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

I have 4A* 5As 1B GCSEs

I'm in year 12 taking; Biology, chemistry, maths, economics.
I'm thinking of doing a chemistry degree, hopefully at UCL.

What're the chances?

P.S Ignore the sig, i'm not thinking of medicine anymore

At the moment you have no chance as your not even at university. Banks don't really care about how many A*'s you have at GCSE or the subjects you took at A Level as long as you got good grades and got into a good university. Revisit this thread when your at uni and you can post up a more relevant profile including what area you want to go into, your uni, degree, EC's, work experience etc Although Chemistry at UCL should be ok you will definitely need to prove your interest in finance so make a start on that.

So what do you actually want to do? IBD? Operations? Strategy Consulting?

And what does your EC and W/E profile look like at the moment, and once you're applying for spring weeks?

Yeah obviously I have a massive way to go yet, I was just seeing if I was on track as i'm going.

Should I be looking into trying to get some work experience over the summer in an IB setting?

My ECs are quite strong I would say but all my work experience is medical based at the moment. So should I look into sorting some more relevant W/E over summer?

Lol personally I don't think this thread has any significance. Might be fun though. You're good enough if the employers think you'll be a profitable hire. It's not like uni applications where if you tick certain boxes you're highly likely to get in.

If the interviewer's not feeling it, he's not feeling it! Doesn't matter who you are...

Chemistry at UCL is good enough for any position in IB or consulting, but it is very tough. You need to work out which division you actually want to go into as well; some are a lot easier than others to get into. Any W/E is good, whether that be this summer or the summer between 1st and 2nd year etc.

I think I'd like to be in the front office where the big dogs play

I think I'd like to be in the front office where the big dogs play

Hey everyone! I'm a 1st year biochem student at UCL, and expecting a good 2.i this year. Unfortunately I don't have much in the way of extra-curricular things on my CV, but I do have a couple. I was wondering if anyone knows the chances of securing an internship in strategy consulting - BCG/Bain/Mckinsey seem unlikely so probably OC&C, Marakon, Booz etc. Alternatively one of the public services firms consulting arms (Deloitte seems quite good). I have noticed that it is very Oxbridge dominated, and would this mean that I'd need a 1st coming from UCL in order to be considered. Thanks in advance!

Without even taking your degree into consideration

you won't get past the filters which require AAB at A Level

(unless you can skip them by knowing senior people at the bank).

They don't care how bad your college was

most of us go to state schools and some of us

including me go to absolutely terrible ones but we try harder.

You should count yourself lucky that you had a

chance to go to a private school for the majority

of your education and blaming your grades on your college

is just a weak excuse as most just get on with it.

So my only advice would be to start networking as much as possible

with people in the city in an attempt to bypass the filters

and also stop blaming others for your poor grades at A Level.

Ok here is Dilemma, should I apply for a Internship or Grad Role for next year.

Profile.
Had few Interviews at BB for Internship this year but failed to convert to offer, currently few Interview lined up at Asset Management.
-Want to work in FICC Trading. No sales just Trading.
-current 2nd Year BSC Economics (University not the target one but decent enuff)
-Multi Cultured Background, Raised up in 4 different countries
-Speak 6 different Languages
-won 2 trading challenges International (among 2000 students in Europe) and national (among 300 Student)
-Trading intern in summer during 1st year at a Prop firm (This was my Prize for Coming first in the challenge)
-Spring week in BB
-(Trade my own account for last 4 years FX)
-Strong EC, u no the usual president of Investment Society, Head of Investment Fund, volunteering,Charity, Sports and all.
-done networking the usual get on linkedin contact alumni going up for event in city all dt
-have been working every weekends since I started A levels until now, Work experience abroad as well but not related to Banking.
-set up a production with my mates, filming, music videos, event and etc, got our work nominated for Best Music Video, Post Production at British Student Film Festival
-A levels grade (BCC) Maths, Business, Film (did it again since I had 3 years to fill up my gap to gain Home student status Hence cld not be asked to take it seriously, Although did enjoy my film course a lot)
-A levels Equivalent (Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, English) Average of 71% in all 5.

The problem is will BB just reject my apps if i dont have any intern this summer in my CV if I apply for grad job. I am still confused shld I go for Intern or Grad for next year as I will be graduating next year. even If I get an intern this summer what Would My chances be over someone whose done an intern at BB but did not get a grad offer.
My plan is if I dont get an Intern this summer is to do cycling charity and then going over asia to do volunteering work through uni in Sept.

Bottom Line is I only wish to work at Banking for 3-4 years even though I love it, Plan is to Make my tuition fees for film School and whisk off to NYU Film school to study Directing. As my heart lies in Filming.

FeedBack would be Appreciated Hugely. will rep u guys.

I would apply for an intern role if I was you.

Your A-Level grades are on the low side, but I think you would get a sales role relatively easily if you can speak six different languages fluently.

Yep i though about Applying for sales role, but thing is I dont like it. I am just geared into Trading. I did my A levels in 2006, would you still think it is in low side for Banking. cheers for the advice.

Yes - it is on the low side - alot of banks use an unofficial threshold of AAB as a minimum, but other things can of course compensate. At smaller places and at proprietary firms the grades do not matter so much, and your P/L from your own personal trading, motivations, market knowledge, speed maths etc. matter alot more. If you are geared towards trading I would recommend taking more quantitative modules and speaking to as many traders as possible.

I got 11A*s at GCSE, 45 points at IB and have an unconditional offer from Cambridge to do History. I started my own business at 13 and made a reasonable profit.

However for every gap year program or work experience scheme in the city I've applied for in the last two years I haven't even made it past the first stage - including Deloitte and a few others. I'm currently plagued with self doubt - did the fact I didn't do Higher Maths or Economics count against me and will I still find it hard getting internships etc. at uni?

I understand this may sound whiny and I'm going to get negged for it but if anyone could give me some advice I'd be very grateful.