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Please go light on me since I'm new (or not I can handle it)! This question has probably been asked and answered several times over. Currently I am a freshman at a non-target (small college in Florida) and so far, I've set myself up fairly well (I think) with extracurriculars; college sports,...

I learned about IB only half a year ago, so I won't be able to choose the right universities for this direction. At the moment, I am entering the 1st year of QUB, a non-target UK university. I need to decide whether to reapply for the first year 2024/2025 or transfer directly to sophomore, possibly...

Hi, I'm a current senior in high school, and I am stuck between IU Kelley and RBS NB. At the end of my four years I want to land a front-office job at an EB or BB firm. I know that Kelley has the IBW and RBS has the Road2WallSt. program. I'll pay around 30k at RBS and 60k at IU. Where should I go?...

Hi all, I recently got into an EU target MSc program. I do have the choice to choose a language to study there "on the side". I'm torn between French and German. French: Pro: I used to be semi-fluent in it so it would be easier to get back to a B1-B2 level. Con: I'm more interested in the Zurich...

Step 1: Have Daddy that has his own hedge fund make a couple calls... Kidding (kinda). Big-shot IB internships in NYC aren't just for kids from the Ivy's. I went to a Big-10 school (non-IU) and had 3 offers from elite boutiques on Wall St. Non-targets need to unite - so please steal my creative ways...

Hello, I just got rejected by UCB, waitlisted by UCI, and currently waiting on USC and UVA. I've been on and off from community college since 2019 and steadily full-time since 2022. I am getting older and so are my parents so I was wondering if it's worth it to spend another year in community...

How much does GPA matter for investment banking, and what was your GPA when you got the offer?

My Nephew has recently been looking at colleges to attend, and he seems dead set on Investment Banking. The two best schools he got into were Penn State and UDelaware. I am aware that these schools are non targets, but is it possible for him to break into IB from them.

So im currently a freshman at a non target (think psu, rutgers, Udel, etc) and im worried that i wont be able to have the career that i want because of my school. I want to be a PE rainmaker one day, maybe have my own firm, but im not sure if ill be able to due to the fact that I go to a non target....

hi

No doubt I'm one of many thousands with the exact same issue but any advice or clarity would help. Put shortly I fucked up in High School and took all the hardest courses and ended up with a shitty GPA and a mediocre SAT score (mostly due to laziness) and there's very little chance I'll end up at...

Hi, So I am a recently graduated finance student from a non target wanting to get into IB. I have one internship in private wealth management at a boutique firm in london and networked a lot, had about over 50 calls however all haven’t really gone anywhere (tbh I haven’t really been keeping in...

investment banking is pretty much a client facing sales job. The type of people who typically go in to it (overachievers from ivy league) and sales people are two distinct groups with little overlap. there is literally 0 investing involved with investment banking. its 100% selling. most entry level...

Hello gang, I am looking for advice to break into Equity Research from a non-traditional standpoint. I am 28 with a recent career as a 'generalist' in crypto-startups, to put it kindly, with a background in Business Administration with a focus on finance. I started school later and from a...

I go to a semi / non target liberal arts school and a lot of my friends dads are able to get them jobs and internships on the street. My dad doesn't own a hedge fund or work in finance so he can't get me a job in it. He can get me a job / internship doing marine biology and like studying the oceans,...

I'm an international student looking to break into investment banking in the US who recently got admitted into Columbia for bachelors with no aid at all ($340k tuition). My (thankfully well-off) parents will loan me this. I ran my back-of-the-napkin math and if I do indeed break into bulge bracket...

About to start studying a Bachelor of Business (major in Finance, considering double major in accountancy as well) at a VERY non-target university (UOW) The reason for this is that I didn't put enough effort into high school to get in anywhere better, and my position at the high school I went to...

I am an Australian Student looking to get straight into Investment Banking in New York as a graduate rather than take the traditional route of doing Australian IB then transferring internationally. I graduate in November 2024. My Plan: 1. I already have several boutique Investment Banking...

I see a lot of non-targets keep complaining about lack of opportunity and how privileged those who went to target/semi target schools. Big firms prefer to recruit or do events at highly selective educational institutions because those universities already filter out a lot of students during the...

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,...

Hello all, I'm currently enrolled as an undergraduate in a target school in the UK but I'll need to leave at the end of my 1st year back to my home country since I need to be close to my family due to health reasons. I'm expecting a first. Do I have any chance when applying to London IB jobs in the...

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?...

Hello all, I'm currently enrolled as an undergraduate in a target school in the UK but I'll need to leave at the end of my 1st year back to my home country since I need to be close to my family due to health reasons. I'm expecting a first. Do I have any chance when applying to London IB jobs in the...

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...

So some brief context: I'm headed into my senior year, attending a west coast private solid non target. 3.90 GPA, got First Honors (top of my class this year), Finance Major / Math Minor (have taken a number of electives in CS, upper div math, etc..) I'm currently abroad in Europe for a F500 Corp...

Hi all, I'm a rising senior at a good school (but non-target) studying Kinesiology (Exercise Physiology...yes, I know very random). I wanted to be a sports performance coach heading into college, but I started developing a passion for finance in junior year. Breaking in cold turkey is obviously a...

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...

I'm sure a lot of other non-targets can back me up on this, going to a non-target blows. Every morning I wake up and wish that I had known in high school or as a freshman how much going to a target helps. But honestly, it makes sense why banks recruit where they do.

International sophomore at a non-target I think I like restructuring and I know should be looking at EBs if I want to go down that path. As an international, I am just wondering which EBs are likely to sponsor visas?

Hi there, I am a current sophomore at a non-target school (Ga Tech) majoring in Finance hoping to break into IB for the summer following my Junior year. I have a 4.0 and recently accepted a position at a F500 company, and while it's unfortunately not a Finance or Accounting position it is related to...

11/30/17 update: This was originally posted in 2014 but I am still able to take questions As some of you know, I'm about to begin by MM IB analyst stint in a week. I've been blogging for WSO for a fair bit of time now and I thought it would be good to use some of my experiences to help others. I...

To give you guys some more information about myself, I'm currently a freshman from Eastern Europe, and I study at a Non Target business school in Manhattan (there's only like 2 of those, so you can probably guess). I spent the past 2 months interning at an asset management firm back home (I had to...

I’ve been a member of WSO for the past four years and frequently I have seen questions regarding the potential benefits of graduate school, specifically on the value it provides when trying to break onto the Street. So, I thought I would share my story, and the thought process I used when deciding...

Just graduated from ASU with an EE degree and business minor and am becoming increasingly disenchanted with working as an engineer. Finance appeals to me because of the high ceiling on career growth and performance based compensation. I went to high school in AZ and got a 90%+ tuition academic...

Hey all, I'm currently a finance major at Miami University (OH) and while I'm enjoying the classes and doing well, I've found it's ridiculously hard to network for top NY internship positions (AM/ IB / ER in particular). I personally think Farmer has mostly good finance/accounting/econ teachers, and...

Hi, this is my first post so any help is appreciated. I am a Junior at UW Madison and currently have a 3.3 GPA and am majoring in industrial engineering and Econ. I have been studying trading for two years now, and this summer (did not have a sophomore summer internship), I finally became...

Hello everyone, I am sharing this because Andy and Patrick said it may be useful for some younger users. I legitimately believe that WSO helped me get my career started. About me: I grew up in the roughest part of town nearby a big city (think Ferguson Missouri, Flatbush Brooklyn, Baltimore,...

I attend a non target, but i have been trying to network with alumni from schools in the same state. Hello Mr/s. NAME, My name is XYZ and I am a student at XYZ, majoring in finance. I am interested in investment banking and recently came across your firm. I noticed that you also attended school in...

I am currently in the process of laying out my college career. I recently decided to pursue investment banking, and when I began the application process for SA 2019 I realized it was far too late. I did apply to all the BB’s and top tier MM’s, however I realize with my 0 networking and...

I go to a non target school. We have a program that accepts 25 students per year and sends them primarily to WF , RBC , and a few others. One per year goes to EVR/LAZ. I'm currently a rising sophomore applying in the spring. There's an MD who went to undergrad at my school and is now at PJT/Moelis....

Hello all, I am an undergraduate BA business undergraduate at Plymouth University with a 2:1 predicted grade. I'll be honest and can accept my A-levels aren't the best. I've been trading for over 6 months now successfully to try to boost my finance related knowledge both from a worldview and in...

Hello everyone, I am a senior about to finish my CS undergraduate degree and I've been extended an internship offer from Citibank. I am hesitating accepting the offer because I am 3 courses from completing my degree but the program overlaps with my schedule since it's an off cycle internship. I...

Happy New years everyone!, Hope everyone enjoyed their new year and got home safe. I wanted some advice in which internship to choose from. My background: I am currently a sophomore at a non target school double majoring in accounting and finance. My goal is to get into IB / a good mba program....

My question is on graduating in 2.5 years with a 3.0 and a degree in Economics from a nontarget, or graduating later with a 3.3. I got two D's in Comp Sci 220 and French 101 my freshman year, retaking these courses would bump my grade up to a 3.3. Is it worth it? I've managed to study international...

Hi Monkeys, I received an offer to work at an Investment Bank this Summer. I'm coming from a non-target, so this is an amazing opportunity for me. By no means am I unhappy with the bank or the group I will be working in (Middle Market Group). My question is, can I use this experience & potential FT...

I got a verbal offer last week but hadn't gotten any paperwork and had verbally accepted. To protect myself I followed up with a person at a bank I was told I would get a superday with, and immediately after I sent him an email HR sent me a superday. I did not respond to the email. 1 hour later I...

I have a superday with a LevFin group and want to know smart questions to ask for the end of my interview. Does anyone have suggestions on what types of questions I should ask? Appreciate the commentary/help

Mod Note: Each day we'll be posting the top WSO forum posts of 2014. This one was originally posted on 2/20/14 and ranks #21 for the year by total silver banana count. You can see all our top ranked content here. I just received an IB SA offer this morning from the number 1 firm on my list and I...

Mod Note: Each day we'll be posting the top WSO forum posts of 2014. This one was originally posted on 1/25/14 and ranks #19 for the year by total silver banana count. You can see all our top ranked content here. Hey all, As I sit here and prepare to write this story, I look back on one of the most...

Hey guys feel free to provide your input. I just finished my junior year at a non-target, went through IBD SA recruiting at a few firms including BB 's with no luck. I am thinking about delaying my graduation to take another shot at SA recruiting First Time Around: -3.3/3.4 GPA -BB ( UBS / ML ) PWM...