Prospective Banker
I am currently a freshman at UC Berkeley, planning on majoring in Business at Haas. I am very interested in getting into the i banking industry but i am very confused with the whole process. For example, everyone talks about how you have to network but i have no idea what that actually means. Also, i am a member of a frat and i heard that can be helpful, but in what way?
Moreover, do most top banks ask for your SAT score if applying for an summer intership because i only got a 1990/2400 (720 Math, 680 Writing, 590 Verbal). Is that too low of a score even if i fraduate with say a 3.75+ GPA? Should i retake it?
Also, i do not have any connections at any bank, so is it pretty much impossible to get an i banking internship this summer or next?
Thank you for reading through this post and for answering. I know its a long post with a lot of questions and you guys are SUPER busy people.
Thanks Again.
dont fraduate, graduate instead. 720+590verbal = 1310 SAT. not too good but what matters is that 700+ math.
I was kind of in the same position as you but I had a higher SAT score. I ended up getting a banking internship at a smaller bank,basically working for free my sophomore year summer. The way I did it is basically compiling a list of the smaller boutiques (in N.Y., you can do the same for Cali), and then called/emailed them. I also emailed/called alumni in the major cities on the east coast/midwest and tried to leverage those contacts. I started a little late, around late feb/march but eventually got a job in April. I then leveraged that experience to get a paid I-banking internship at one of the larger shops in my junior year.
BUT, You're just a freshman, I suggest you look for a job in any field at this point and try to earn some money and experience. Frankly, I have friends who worked in construction & roofing during their summers and still landed BB internships in their junior year.
Is that what got you the internship 2nd year, saying you'l do the work for free. Also when you emailed/called the banks what did you say..just that you were very interested etc etc? and did you include anything like your resume or cover letter along with the email.
The fact that I was willing to work for free definitely played a huge part because most of these smaller banks dont want to hand out 10 g's to an 18 yr old intern when they don't know where the next deal is gonna come from, plus I'd like to think they were impressed by the commitment I showed.
When I emailed, I gave them the basics real fast i.e major, why i was interested, praised the bank a little bit etc and attached a cover letter and resume. When I called, I basically told them I was interested and would like to interview for any open positions for the summer. You might be a little hesitant at first with these sorta things, but when you do it once or twice, you'll quickly warm up to it.
Not every ibank asks for SAT scores. College GPA is more important
What position did you have for that summer?
Thanks for all the comments.
Do all the top banks ask for SAT scores? Do the slightly lower end banks like Wachovia and BofA ask for SAT scores? By the way, how much lower, on average, is the salary of a BofA or Wachovia analyst than a Morgan Stanley/ Lazard/ JP Morgan analyst?
Also, what kinds of things do the top banks look for in analysts besides GPA and SAT scores? I know they ask for extracurricular activities, but what kinds of activities did you guys do when you were undergrads to land i banking jobs?
Thanks a lot guys
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