Rising Sophomore Feeling Lost: Where to Start?
Hey guys,
I finished my freshman year at a HYPSW school with a 4.0, but I didn't really know much about IB until recently. I also didn't start thinking about internships until it was too late. I've just been having fun at home and tutoring a bit this summer so far, so I wanted to ask what would be a good use for the rest of my summer. I'm eager to have an internship for next summer, and I know a lot of those applications are either open now or opening soon. Where should I start on preparation? I have almost no technical knowledge, so where should I start on that? Do you also have any other recommended reading that I could do daily to gradually build up my familiarity with finance? Thanks!
My advice, and maybe you've already done this, is that before you start with the technical stuff, I would take a step back and evaluate if IB is something you really want to do. The only possible way you can really do that (w/o an internship) is to talk to people in the industry. I'm sure that there are plenty of alumni at a HYPSW that you can talk with to learn more about banking, so just email them to setup a time for a phone call or even coffee.
If you're long past this stage and definitely know that you want to do IB, there are plenty of guides online that you can read to get your foot in the door. These guides include, but are not limited to: the Breaking into Wall Street Guides (BIWS), WSO Guides, Vault Guide, and the Rosenbaum and Pearl Investment Banking Book.
Other than that, you can try to land a small part-time finance internship/job during the upcoming school year if that's something you're interested in. It'll certainly help you with future recruitment processes and most of those interviews are not technically based, so no worry there.
Hope this was helpful and feel free to PM if you have any other questions.
Ah! Thank you so much for the thorough response! I did go to a few on campus information sessions during the school year and have talked with a couple of recent graduates who went into IB. As of now, IB has piqued my interest, but I'm not sure I'll know 100% if it's right for me until I experience a taste of it for myself. I guess that also comes from not knowing anything about the technical side.
Out of those guides you listed, which one(s) do you think is the most beginner-friendly?
And regarding the part-time internship/job during school, I'm not sure it'd be feasible to do one of those. I'm kind of locked into campus haha
Thanks again for you help!
I've really only gone through the BIWS guides and Rosenbaum/Pearl IB Book so those are the only two I can give credit to. Pretty sure the other two are just as good, just haven't gotten the chance to go through them.
Well, that's that. You're toast in life. Might as well drop out and work at McDonalds.
Hey no need for the sarcasm man. It's not like I was complaining that I'd be a failure in life. Just wanted to give a bit of info about my educational background so people could give more specific advice.
Speaking of McDonald's, a McChicken sounds pretty good all of a sudden...
What are freshman classes like at HYPSW?
I can't speak for all these schools. I can't even generalize about my own since it depends on your specific course load. The intro econ classes I took weren't bad at all, but the math classes I took were pretty challenging.
What math were you in?
Entering junior year and I was just like you a year ago and wanted to reassure you that you shouldn’t feel lost at all. My peers who got the best offers from my school were not gung-ho banking from the start of college. If you can hit the ground running sophomore fall, you’ll likely get a stellar offer. People always seem like they’re further ahead than you but they’re probably not.
Poster above mentions calling alumni and I think that would be helpful, but first you could start with older students you know. Is there anyone in your student orgs who is pursuing banking and can offer insight into their decision? I definitely hit up my friends I knew who were in banking and received honest answers without feeling like I was annoying bankers with (what seemed like at the time) basic questions. I’d also read some of Mergers & Inquisitions’ articles on banking – take the humor with a grain of salt just as you would with inaccurate posts on WSO – I found these articles extremely useful when I was attempting to learn more about the industry and lifestyle on the job.
From there, if all sounds well, I’d also recommend flipping through the Rosenbaum & Pearl textbook (tons of PDFs online) not really for technical knowledge at this point, but for some background. It’ll run down some valuation concepts. You may not and probably won’t understand a lot of it yet (I didn’t during my freshman summer either, had 0 accounting/finance knowledge) but found it helpful as a primer to see if you think the concepts are interesting.
PM me if you have questions, I remember feeling lost too freshman summer. Landed several offers and owed it to taking it slow and starting with those things I mentioned.
Sit unde excepturi amet culpa nihil. Assumenda nam est voluptatem doloribus consequatur consequatur. Minima fuga est iste ut aliquid eligendi adipisci. Est cupiditate odio perferendis nisi. Voluptas facilis animi odit perspiciatis nihil rerum modi.
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...