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

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Lets give this a shot.

Graduating from highschool in Sweden 2009, predicted highest grade in all subjects (equivalent to 90 %). Have studied courses in mathematics and German beyound the requirements - hence will have acquired 30 Bologna points upon graduating (university courses in German and mathematics). Fluent in Swedish (that includes being able to understand and speak with people from Finnland, Norway and Denmark), English (653 /660 on TOEFL PbT), German (Have passed the 'Deutsche Sprachdiplom' - equivalent to the CAE in english). I have also taken on Spanish which I intend to make further study of at University.

As far as my EC's are concerned, I am active as a board member in a swedish association, 'Young Shareholders'. Have been participating in football-teams since the age of 5. Hence, I intend to actively participate in sport-organisations also at university (captain of the football-team, anyone?). What is more, I've spent some time this summer shadowing an economist, working in the field of M&A. For as much as it matters I also trade, actively, with equities.

I am applying for an Economics degree at LSE, Cam, UCL, Warwick and Durham. To speculate, say UCL accepts me - how will my prospects of qualifying for an IB-internship look like?

Reply 381

bazc350

Inter-Company

well i using it to explain what a '**** point' you have - the only traders you will find these days actually trading at a respectable outfit with only GCSE's are the old school class as there KNOWN, i.e. those that were hired through the 80's and early 90's

you find anyone in those positions (as you so stupidly put it,new school or in school' although I guess it's b/c you didn't understand the term) who have only done GCSE's these days '

Ooh, get her. ****** hell, I wasn't really making a point. It was a comment on the fact that there are people out there who didn't do even A levels. The poster I quoted said there wasn't. I think I also said "it wouldn't happen these days though" or maybe I deleted it. :rolleyes:

Reply 382

City_Wharf

Alba Gu Brath

Degree: MEng/Beng Civil Engineering
University: Edinburgh
Year of study: 1st, going into 2nd
ECs: Trading and investment club, 1st Football team, run my own successful internet business which makes xxxx pounds a month
Work experience: hardly anything noteworthy so far. currently working in Barclays as a cashier over the summer and will be applying to IBs for spring insight weeks this year and hopefully the summer internships next year.

what do you think then? any chance?

Looks like you are on the good track

IMPORTANT: no matter what you do make sure you succeed and stand out from the competition.

Also make sure you know where you want to be and have a plan to get you there.

Practically, give yourself deadlines and work methodically towards them.
There are a lot of people who either don't know where they want to be, or if they do have no idea how to get there.
This alone will differentiate you from the pack...

Reply 383

Teenage Pirate

Capocrimini

that includes being able to understand and speak with people from Finnland, Norway and Denmark

You're lucky I'm not a recruiter, but if I was I'd tell you to try to communicate with me in Swedish, you'd fail because I don't speak a word despite being from one of those three countries and like 60% of my compatriots, my Swedish is "not proficient" let alone "fluent."

Other than that... :wink:

Reply 384

johnbarkwith

Does anyone think I have even the slightest chance of getting a job in corporate finance or quantitative analytics with a half decent bank???????

University: Manchester
Degree: Mmath
Disertation: Research project on pricing barrier options.
Experience: Business Restructuring Internship (BDO Stoy Hayward 2008)
Corporate Finance Summer Analyst (Altium Capital Investment Bank)
ECs: Bramhall Basketball Club Captain, Mensa, International High IQ Society
A-Levels: Maths A, Further Maths A, Physics A
GCSE: 6 A*, 2A, 1B

Reply 385

Breitling

If you're graduating in 09 it will be tough but wait till 2010 and you've got a good shot.

Reply 386

uthinkilltellu

How did you find Altium Capital?

Reply 387

Inter-Company

mate being a part of MENSA will not get you anywhere (i.e. if your under the impression that it will)

Reply 388

fieryiceissweet

Inter-Company

mate being a part of MENSA will not get you anywhere (i.e. if your under the impression that it will)

wont do him any harm to mention it
though mensa isnt difficult to get into..

Reply 389

Inter-Company

fieryiceissweet

wont do him any harm to mention it
though mensa isnt difficult to get into..

yeah thats what I mean - when people think of MENSA they think Einstein, Hawking et al, i.e. that it is incredibly hard to get into when it really isn't

I'm a member (and given some people whom I've encountered on this forum, I think if they took the test they could too) but I've never mentioned it anywhere, b/c of the above (i.e. that it really isn't that hard) it isn't valued as highly as people think. Add to that, mentioning your a member of MENSA may come across as arrogant - there really is no point risking mentioning it, as at best no one will really care and worst it may give a bad/cocky impression

Reply 390

Inter-Company

uthinkilltellu

How did you find Altium Capital?

I've heard of this firm (admittedly only on a small buy-side transaction they were involved in within there M&A department for one of our clients) - are big/prestigious/exclusive in the industry?

Reply 391

johnbarkwith

I just made a speculative application and submitted my cv to them. one of the associates who is know managing director invited me into to chat about the company, we ended up getting along so they offered me work experience over the summer. They are a pan european boutique specializing in IPOs but also offer full IB services. To answer an earlier query, i dont think mensa would add alot to my application, it just shows an itelligence above 98th percentile so its not excessivly hard to get into but cant do much harm...

Reply 392

fieryiceissweet

Inter-Company

yeah i get you but i have slightly different take
its not hard to get into but i dont think it will give a cocky impressions, imo it would be that at best they might think "well done but nobody cares" but at worst they think "i couldnt care less" i dont think arrogance would come into it

Reply 393

trickz

Hi. I'd like to start reading the FT but it's so big. The only section that seems relevant/interesting is the companies and markets section. Is that the section I should be foucsing on/anything more specific?

Reply 394

uthinkilltellu

I usually read the summary on the left hand side, and if the shopkeeper isn't looking in my direction, the Lex column aswell.

Reply 395

oblivious

I focus on companies and markets back to front (the short view on the front is very good). Skim most of the actual FT although I always read the lex column in detail.

Reply 396

Teenage Pirate

If you don't care that much about companies, on C&M you can read the first page, the last spread (ie. not the last page but the two before it) and the last page.

And the front page and Lex.

Reply 397

ndroo

so basically I'm doing computing and i'm on a high first average.. i've done a microsoft one yr internship technical job..

wot are the possibilities of getting into an IB on the trading side? Suppose I do get an interview - are the interviews technical, i.e. do u need an economics/finance background to answer their questions?

Reply 398

uthinkilltellu

1) What university?
2) The extent of involvement in university's clubs/sports?
3) Financial/Banking experience?
4) The extent of understanding of markets?

Reply 399

ndroo

1) Nottingham uni.. i finished 2nd year and am on an 80% avg

2) This is a bit complicated.. I am doing my 2nd degree :s-smilie:

in my previous Uni I was involved a lot in sports and arts/drama/dancing.. this time round I was course represantative on the student board but thats it.. i m older so i'm kind of past the silly clubs (how i see them :smile:

)

3)nothing at all - I have management experience between my 2 degrees (other degree was Science related tho) and 1 year's internship at Microsoft working on a technical position\

4) I understand the markets but not that well.. I am reading a very intersting book about the markets and the City and lately have taken an interest and am buying the FT but I've only shown interest for the past 4-5months cos of the happenings this year.. But if I knew I had a chance I'd read up much more