Things I should be taking in mind on an IB track in college.
I'm currently a Freshman winding up my first semester at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Previous to the past few weeks I was unsure, really, of what I wanted to do as a profession and where I wanted to go with my life. After doing what I would consider to be solid research on many finance, I settled on IB.
I've begun reading Monkey Business, Liar's Poker, and all other basic texts as well as doing my best to keep up with all financial news. I'm aware that I don't go to a target school remotely, although my first semester is going to be almost assuredly a 4.0 (so that's a plus).
So my questions to everyone are these:
What else should I be doing (besides obviously taking the necessary courses)?
How should I go about obtaining an internship this summer in Richmond?
What's the best way to network?
And also, should I be looking to transfer schools?
absolutely. if you're getting a 4.0 at VCU then you shouldn't have a problem transferring to a target/semi-target. Why don't you look into transferring to UVA, assuming you are in-state and do well for a few quarters you have a good shot and your odds of getting an IB internship/job will exponentially increase.
If you are in-state you should definitely try to get into UVA. Make a list now of 10 solid schools with Finance programs that you want to transfer to. As far as internships in Richmond go, do some research on firms in the area and cold-call them during your winter break expressing interest in working there as a summer intern.
Transferring would definitely help boost your chances... much easier to break into the industry from a target or at least a semi-target. Lots of discussion about this topic on WSO.
What schools, besides UVA, would be considered target or semi-target on the East Coast? Mind, I know the big names just not the smaller ones.
Ivies, MIT, Duke, and UNC would all be solid.
For freshman summer look at the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond- I know they hire interns and not just students finishing their jr. year. Solid hours, solid pay, and even if you don't do anything that interesting it looks good on a resume. Depending on what you do, could be very interesting to banks (I know someone who worked on stress tests for the large banks and then was hired at GS the following summer).
I'll definitely look them up and give them a call. I appreciate that.
You have the right mindset, although going to a target school will set you up for BB SA recruiting, if you are looking into the MM banks and smaller boutiques coming from target and semi-target schools is not a requirement. I know it gets beaten to death on these forums but networking is critical especially coming from a school like VCU, getting an internship this summer is net necessary, but making sure that you get a good corporate (think F500) internship sophomore summer is critical and then network your ass off and you should be able to to get interviews with a good GPA and solid sophomore internship.
Good luck
If you're going to stay at VCU, look up all alumni you can find in the financial services industry and email/cold call them. LinkedIn, Google, career services, finance department, etc. are places to find alumni. This has to be done if you want to break into finance from a non-target.
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