Too old for IB?

In order of importance for breaking in.

1) Target university at undergrad
2) Solid degree
3) Target university at postgrad
4) Age

1) How badly will the undergrad at Manchester impact my chances of breaking in? It's not exactly an ex-poly but certainly not a target either.

2) I will have two degrees when contacting companies, both incredibly quantitative (BEng Petroleum Engineering - MSc Metals and Energy Finance) are these considered "solid"?

4) I understand it's not that important but is 23/24 considered too old?

If i understood correctly, and you are going to be applying with manchester + imperial that is fine and won't be the deciding factor for a decision.

Engineering is fine, that's a significant percentage of the analyst pool across the industry. If i'm being fussy, engineering on its own probably sounds better than petroleum engineering on a CV - but I don't know enough about it to say whether that's disingenuous or not.

age wise, my analyst class was 20 - 27, average was 22/23. that'll be higher at the larger BBs as Europeans typically do an undergrad + masters as a minimum. Majority of my class were British, that isn't the case more widely. I also think being a little older is an advantage (although does depend what you did in the gap year)

is this for summer or grad? you need a summer first. and is this for trading or IBD?

I want to get into reserves based lending at some point in my career so I would have thought a petroleum engineering would be advantageous later on however I agree atm that just stating engineering would look better. Would that look as though i'm being evasive/intentionally vague though?

Did alot of nothing during my gap year working in a management role at the NHS to fund the MSc. Tried to fit in other stuff and made a few contacts at Jeffries, SocGen (particularly their energy project finance team) and the Islamic Development bank, learned Russian etc. nothing really substantial. Due to needing to work a 9-5 to fund the MSc I couldn't do anything meaningful. (I want to "own" my MSc didn't want to go to parents)

Interested in IBD and i'd be looking for a summer which is why my age is so worrying!

Working is a good thing to do in a gap year - being in a professional / office environment is extremely valuable and sets you apart from the majority of 21 year olds entering banking.

Age wise, I wouldn't worry. You are only a couple years older than average at most. (FWIW I turned 24 6 months into my grad role). It's when you are 30+ and interning that things get tricky. It's more a office power dynamic thing - you need to appreciate that you'll be taking orders from an associate who may be the same age / younger than you. No one making hiring decisions will explicitly acknowledge that though, least of all HR.

In order of importance for breaking in.

1) Target university at undergrad
2) Solid degree
3) Target university at postgrad
4) Age

Took a gap year to apply for an MSc that is relevant to both my undergrad (petroleum engineering) and corporate finance. I'm kind of worried i'll be too old when I graduate though, I'll be 23 when I graduate (and hopefully have secured a graduate position) but 24 by the time I actually hand my dissertation in.

Also, I am certainly going to study that course for many reasons including the fact that it actually makes me more employable in engineering roles than the MEng I was going to take. But, in the experienced IBers opinion would this course enhance my opportunities in the city over simply having a BEng from a non-target (Manchester).

Hi guys,
I'm currently writing up a covering letter for an off-cycle internship (if i get it i'll just bite the bullet, quit my job, get a loan for part of my MSc and get spending money from parents). Would you recommend slipping in the fact that i'll be going to imperial from September?

Didn't want to make another thread because everyone whose opinion I want is on this thread already.

Definitely! It should be intertwined into the brief introduction about yourself.

what is so funny?