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The "Am I good enough for Investment Banking/Consultancy?" Thread

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Original post by glebp
You will be fine. You have a superb academic profile, and most importantly you posses a high level of enthusiasm. There are kids getting spring weeks with ABB from mediocre universities. After this you should understand that you're of high calibre.


Thank you for the kind words
How feasible is it to gain a spring week placement doing med? Should I prioritise joining business societies and attempting to secure some work experience once at uni?
Original post by MrZebraCookie
How feasible is it to gain a spring week placement doing med? Should I prioritise joining business societies and attempting to secure some work experience once at uni?


Possible, but you'd have to fit graduation dates.. I.e. complete one in 3rd year if the med course is 5 years long (or 4th year if it's 6 years long) which I believe (?) is when you start the practical element of the course, so could be tough.

In any case, unless you plan on switching to a different course, you'll have a lot of time to build up leadership/work experience.

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Original post by xpdevil
Hi All

I am entering university this October (I'm 18 - just completed A Levels), I have always been mildly interested in banking/finance but am only starting to research/read about things now. Could someone give an assessment of my profile please. Could I get onto a spring week at a bank? If not what specifically could I seek to improve.

GCSEs: 10A*s A
A Levels: A*A*A*A (Maths, Further Maths, Economics, French - A in French)
University: about to enter 1st year Mathematics at Cambridge
Extra-curricular: a large amount of probably unrelated maths extra curriculars (society's, competitions, courses etc.), Young Enterprise - financial manager for 1 year (London Finals reached)
Fluent in English, Bulgarian and advanced level in French

I plan to read books about finance, I have no work experience and cannot really gain any relevant one currently

Cheers

PS: It is evident I need to gain some work experience - what specifically should it be?


I'm pretty sure you know yourself that you're in a strong position....

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Original post by xpdevil
Hi All

I am entering university this October (I'm 18 - just completed A Levels), I have always been mildly interested in banking/finance but am only starting to research/read about things now. Could someone give an assessment of my profile please. Could I get onto a spring week at a bank? If not what specifically could I seek to improve.

GCSEs: 10A*s A
A Levels: A*A*A*A (Maths, Further Maths, Economics, French - A in French)
University: about to enter 1st year Mathematics at Cambridge
Extra-curricular: a large amount of probably unrelated maths extra curriculars (society's, competitions, courses etc.), Young Enterprise - financial manager for 1 year (London Finals reached)
Fluent in English, Bulgarian and advanced level in French

I plan to read books about finance, I have no work experience and cannot really gain any relevant one currently

Cheers

PS: It is evident I need to gain some work experience - what specifically should it be?


holy ****, if this checks out.. why the hell are you going into banking?
Would you be disadvantaged if you have no specific Banking/Finance related work experience but a lot of in another field (Electronics/Computer Science in my example) when applying for a spring week?

Also, are you allowed to apply for a spring week in 1st year if you're doing a masters, or do you have to do it in your second year.
Original post by chrisidialu
Would you be disadvantaged if you have no specific Banking/Finance related work experience but a lot of in another field (Electronics/Computer Science in my example) when applying for a spring week?

Also, are you allowed to apply for a spring week in 1st year if you're doing a masters, or do you have to do it in your second year.


Any experience, sold right, is good experience. Focus on how they overlap.

second year, unless you plan to switch to a three year course at some point in the next year.

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Original post by Princepieman
Any experience, sold right, is good experience. Focus on how they overlap.

second year, unless you plan to switch to a three year course at some point in the next year.

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Okay cool, thanks

But would that still be the case if you're applying just for genuine banking experience with no desire to convert it into a summer internship?
Original post by chrisidialu
Okay cool, thanks

But would that still be the case if you're applying just for genuine banking experience with no desire to convert it into a summer internship?


yes. your application won't be considered if your graduation year isn't 3 years away from this year. you can of course change your graduation date on your cv (with the intent that you'll change it irl too if offered a summer). But, if you don't convert a spring week (assuming you get one) or you don't get any at all, then you can just leave the original graduation date on your cv and try again for spring weeks.*

it's not that hard, it's really all about when you graduate because ultimately, these banking programmes aren't just 'tasters', they're a recruitment funnel that follows a set trajectory.
Given that a person is unsure whether they are doing a 3 or 4 year course but apply in Year 1, succeed with spring week and internship and then say they are staying on the course for Year 4, can IBs then provide a job position for after the 4-year course is finished or is this only a possibility if the initial spring week application is done in Year 2.

Thanks
Original post by xpdevil
Given that a person is unsure whether they are doing a 3 or 4 year course but apply in Year 1, succeed with spring week and internship and then say they are staying on the course for Year 4, can IBs then provide a job position for after the 4-year course is finished or is this only a possibility if the initial spring week application is done in Year 2.

Thanks


deferral is generally not possible
Original post by xpdevil
Given that a person is unsure whether they are doing a 3 or 4 year course but apply in Year 1, succeed with spring week and internship and then say they are staying on the course for Year 4, can IBs then provide a job position for after the 4-year course is finished or is this only a possibility if the initial spring week application is done in Year 2.

Thanks


You either apply now with intention of switching to three years if you get an internship offer from the SW or you don't do anything and wait til second year to apply for SWs if you actually do want to do the four years.

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Original post by Princepieman
Possible, but you'd have to fit graduation dates.. I.e. complete one in 3rd year if the med course is 5 years long (or 4th year if it's 6 years long) which I believe (?) is when you start the practical element of the course, so could be tough.

In any case, unless you plan on switching to a different course, you'll have a lot of time to build up leadership/work experience.

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Thank you! So I can't apply for spring week until my third year? Would this apply for consultancy as well?
Original post by MrZebraCookie
Thank you! So I can't apply for spring week until my third year? Would this apply for consultancy as well?


Yes, unless you plan on not finishing the whole degree.

Consulting doesn't really 'do' spring weeks (some big4 firms have something similar, and the strat houses have insight programmes but none are as regimented as banking where you have a funnel of conversion: spring > summer > grad) the bulk of hires are from final years gunning for a grad spot or the very few spots (usually single digits) available on their penultimate year summer internships.

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Hi, I don't know if I want to get into IB but i'm curious as to where i'm standing.

Academic background:
-International Baccalaureate (31/42)
-BSc (hons) Business & Economics at Brighton University (2:1)
-MSc Management at Durham University (will start in October)

Professional background:
-1 year placement at GlaxoSmithKline in project management/business development
-Currently working as a project manager for a funded startup (~3 months)

Extracurricular:
-Fluent in English, French, Spanish, Italian
-I play internationally for France in my sport, having had a sports scholarship and various awards at university.
-Founder of my own (relatively successful) company whilst I was a student

Right now the major problems I see are:
-I graduated from a **** uni
-My professional experience is in project management and not in IB

Any chance?
Original post by Bostima
Hi, I don't know if I want to get into IB but i'm curious as to where i'm standing.

Academic background:
-International Baccalaureate (31/42)
-BSc (hons) Business & Economics at Brighton University (2:1)
-MSc Management at Durham University (will start in October)

Professional background:
-1 year placement at GlaxoSmithKline in project management/business development
-Currently working as a project manager for a funded startup (~3 months)

Extracurricular:
-Fluent in English, French, Spanish, Italian
-I play internationally for France in my sport, having had a sports scholarship and various awards at university.
-Founder of my own (relatively successful) company whilst I was a student

Right now the major problems I see are:
-I graduated from a **** uni
-My professional experience is in project management and not in IB

Any chance?


You have a shot, absolutely :smile:

Just try your best now to reach out to any Durham grads/students that are in the city or are heading there via Linkedin. They'll give you a bit of insight and some more appropriate advice.

Apart from that, research where in IB you want to go into and the different banks out there, look to apply to summer internship programmes, 'spin' your work experience and entrepreneurial/EC experience in as best a light as possible and quadruple check your application.

Good luck

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Original post by Princepieman
You have a shot, absolutely :smile:

Just try your best now to reach out to any Durham grads/students that are in the city or are heading there via Linkedin. They'll give you a bit of insight and some more appropriate advice.

Apart from that, research where in IB you want to go into and the different banks out there, look to apply to summer internship programmes, 'spin' your work experience and entrepreneurial/EC experience in as best a light as possible and quadruple check your application.

Good luck

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Thanks! I think my background would be more suited to consulting rather than IB though?
Original post by Bostima
Thanks! I think my background would be more suited to consulting rather than IB though?


Yeah, at least based on your experience

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Academic:

GCSE - 5 C's , however English Lan (A), Mathematics (A)
A level - Economics (A*), Business (A), Russian (A), IT (A)
University - BSc Managament (Warwick Uni)

Professional :

no finance related work experience

EC:
Ice hockey - training in Finland, Czech Republic, Russia, Norway
Outsourcing back end web development, by utilising my russian speaking abilities

realistically, what are my chances for SW > Summer > Grad role
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by glebp
Academic:

GCSE - 5 C's , however English Lan (A), Mathematics (A)
A level - Economics (A*), Business (A), Russian (A), IT (A)
University - BSc Managament (Warwick Uni)

Professional :

no finance related work experience

EC:
Ice hockey - training in Finland, Czech Republic, Russia, Norway
Outsourcing back end web development, by utilising my russian speaking abilities

realistically, what are my chances for SW > Summer > Grad role


You can only know until you try dude.

What about other ECs? Have you organised anything or led something? Any part time jobs?

(ofc feel free to send me your CV, can help you out with structure/content)

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