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

Hello everybody!

I will start a Law degree at Oxford this October. I am Italian and attended high school in Italy, so never took Economics or such. I do not know much about IB (as my main interest is the law), but I have a few questions about a potential career in this field:

1- I'm starting to realize that I have to start planning my professional career as soon a as possible, as internships and work experience are very important (if not essential), and they must be done in time. Can I (and if yes, when) apply for an IB internship while studying Law?

2- My main worry is - right now - to avoid depriving myself of the chance of an IB career. Is there anything I should start doing to keep that door open, something to reduce my disadvantage to an Economics student?

I gather that an IB career is not closed to those not taking an Economics degree (I could even do an MBA), I just want to take time to understand more deeply what really interests me.

Thanks in advance!

Do mature students have any hope of breaking into ibanking? I'm 24 and going through clearing with the ABB I got back when I was young (lol) some unis aren't accepting them cos they're from more than 3 years ago but I've already had acceptances from places such as royal holloway (maths) and exeter (engineering and comp sci) GCSEs were strong but by the time I graduate they'll be from like 11 years ago (8 a*s 2as) I'm coming to uni late originally cos I was rebellious and wanted 3 gap years and after that because I was making good money doing promotions, but what was good money when I was 21 is not so good when you're pushing 25..I need to get back on track. So I'm asking, if I go to an ok uni and do well in a mathsy degree is there any chance? Especially considering I'm female and they might worry about me quitting to have kids etc.

I don't know if it's been asked before but I am too lazy to look through 150 off pages so even if it has, I'm going to ask it.


GCSE requirements for IB?

Ideally straight A/A*

Posted from TSR Mobile

Would a few B's hold me down? Considering everything else is A/A*

No, not at all. What really matters (or rather what can be a deal-breaker) are your A Levels and university.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Would taking Further Maths really put me at an advantage hearing universities really value this in a candidate? And also what would be like the top degrees and universities specifically for investment banking?

If you're confident you'll excel at Further Maths, then it'll help, yeah but otherwise avoid it - don't want it dragging you down in other ways.

Any degree is fine for investment banking except soft subjects as long as you can justify your motivation if you're doing something unrelated like Engineering, Physics or History etc.

Aim for: Oxbridge, Warwick, LSE, UCL and Imperial. They are the main targets. There are a handful of universities outside of this which are usually regarded as semi-targets which include places like Bristol, Bath, Nottingham, Cass, Durham, Manchester, York etc.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Just going to drop this in:



I'm a year 12 AS-level student. My A-levels are maths, economics, physics and history. I know I've done VERY badly in my physics AS-level. My teachers are going to recommend to drop it. However, I do not want to.

My question is: if I still manage to get A*A*A in maths, economics and history, respectively, do I still stand a chance of getting into a top university (say, Warwick) for economics, or for ANY course at THAT particular university, for that matter? I only want to do courses at top universities, ideally Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, LSE, UCL or Warwick. I may be out of contention for all of those universities EXCEPT Warwick or UCL, in my opinion. So, is physics going to be MUCH more favoured over history, in this regard? Do they care about the subjects, or just the grades you actually achieve overall?

Two things besides: I may take a gap year and reapply with my (MUCH) better grades for the following year, after I retake a lot of my AS' next year alongside my A2s. This year was really bad. At worst/being as pessimistic as possible, I'll get a BCDU... Secondly, I only got 1A*, 4A, 5B and 1C at IGCSE. These two things may affect me (very) negatively, right?

I might not drop physics either... Look, I want, need and will change myself this year.

Posted from TSR Mobile

If you get BCDU, you'll need to take a gap year and apply with your A-Level grades confirmed before you even think about applying to a top 10 university.

Note that I said top ten and not top six, as it stands you'll struggle to get into a Russell Group for any half decent course. Your GCSEs are less of an issue when combined with solid A-Levels. Did you have extenuating circumstances? - sure I've seen somewhere that you go to a public school..

I can't see you getting offers from a 'top six' university for anything but a doss course at the moment, unless you have been wildly pessimistic about your exams.

Also, chillax. You're in Year 12/13 you should be enjoying life. I reckon I give less ****s about getting into banking than you do and I'm 2/3 stages in front of you.

It's BCDU in the AS, not overall. Yeah, my plan, and the thing that I must do if I'm to get anywhere in life, is to get A*AA or better next year, in the full A-level. I'm retaking all my AS exams alongside my A2s next year. I know I may very well have to take a gap year to get into a good university (that won't affect my chances of getting into the City, right?), but do you think adjustment is likely to work once I get the good grades this time next year?

Chillax? That's what I've done all my life, hence the grades. Only this summer has my mind been turned on by just what awaits if I work hard enough...

Posted from TSR Mobile

Also, one other thing: would King's College London (Economics & Management) be considered a decent semi-target? Cos I hear all the other ones described as semi-targets, like a Bristol, Durham, Nottingham, Cass etc, but never KCL?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Just going to drop this in:



I'm a year 12 AS-level student. My A-levels are maths, economics, physics and history. I know I've done VERY badly in my physics AS-level. My teachers are going to recommend to drop it. However, I do not want to.

My question is: if I still manage to get A*A*A in maths, economics and history, respectively, do I still stand a chance of getting into a top university (say, Warwick) for economics, or for ANY course at THAT particular university, for that matter? I only want to do courses at top universities, ideally Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, LSE, UCL or Warwick. I may be out of contention for all of those universities EXCEPT Warwick or UCL, in my opinion. So, is physics going to be MUCH more favoured over history, in this regard? Do they care about the subjects, or just the grades you actually achieve overall?

Two things besides: I may take a gap year and reapply with my (MUCH) better grades for the following year, after I retake a lot of my AS' next year alongside my A2s. This year was really bad. At worst/being as pessimistic as possible, I'll get a BCDU... Secondly, I only got 1A*, 4A, 5B and 1C at IGCSE. These two things may affect me (very) negatively, right?

I might not drop physics either... Look, I want, need and will change myself this year.

Posted from TSR Mobile

As above, right now you just need to forget everything - don't think about applying for university next year, don't think about planning a gap year, don't think about things you can do to increase your chances of getting into IB. Just focus on getting the best grades in 3 A2s and 1 AS as you can. If this means dropping physics, then so be it. AAB or A*A*A without physics is better than AAC or A*A*B with physics, so take into account which subject combination will get you the better grades. Honestly, you're going to have to take a gap year and reapply if you're going to make it into a top 6, but you can think about that after you get the grades. IBs don't mind gap years - just get a job for 9 months and travel for 3 months or something (don't plan that now, just fall into it once you've sat that last exam next summer). If you were to get AAA/AAB or something around that range then just aim for some joint economics and geography course at UCL or something. You don't need to do straight economics at Cambridge/LSE to have a decent shot at IB.