non-target

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost Title summarizes the road I've traveled… consultant → intelligence community/SEAL Teams/Special Operations → director of research at a well known hedge fund → tech...

06 Jan 2022

While the odds are this post is relegated to the WSO trash heap-to grace the eyes neither of monkey nor MD-on the off chance my story could be helpful to someone in a similar position as I was a year ago, I wanted to share. The moral of the story: if you're better at math than schmoozing or stuck at...

18 Apr 2021

Hey fellow monkeys, first of all sorry for the long post, Second of all I AM ALMOST THERE, I GOT A FIRST ROUND INTERVIEW AT A BB, THANKS TO YOUR HELP, AND TO THE WSO TEAM FOR THEIR AMAZING PRODUCTS. for context, I got to a semi-target for Canadian banks, but for American banks I am nowhere near a...

24 Apr 2022

As the summer 2021 analyst wrap up their experience and the summer 2022 analyst bombard LinkedIn with job post-I am sure there are many of you who wish to either be in their shoes, or are interested in learning more about the industry, profession, and process. In this thread, I will tell you my path...

27 Jul 2021

I never realized how fucking shitty my school was until I started looking into career paths like banking, consulting, or even F500 corporate leadership. Nobody mentioned any of these careers to me at my school. Holy shit. Only 1 person in IB, and its MM gas and oil. 2 people in consulting, and they...

09 Mar 2021

Hi WSO, Due to me losing a scholarship, I've decided to take a gap year to save up enough money to be able to afford housing once I go back to school. I want to make the most out of this year, so I'm currently studying for the CFA level 1 exam which I will be taking in August. One thing that worries...

30 Nov 2021

I am a first-gen college student. I grew up low income. My university is a low tier public party school, I learned about IB in the summer before my junior year. If you look at this situation from a traditional IB recruiting sense, there was just no way I was going to be able to enter this industry....

22 Jul 2022

WSO Community, I wanted to take the opportunity to leverage my experience to be helpful with a Q&A. By way of background, I attended a state school, broke into MM IB as an analyst, left banking to work at multiple private equity firms, then returned to banking. Currently, I'm a VP at the MM IB firm...

26 Jan 2019

Background: I went to a non-target, had a 2.7 GPA, and didn't study finance in college. Ended up landing a job in ER. I apologize in advance that I have failed to contribute as much as I should to these forums. WSO was one of the main tools I used and find myself looking at boards plenty often. My...

13 Feb 2018

Hey WSO, I've been a forum lurker for a little over 4 years now and felt like it was time to contribute to the community. My background: As the title says, I went to undergrad at a non-target where I majored in finance and economics. Had internships in boutique restructuring consulting and in a Big...

08 Aug 2018

This is more of a venting post more than anything but not a "boohoo woe is me" post. I swear I need a change of scenery big time. I've been at my REPE fund accounting job almost 2 years in July. Started there 2 months after graduating from a non-target. I didn't have an internship in college, so I...

13 May 2021

Background: Rewind back to October 2011. I was a Senior at a fairly prestigious state school, but it was a non-target university. I was graduating with a major in History, and I believed I wanted to go to Law School eventually. My father and mother both went to Law School and it seemed inevitable...

09 Jul 2017

Hi, I am from India (Asia) Context - Scored (94% In High School (Was not from a well-educated family Parents never pushed me to do great and I also somewhat wanted to be a business guy so never aimed higher). Targets College here starts from 96%-98%. Gave a few entrances for college got into 2nd...

25 Aug 2021

Hey WSO, Since this site has been instrumental in helping me break into Consulting from a non-target, I wanted to share my experience with the community. Hopefully this post will be helpful to someone else looking to break in to Consulting, as many previous posts have been for me. To provide some...

27 Dec 2016

Hello everyone, I am a 4th semester sophomore at a public state school of around 8,000 students. I currently have a 4.0 GPA and am triple majoring in Finance, Accounting, and Personal Financial Planning. I am very involved on campus as I am part of the honors program, president of 2 clubs,...

26 Mar 2022

I am a recent graduate from Dalhousie University in Canada. I achieved a BComm degree with a 3.32 GPA. I am currently two years out of school, and am working at a PWM firm in Calgary. I've always dreamed of a career in banking, but was never ready to make the commitment until now. I believe that I...

14 Dec 2021

Hey Monkeys, WSO was a huge resource for me navigating through and eventually breaking into the AM industry. Thought I'd throw an Q&A for all the grinders interested at AM who aren't at target schools. Went to a small non-target school in Boston. When I say non-target...think smaller and less known...

11 Sep 2017

I have some questions about Equity Research if any of you don't mind answering... What does your typical day-to-day look like? What is something you wish you knew before going into your equity research super day? What technicals would I specifically need to perfect for an equity research super day?...

13 Dec 2021

So I figured out about half way through my undergrad degree that I want to end up with a career in Finance. I'm a 3rd year undergrad, non-target but decent private school, formerly a Math major, now a Finance/Math student, 3.7~ GPA, I have quite a few electives in computer science, statistics, and...

05 May 2021

Hi all, I'm a UK monkey that is soon going to graduate without any high finance exp. I enjoy reading success stories, especially those that offer insight into how the non-target approached it. However, almost all networking success stories seem to be from the US. Is the UK that structured so only...

16 Mar 2020

Currently a senior in high school, set on finance and interested in Investment Banking in the long term. Mainly looking to chose between three schools, Indiana University (Kelley), Georgia Tech (Scheller), UGA (Terry). I am a Georgia Resident so from a financial perspective Scheller and Terry are...

01 Mar 2021

Hello, I currently work at a law firm (non-attorney) and was approached by a large PE firm about a position in their Investor Relations department. I have a set of interviews next Monday, which will be my second round, and it was also mentioned that I will complete a case study next week. The...

12 Jan 2022

Hello everyone! I'm currently a junior and athlete at Indiana Tech and I want to break into M&A. It is my first semester here , I transferred from another non-target school. My GPA this semester I would say would be somewhere between 3.0 - 3.5. I'm aware that I don't have a 4.0 GPA from Wharton and...

25 Nov 2021

Mod Note (Andy) - this Q&A originally went up last December but @THE PsYcHoLoGy" wrote and said he could still answer questions WSO, I joined this site during my junior year of college, and it has proved to be a great resource time and again. There is a wealth of information on this site ranging...

03 Mar 2016

Well I did it. I landed an offer to be a summer analyst at an investment bank. Breaking into I-banking from a non-target may be a more common occurrence these days, but it is certainly still a challenge. Here are three pieces of advice that definitely helped me in securing an offer. It's not what...

30 Mar 2016

So I was selected as a finalist for a college admissions program called Questbridge. I doubt that anyone on WSO has heard of it because you are all mostly prep school bred, but it basically gives low income or first gen kids a leg up by letting them apply to top schools(45 partner schools) for free...

21 Oct 2021

I've been a frequent reader of WSO for the past few years and I thought it might be helpful to anyone interested in a similar career path as mine. I definitely gleaned a lot from others here so hopefully I can answer some questions people might have. Background: 2nd Year Research Analyst at a top 5...

03 Feb 2017

I'm currently a rising senior at a non-target college in NYC. I have a 3.93 GPA, Boutique IB experience from last summer, Active in clubs- the president of the trading club & VP of another business club, leadership experience, volunteer work. My resume has been verified as "perfect" by bulge bracket...

13 Jun 2018

I am a junior at a private pretty good University in US. I play D1 Soccer and we basically have pre-season all summer so I have not been able to do any internships. However; I have been networking A LOT and I am gonna keep doing that. I really want to get into IB or PE. Is it even possible for me to...

28 Feb 2022

As the title suggests, I am currently in a UK non-target university for my Bachelors degree and I would like to do my masters in a top uni (INSEAD,Bocconi,Oxbridge, LBS, M7 etc). I am in my second year and I am on track to get a First class degree or a high 2.1. I have been a WM intern for 6 months...

29 Dec 2018

Hey everyone, I am new here. I have been reading WSO posts for a couple of months, but I just made an account. I am a senior in high school this year and still deciding on a college. I know for sure I want to be in non-retail finance; I have been exploring and researching this industry and world...

04 Sep 2021

I have been an avid reader of WSO for the past couple of years and the stories that I have enjoyed reading the most are about non-target kids breaking into Wall Street. I always looked at them with admiration and dissected every article to gain the most valuable information possible to use in my...

18 Apr 2015

Hi, I am a super non-target(GPA3.7+) and I have been networking pretty hard for about 6 months. I have a good network built up and with 2021 applications opening I want to ask my network for the referrals. Most conversations have gone well and they have referred me to their peers or said "Yeah, lets...

21 Apr 2020

Just wanted to get your thoughts on this. Is it better to be at a school that is not a target by any means and be the big fish? i.e. starting clubs, having multiple leadership positions and a high GPA. Or is it better to be at a school like NYU Stern or Georgetown MSB and be a small fish in a huge...

03 Feb 2021

Hi everyone, this site provided immeasurable help in my journey to break into finance. I realize this post may only apply to a small group of monkeys, but I think I can be most helpful by discussing my transfer process and decision to switch schools at the undergrad level. Since the deadline for...

11 Apr 2016

I am currently a sophomore at a mid-sized non-target school (similar to Villanova) in the northeast. Over the summer, I spent as much time as I could connecting with alumni in the industry, mainly analysts and associates. Now that I'm feeling more comfortable reaching out to more senior staff...

17 Nov 2020

Let me first begin by saying that for most of my time in college, getting into a FLDP at a F500 firm has been my goal. I am very intrigued by the exciting, fast-paced life and lucrative pay of the IB world, but the 80-100hr work weeks and the fact that the company doesn't "make something" simply...

14 Nov 2015

All, Once again, I would like to express my gratitude to the admins, users and interview guide authors for their commitment and consistent assistance to the WSO community. In 2011, I was thanking the community for the help breaking into investment banking (Thank You - BROKE IN!). Now, I am back to...

20 Sep 2014

Hey everyone, (Edit: Got a number of PMs here - Added my responses below the rest of the post) I recently accepted a BB offer, am from a non-target, and thought I should contribute something here on WSO given the help and advice I have received from others. However, I did not want to do the typical...

29 Sep 2014

Soon to be rising senior 3.7 gpa studying finance and accounting at a non-target state school, just recently started taking my future seriously and have found High-Grade DCM to be of interest. Looking for advice on where to go to network and generally just how to get my foot in a door as a...

20 Apr 2021

Hey guys, does anyone know of any banks that are more willing to take on non-target finance majors as summer analysts? I have been building a decent network, but with limited alumni, my networking is mostly cold emails and LinkedIn connections. I've gotten some positive feedback and had my resume...

01 Dec 2017

Hey everyone, this is my first post so I apologize for any mistakes. Currently a senior in high school, looking at my limited options for college, I'm currently considered as an international student so that has hindered my chances quite a bit, but that should be resolved soon enough. My best option...

06 Apr 2022

Hi guys, I'm an average undergrad student(20 yo) from an average uni in Bangalore, India. GPA - 7.5, 2 internships in wealth management ( not well-known firms), 1 on-going internship in quantitative finance( not a well-known frim). I'll be writing CFA L1, feb 2021. yet to take the GMAT, I'll...

22 Aug 2020

The title is pretty self-explanatory. How screwed am I and what can I do to save my dying chances. Thanks. (I knew I should have gone Warwick to do History or Psychology or something silly)

20 Jan 2022

I was a complete idiot in High School and didn't do enough extracurriculars to get into an Ivy or target school. Have a 1520 SAT and 96% unweighted grade percent average (110% weighted), not sure what that is in terms of 4.0 scale. I'm going to the University of Connecticut as a Freshman this Fall,...

17 May 2021

Hello everyone, so I was thinking I'd provide some names of non-target schools (on eastcoast) and we can discuss which ones are better. I assume that most of us would like to end up on Wall St. and thus being close to that area, the northeastern coast, may be the best option, even if you don't end...

12 Oct 2020

I want to know realistically what my chances of are of landing a summer analyst spot at a BB or EB my junior year summer. I'm a sophomore at a non-target state university and am majoring in a STEM field. The reason I chose my school was because I got into a very selective program and also because of...

13 Oct 2021

Afternoon, monkeys. I've got the first of a two part interview for you today with Certified User Nefarious. Nefarious works in Strategy at a major Fortune 500 Aerospace & Defense company. While I know many of your are focused on banking and private equity, I think everyone can benefit from hearing...

30 Nov 2012

Hey all, I'm currently working as an intern at a top 10 PMW firm and have been since I graduated college last semester. I come from a non-target school with a 3.5 GPA and some involvement with a finance club on campus-not very impressive to recruiters to say the least. I got into finance a bit late,...

09 Sep 2021

Hey all, Was reading through Flake's ER Q&A posted around the holidays and thought that his thread was fantastic. My experience / background is a little different than his was, so I wanted to start this thread as an opportunity to help provide at least some insight into other ER routes that aren't...

02 Jul 2012