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Bank of America Merrill Lynch - Banking Uncovered 2015

anonymoous

Anyone else applied?

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Reply 1

Anonynmous

Original post by anonymoous

Anyone else applied?

I have.

Reply 2

Askaud

Does anyone know if you can apply for this on a gap year?

Reply 3

G.Hailstone

Original post by Askaud

Does anyone know if you can apply for this on a gap year?

I don't think you can, most banks don't allow it..

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Reply 4

gr8wizard10

Good luck lads, did this programme last year and now I'm on their spring week internship programme.

If you want any input from me, don't hesitate to ask :smile:

Reply 5

JP0458B

What's the selection process like for this thing?

Do they ask for A level predictions?

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Reply 6

gr8wizard10

Original post by Don Joiner

What's the selection process like for this thing?

Do they ask for A level predictions?

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Most probably. They'll ask you a few questions about your motivation and then commercial awareness questions, and that should be about it.

Make the application, if IB interests you. Good programme, I was admitted into the 2014 class. Now I'm on the Spring intern class of 2015, made some valuable connections whilst I was there.

Reply 7

gr8wizard10

Original post by mmms95

For the commercial awareness question, do you have any suggested reading? (e.g which newspaper? Financial Times??) Im not quite sure what they're asking for??

Whatever source you like to find relevant information, which you believe to be useful and relevant enough to answer the question. Here's the answer I gave (bearing in mind this was 2014):

The recent mass flooding in the UK has had a noticeable impact on the microeconomy. Although it was an exogenous factor it has potentially slowed down business in rural areas. The government had said "Money is no object" in regards to sorting out the flooding crisis. However, given the timelag between any government assistance, businesses in areas which have been effected by floods may as a result have decresaesd sales in the winter seasons. This wouldn't have been accounted for in their forecasts and could be detrimental to them maintaining expected revenues, as seemingly there's a long time before the problems with the floodings are resolved. Agricultural businesses would be the most severly damaged as the floods have affected the grounds to which they have become insoluble for many parts of the UK and it would be difficult to rectify the environmental damages in the short-run.

At the time, I mainly read BBC news.

However, if you can get a subscription to FT, it's very good to build vocab and get a deeper insight into the business world.

Reply 8

gr8wizard10

Original post by mmms95

alright, thanks so much for the detailed reply! Do you think a strong commercial awareness is valued greatly by employers (even for first year SW and summer internships)? Because tbh Im just trying to find out what career i want and banking and finance is quite new to me (I'm going to study maths at uni) so I don't really have that much knowledge in those fields. All I know is basic IGCSE economics and even that I only half remember. How important do you think it is to have current economic knowledge and if so, is it necessary to be quite advanced? Do they discuss this in interviews?

Yes, most roles in banking require you to have interest and understanding of what's going on around you.

It doesn't need to be advanced, but you must be able to hold an opinion or a view, and justify it when prompted.

At Spring interviews, commercial awareness discussions might go into more depth, yes.

Reply 9

Hody421

I have only received an e-mail saying that the programme date has changed, nothing else. Applied for this like a month ago. Has anybody heard back?

Reply 10

PatrickBateman96

Original post by Abdul-Karim

Good luck lads, did this programme last year and now I'm on their spring week internship programme.

If you want any input from me, don't hesitate to ask :smile:

hi, I was just wondering which course you think would give me a better prospects for a graduate front office investment banking role. Economics at Bristol or Investment and FRM at Cass?

Reply 11

gr8wizard10

Original post by PatrickBateman96

hi, I was just wondering which course you think would give me a better prospects for a graduate front office investment banking role. Economics at Bristol or Investment and FRM at Cass?

Both semi targets, no noticeable difference, whichever course you feel happier doing + whether you want to be in London or not. The difference would be made by your other achievements.

That being said, if I was posed between the two and I had a specific interest in doing a degree solely in Econ then I would choose Bristol, although I find Econ in itself quite dull.