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

relative to the average job it's pretty competitive given the salary and applicant to offer ratio is still significantly higher than that of a lot of other professions. i interned bo at a 3rd tier and whilst not your typical front office student base, the calibre was still very much above average. experience is undoubtedly a solid bonus i'd say not to be undervalued when it comes to applying to a job.

congrats on the ucl offer, and all the best with buy-side recruitment. did a few rounds of PE ints for a summer through a head-hunter myself, got conked out 3rd round (all rounds included some heavy technicals, previous deal work experience and case study excercises) , was up against masters studentns haha but yeah.. i agree with banking being overrated in the general sense, but at this moment in time.. think i'll just follow the 2-3 year sell side > try for buy-side (through head-hunters), because it's just the traditional path.. either that or leave finance all-together maybe

A Levels: Accounting (A), Business (A), Economics (B), Maths with Statistics (B)

Undergrad: BA Dual Honours Economics and Finance from Keele University (First Class Honours)

Masters: Msc Accounting and Finance from LSE (Will graduate in summer hopefully with a merit but a pass in worst case)

Experience: Various part time and full time jobs during studies, 6 Week rotational internship within Audit, Consulting and Transaction Services with KPMG

I want to work in Investment Management. Would it be better to work in an IB for a couple of years, potentially in M&A to make the move?

If so, what are my chances of getting into Investment Management straight after Masters. If not, what are my chances of getting into a front office role preferably M&A in an IB after graduation?

Should I lower expectations and apply for the Transaction Services and Corporate Finance grad schemes for the BIG 4?

Also on a side note, which grad schemes offer CFA training as well?

I´m from Austria and wondered what my chances are:

A levels: maths, chemistry, English, German (top grades)

BSc in mathematics (might switch to financial mathematics)

work experience: part-time jobs and I´m doing an internship at a bank this summer

fluent in 3 languages and intermediate at Italian


What could I do to get into IB?

What uni are you studying at? What year are you in?

Posted from TSR Mobile

I´m in my second year (and I´ll be graduating in 2018) at the Vienna University of Technology.

Cool.

Figure out which division you want to apply to, work on cover letter templates (brush up/update your CV too) over the summer and then apply to the banks as soon as possible for internships starting from around August - September.

Good luck!

I wouldn't bother switching degree btw, and your profile looks very solid so dw.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Hi all.

Unfortunately this thread isn't going to be innovative or exciting, I'm just seeking positive reinforcement that IB is a realistic career option for me.

Here's my story:
- Study at a semi target (if that exists): Loughborough/Bath
- Only found out about IB and M&A in second year of uni
- Panicked when I realised the route into IB is a spring week, summer internship then hopefully a FT offer
- Realised hadn't done any of that
- Thought second best option is to get a placement at a Corporate Finance firm
- About to finish up placement and enter final year.

Here's my questions:
1) I understand breaking into IB straight from graduate is pretty much non-existent, is this true?
2) if it is, is there anything I can do about it? Aren't summer internships only for penultimate year students?
3) Would doing a masters help? Specifically one in London?

Thanks in advances for your responses

Moved this to the am I good enough thread.

1) Yes, some banks don't even bother to recruit for grad at all. There's an overall trend of all BBs and a lot of the EBs (not all, I think EBs generally are nore open to taking on final year grad applicants) sourcing their grad class from their intern class or poaching interns from other banks - sometimes whilst their internship is going on

2) Most banks will allow you to apply for internships, I greatly suggest you do or you'll be so out of luck

3) A masters is ultimately a waste, IMO. It would be better if you spent time at the big4 training for the ACA rather than sinking in £20-40k on a slight glimmer of a chance to reapply again. Although, if you have the available cash, it might be an ok CV filler (won't help much in terms of 'prestige bumping')

There's no need for positive reinforcement. Network your but off between now and app season, then apply. If you get an offer, great. If not find another route to get there (big4 Audit (ACA) -> Big4 CorpFin --> IB or get experience then a top tier MBA). It's not the end of the world if you don't get an offer.

Moved this to the am I good enough thread.

1) Yes, some banks don't even bother to recruit for grad at all. There's an overall trend of all BBs and a lot of the EBs (not all, I think EBs generally are nore open to taking on final year grad applicants) sourcing their grad class from their intern class or poaching interns from other banks - sometimes whilst their internship is going on

2) Most banks will allow you to apply for internships, I greatly suggest you do or you'll be so out of luck

3) A masters is ultimately a waste, IMO. It would be better if you spent time at the big4 training for the ACA rather than sinking in £20-40k on a slight glimmer of a chance to reapply again. Although, if you have the available cash, it might be an ok CV filler (won't help much in terms of 'prestige bumping'

There's no need for positive reinforcement. Network your but off between now and app season, then apply. If you get an offer, great. If not find another route to get there (big4 Audit (ACA) -> Big4 CorpFin --> IB or get experience then a top tier MBA). It's not the end of the world if you don't get an offer.

Thanks for the response.

So just to double check, banks are OK with final year students applying for summer internships? Would you still be able to apply for ones that specifically say only for penultimate students?

I've heard the big 4 audit > CF > IB route is quite common. Just a few questions on that:

1) is going straight into CF highly unlikely? (I've been slightly put off audit by hearing stories from people who've done it, and although it provides a good grounding of accounting knowledge, I would prefer to avoid it if possible
2) how far in do people usual lateral to CF from audit? after the full 3 years of training then CF or before?
3) I've seen some of the big4 offering various qualifications (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CFA). Is the assumption that the ACA is more prestigious still true?

Thanks

Yes, you can apply. Even if it states penultimate, it's worth a shot.

1) You can and I know KPMG specifically has a fairly well developed grad program in CorpFin, I suspect many of the other big4s do too. The only reason I suggested Audit is because it's generally much easier to get into than CorpFin (which tends to have similar competition levels (and candidate levels - i.e. target uni folk) to IB due to fewer spots) whereas Audit take on hundreds upon hundreds of grads a year

2) Anywhere from 6months to 2 years post-ACA is the sweet spot

3) ACA is the most sought after by far

Posted from TSR Mobile

Yes, you can apply. Even if it states penultimate, it's worth a shot.

1) You can and I know KPMG specifically has a fairly well developed grad program in CorpFin, I suspect many of the other big4s do too. The only reason I suggested Audit is because it's generally much easier to get into than CorpFin (which tends to have similar competition levels (and candidate levels - i.e. target uni folk) to IB due to fewer spots) whereas Audit take on hundreds upon hundreds of grads a year

2) Anywhere from 6months to 2 years post-ACA is the sweet spot

3) ACA is the most sought after by far




Posted from TSR Mobile

Hey, how would i go about getting into corporate finance? what companies, is it the big 4? What degree/uni? Thanks.

Thanks for this advice, its pretty invaluable.

I've been using WallStreetOasis for the last year and I've realised the info there is a bit too US focused, considering how much the application process (and pretty much everything else) differs between the 2 countries.

Apologies, but just a few more questions:
1) are all the Big4 pretty much the same? does any one differ from the others in terms of 'prestige' (not a fan of that word but couldn't think of an equivalent)

2) how much harder would it become if you only got into say BDO, Grant Thornton or Mazars?

3) if you were successful in lateraling into IB, would you go in as an analyst or associate?

Cheers in advance and apologies for the barrage of questions!

Big 4 each have a CorpFin related scheme (Transactions at EY, Deals at PWC, Financial Advisory at KPMG and Deloitte), degree discipline is unimportant so whichever you feel you'll do best in at the best university you can get in to.