how 10$ in depreciation flows through the financial statements and you're in. Breaking into IB really is not that tough. Sure, it's a lot of work, networking, applying everywhere, etc., but if you're hardworking, smart, and can hold a conversation, there's definitely a spot for you in IB. Best of luck in the process, you can do it.

 

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