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I wouldn't say i'm an expert by any means, but basically if your school does not have OCR from any firms, it will be far more difficult for you to break into IB. Also, there are many success stories of people who have made it into IB from complete non-targets, it will just be far more difficult to do so.
In response to your question about when to transfer, the answer is almost certainly after freshman year. Due to the accelerated timelines for recruiting that keep getting pushed earlier, recruiting for SA positions begins at the end of Sophomore year and the summer going into Junior year (for Junior year summer positions). If you transfer in as a junior, you will basically not get any of the benefit from transferring as you will miss out on SA OCR. If you didnt already know, recruiting for FT is far harder than getting a return offer from a SA position.
(In case you were unaware SA = Summer Analyst, OCR = On campus recruiting)
delete.
The one downside about transferring is that you probably won't have that much leadership experience, i.e. the people who have been active club members for 2 years already will be ahead in the running.
M&I wrote an article about this, transferring after Sophomore year is practically useless for IB recruiting. After Freshman year is fine but that's still on the edge unless you're making a huge leap like stated above-- non target( no OCR, no alumni) to a target school with OCR
Transferring Schools for IB Route ? (Originally Posted: 04/23/2016)
Hi All,
I am currently ending my freshman year (majoring in Finance) at a super non-target school within the Washington, D.C. area. I am really interested in a career in Investment Banking and have developed a interest specifically within Defense M&A. I actually recently started interning with a very big IT Defense Contractor in the area working with the Business Development team.
I also recently got accepted to transfer to George Washington University in DC, however, I can't decide as to whether taking on the debt is really worth the name brand of their business school. Would taking on 25-30K of debt a year make sense to be able to pursue a career in IB? Whereas at the school now, I will most likely graduate with little to no debt.
I know for a fact that a couple of people jump to Big 4 from my school every year, but have never heard of a single person working at an IB from my school (checked LinkedIn and school network). If luck has it, I will have to go from Big 4 and then transition to BB IB if I graduate from the school I am currently attending.
I really appreciate some honest feedback from the WSO Community and look forward to the comments.
Thanks,
I transferred schools to get into IB, and tbh, I am not sure if it was worth it. You have to ask yourself is ib really worth leaving the school you are used to. If you like the school, friends you have etc., then I would weigh out the positive and benefits, and carefully decide. If you don't like your school, do it. And if you do transfer, make sure to really kick ass and have a bulletproof story why you did because firms always ask me
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