[Industrious Orca]

(Original post by The Eden project)
Well, currently i am studying a-level Maths,chemistry, Geography, English and General studies and i was just wondering what course at uni i will need to do that would help me become an investment banker? even which uni to go to would be a great help.

Thanks

Study a strong course (ie: geography, english literature, history, economics, maths etc) at one of (if possible) Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, LSE, Imperial or Warwick. Next best would be Durham, Nottingham, Bristol and KCL.

[PorQpine]

(Original post by PorQpine)
What would the possibilities for someone with a decent (probably not outstanding) BSc in MechEng from ETH Zurich be concerning Graduate Programs at the "prestigious Unis" etc. ?

This.


I have already now read most of the popular science economics books (Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner, Nicholas Nassim Taleb, Tim Harford and the likes) but due to being a bit unsure about my further career have opted to first study Mech Eng. in Zurich. also because of the possibility to (hopefully) finish with a M-TECH Masters...

Any rough guidelines or informations for me?
For me this is more along the lines of "What if I were to decide to do this rather than something else and if so, could I actually pursue this career path", rather than "I absolutely need to be an investment banker"

To add:
I have just finished with my German Abitur and only so far sent out the application to Zurich, but am confident that I will pass the entrance exam. But since I am still a bit undecided about my future career as you may have noticed, i thought I may as well ask if this still is an option for me.

[KLL]

(Original post by PorQpine)
This.


I have already now read most of the popular science economics books (Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner, Nicholas Nassim Taleb, Tim Harford and the likes) but due to being a bit unsure about my further career have opted to first study Mech Eng. in Zurich. also because of the possibility to (hopefully) finish with a M-TECH Masters...

Any rough guidelines or informations for me?
For me this is more along the lines of "What if I were to decide to do this rather than something else and if so, could I actually pursue this career path", rather than "I absolutely need to be an investment banker"

To add:
I have just finished with my German Abitur and only so far sent out the application to Zurich, but am confident that I will pass the entrance exam. But since I am still a bit undecided about my future career as you may have noticed, i thought I may as well ask if this still is an option for me.

ETH should get you in no problem. If not in london, definitely in switzerland or germany

[Ihategcse]

What would a person finishing 1st year of a medicine degree w/o any EC or WE related to finance have to do to secure an internship. This is a 5 yr course btw, can be 6 year if i want it to be?

[Scorcher]

(Original post by Ihategcse)
What would a person finishing 1st year of a medicine degree w/o any EC or WE related to finance have to do to secure an internship. This is a 5 yr course btw, can be 6 year if i want it to be?

You would have to be in your penultimate year to get a BB internship and by that time you would have done 4 years of a medicine degree. Why finance?

[student222]

Hey just a message to all you guys who applied or will be applying to spring insight weeks, internships, graduate schemes and year placements. I don't know about you but filling in all those application really took up loads time. There is this cool new website that is going to be helping to fill in all the generic information out, saving loads of time. Plus they will have a list of all opportunities available in different industries and sectors, so you dont have to look for them yourself.

Check out their Facebook page, like it and all the updates should be there:

HelpYouApply Facebook Page

Check out the website at www.helpyouapply.co.uk

Let any of your friends know who might find it useful.

[Industrious Orca]

(Original post by Ihategcse)
What would a person finishing 1st year of a medicine degree w/o any EC or WE related to finance have to do to secure an internship. This is a 5 yr course btw, can be 6 year if i want it to be?

I don't really get it to be honest. Why are you studying medicine? It's an okay degree to get into banking, but why would you not have dropped out onto a 3 year course rather than 5 year if you'd decided to go for banking instead? Generally you need to be graduating in 2014, so you're kind of stuck at the moment.

[uxa595]

(Original post by Ihategcse)
What would a person finishing 1st year of a medicine degree w/o any EC or WE related to finance have to do to secure an internship. This is a 5 yr course btw, can be 6 year if i want it to be?

What a sad sight :/
Everyone's all about the money nowadays.

[NGC773]

Open Uni basically a no degree for IB?

[Aquinas]

Been looking at career options for a while now. Firstly: what IB roles would be suitable for History and Politics graduates?

Secondly, how would you rate my profile:

GCSEs: 2 A*, 7 A, 2 B - Inc. A* in History, A in Maths, A in Double Science.

A-Levels: A* (top 5% in UK) English Lit; A in Politics; B in History (both A and B were one mark off A* and A respectively).

History and Politics at the University of Manchester, regularly achieving firsts and writing about modern economic history plus IPE and development studies in Politics.

Caveat - have potentially very good contact very high up in a hedge fund.

[HeyyImRyan]

(Original post by Aquinas)
Been looking at career options for a while now. Firstly: what IB roles would be suitable for History and Politics graduates?

Secondly, how would you rate my profile:

GCSEs: 2 A*, 7 A, 2 B - Inc. A* in History, A in Maths, A in Double Science.

A-Levels: A* (top 5% in UK) English Lit; A in Politics; B in History (both A and B were one mark off A* and A respectively).

History and Politics at the University of Manchester, regularly achieving firsts and writing about modern economic history plus IPE and development studies in Politics.

Caveat - have potentially very good contact very high up in a hedge fund.

Your problem is more university than anything prior to it. I'm not in any way saying Manchester is a bad university (It isn't), nor am I saying it's impossible either, but it's a disadvantage compared to if you were at a top six uni.

Roles are really dependent on what you would enjoy, so really you need to know yourself rather than "I do politics so ... is best for me", research the different roles in an IB and see what you find pretty cool and would be interested in working in.

You've missed spring weeks so your next major step is summer analyst next year, try and maybe get some experience at the hedge fund which would look really good, but also you have to show your dedication to finance. (Most people show this through quant degrees and spring weeks... invest in your own portfolio perhaps?)
Feel free to put me in touch with that hedge fund too!



Hope this helps - there will definitely be others more qualified than me to aid you though




Edit: As you're looking into it now, it needs to be stressed that banking isn't as amazing as it sounds. For sure, it's a great profession and I hope to be in it myself...but it isn't for everyone. If you look at the amount of working hours per week compared to most other jobs, you quickly realise it's pretty much the centre of your life. Most bankers use it as a stepping stone to other things, but if you can't get into PE or a hedge fund, or get dropped from your bank for not performing well enough, then you're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Research the long working hours and the hostile working environment as well as the salaries and the 'bottles and models' impression, and by all means if you feel you want to do it then don't let anything stop you

[Aquinas]

(Original post by HeyyImRyan)
Your problem is more university than anything prior to it. I'm not in any way saying Manchester is a bad university (It isn't), nor am I saying it's impossible either, but it's a disadvantage compared to if you were at a top six uni.

Roles are really dependent on what you would enjoy, so really you need to know yourself rather than "I do politics so ... is best for me", research the different roles in an IB and see what you find pretty cool and would be interested in working in.

You've missed spring weeks so your next major step is summer analyst next year, try and maybe get some experience at the hedge fund which would look really good, but also you have to show your dedication to finance. (Most people show this through quant degrees and spring weeks... invest in your own portfolio perhaps?)
Feel free to put me in touch with that hedge fund too!



Hope this helps - there will definitely be others more qualified than me to aid you though




Edit: As you're looking into it now, it needs to be stressed that banking isn't as amazing as it sounds. For sure, it's a great profession and I hope to be in it myself...but it isn't for everyone. If you look at the amount of working hours per week compared to most other jobs, you quickly realise it's pretty much the centre of your life. Most bankers use it as a stepping stone to other things, but if you can't get into PE or a hedge fund, or get dropped from your bank for not performing well enough, then you're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Research the long working hours and the hostile working environment as well as the salaries and the 'bottles and models' impression, and by all means if you feel you want to do it then don't let anything stop you

Thanks for the quick reply! Well really what I'm trying to do is to keep my options open. I believe I'm a strong candidate to achieve a First Class degree (possibly Double First) and I want to keep as many potential avenues open until it comes down to it. The thing is, I've always been interested in economics and money management and been fascinated in how it works.

I'm going to apply to spring and summer experiences/internships in due course but am looking at hedge fund and/or pressure group management experience this summer.

Along with writing for a few University publications and being the committee member of a society, would this stand me in good stead when sending in my application?

I also hope to go on to an Oxbridge/LSE Masters course and will probably do a summer school course at KCL (strategic management/Chinese business). How does it look considering that?

Also, what Masters program would you recommend, if any? I've always admired LSE's connections and ability to get into the lucrative markets but since a child I've been captivated by Oxford.

[Aquinas]

(Original post by HeyyImRyan)
Feel free to put me in touch with that hedge fund too!

Haha The contact is potentially dynamite to be fair. Although to get where he was he did an Engineering degree as far as I'm aware. The reason I thought about this in the first place was because of my contacts in this area.

[Baxus2010]

Hi all,

My long term goal is to get into IB, but I am currently working full-time somewhere else. However, I'll do my MSc next year and afterwards I hope to have a decent chance of getting into IB.
--------
Profile: (as it will be summer 2013, before my MSc)
# BSc Corporate Finance (excellent grades from Sweden+exchange in Asia)
# 1,5y full-time as advisor within Retail Banking.
# 1y full-time as data analyst at Bloomberg.
# MSc Corporate Finance (2013-2014 Cass Business School)
# Age: 23y in summer 2013
-------

I am a bit concerned about getting into IB. I will of course use my following 2 years in London to network as hell, but still, does this profile look okay when aiming at IB?
I hope that they won't consider my full-time experience as too much, but rather as "good experience" that I can contribute with. Even if I haven't been working within IB, I have still financial industry experience after working within retail banking and soon at BBG.

Comments, tips, advises? Thank you all in advance.

[KLL]

(Original post by Baxus2010)
Hi all,

My long term goal is to get into IB, but I am currently working full-time somewhere else. However, I'll do my MSc next year and afterwards I hope to have a decent chance of getting into IB.
--------
Profile: (as it will be summer 2013, before my MSc)
# BSc Corporate Finance (excellent grades from Sweden+exchange in Asia)
# 1,5y full-time as advisor within Retail Banking.
# 1y full-time as data analyst at Bloomberg.
# MSc Corporate Finance (2013-2014 Cass Business School)
# Age: 23y in summer 2013
-------

I am a bit concerned about getting into IB. I will of course use my following 2 years in London to network as hell, but still, does this profile look okay when aiming at IB?
I hope that they won't consider my full-time experience as too much, but rather as "good experience" that I can contribute with. Even if I haven't been working within IB, I have still financial industry experience after working within retail banking and soon at BBG.

Comments, tips, advises? Thank you all in advance.

You'll do alright probably. Get a relevant internship for the summer before your masters. Depends on what you want to do in IB too.

[citalopram]

(Original post by virtuous throne)
Okay first of all I am not blaming anyone in particular for my grades which aren't "poor" albeit not high enough to get past the filters, there is no need for the insulting and dismissive tone on this thread (indeed on almost every thread on this supposedly helpful and non-judgmental student forum for ALL students) that at times reeks of pathetic rank snobbery, the same snobbery that I am being accused of. If you re read the paragraph I merely suggest that the college may have worsened my predicament when I could have been helped. I always hear people being told to stop blaming others when they fail well guess what in life you do meet people who take pleasure in seeing you fail and therefore take any opportunity that they get to make that happen hence the reference to "Malign Family influences" in my initial statement. It can happen that you are perfectly capable of succeeding in a certain endeavour and end up failing due to the cynical nature of people who feel threatened by or jealous of your talent, believe me this happens in life and it can happen to anyone. I know the use of the word **** sent the wrong signal but my intentions were sincere, if it seems that I am having a rant then I apologise for wasting yours and everyone else's time

Good day Student Room I will be seeking help from another student community

I know ecactly how you feel. Do you know any good student online communities?

[fletchdd02]

(Original post by Industrious Orca)
Study a strong course (ie: geography, english literature, history, economics, maths etc) at one of (if possible) Oxford, Cambridge, UCL, LSE, Imperial or Warwick. Next best would be Durham, Nottingham, Bristol and KCL.

Would a science such as chemistry with management or biochemistry be suitable as well?

[Tsunami2011]

(Original post by fletchdd02)
Would a science such as chemistry with management or biochemistry be suitable as well?

Use your common sense.

[Industrious Orca]

(Original post by fletchdd02)
Would a science such as chemistry with management or biochemistry be suitable as well?

Yes

[Dukeofwembley]

(Original post by effofex)
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.

they would not allow you to converse in languages other than your mother tongue and english

reason being, if your not a native level speaker you couldd say the wrong word and could destroy or have a negative impact with clients

buisness is conducted in english, simple as, if they need other language speaker, theyll usually hire someone from that area

unless you can speak maori, somali, parsi, pashto etc(ie rare language, not spanish, french etc)