Non-target to summer offer at one of (GS/MS/JPM) - AMA

Was asked to do one of these by a good friend so here I am.

About myself: I'm currently at a non-target studying economics and have received an offer for an IBD summer analyst position at one of the top tier 1 investment banks (GS/MS/JPM).

A Level and GCSE grades were both well below average, hence studying at a non-target but feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer them as best as I can.

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Reply 1

username738914

Original post by Breakingbank

Bump

Cheers for doing this, and massive congrats on getting to this point! You deserve this a tonne.

What did it feel like getting the offer?

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Reply 2

Aran2121

First of all, congratulations mate...

Show's anything is possible.

1) What would your strongest advice be for undergraduates coming from a non-target?

Reply 3

samendrag

Original post by Breakingbank

Gratz m8,was wondering what you did extra-curricular wise. Must have been something very impressive

Reply 4

Trapz99

Congratulations! Terrific achievement, especially from a non-target.

1) How much networking did you do? Did you go to a lot of networking events and do you feel that this helps a lot? I've heard that networking is key if from a non-target.
2) If you manage to convert the internship to a full time offer, are you looking to stay in banking or move into something like private equity or hedge funds?
3) Did you do any spring weeks? If so, did you get an offer after the spring week or did you apply again for the summer internship?

Reply 5

Breakingbank

Original post by Princepieman

Bump

Cheers for doing this, and massive congrats on getting to this point! You deserve this a tonne.

What did it feel like getting the offer?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Thanks!

It was one of the best feelings I've had, knowing everything has finally paid off was just an amazing feeling - it still hasn't sunk in! Can't wait for the summer to begin now!

Original post by Aran2121

First of all, congratulations mate...

Show's anything is possible.

1) What would your strongest advice be for undergraduates coming from a non-target?

Do not let the fact you're coming from a non-target put you down, during my assessment centres/interviews everyone was from target universities and the occasional students from semi-target universities, which at first made me a little nervous but I was confident I knew my stuff and didn't let their universities or grades intimidate me. Ofc you will have to work 10x harder than those at target and semi-target universities so I advise attending every networking event you can see banks hosting which as we're non-targets means no banks visit us so we will have to make the annoyingly long and expensive trip to London for these events, but I advise going to them all - this is what I did, also sending cold emails out to people I found on LinkedIn although very few replied, and lastly just making sure you ace your applications - I worked quite hard for all my cover letters and application questions/CV so make sure they are very good and no mistakes :smile:

Reply 6

Ladbants

Haven't got any questions but well done! And best of luck on the internship

Reply 7

Breakingbank

Original post by samendrag

Gratz m8,was wondering what you did extra-curricular wise. Must have been something very impressive

thanks! EC wise I played for a football team, I was part of the volunteering society and I am also part of the economics & finance society where we have our own trading account :smile:

Original post by Trapz99

thank you!
1) I networked a huge amount, coming from a non-target means we have 0 banks visit and therefore I had to travel all the way to London which was very time consuming and expensive, had to miss a lot of lectures for these, whenever I saw any bank host one I went to it, sent follow up emails and also sent cold emails through the use of linkedin - I do think networking is helpful as you can relate to it in your cover letters and also "why do you want to work for us" interview questions.
2) Hmm I would ideally like to stay and accept the conversion offer (If I get one) but I wouldn't close any doors to any headhunters from top funds wanting to chat or interview me, but yeah I would ideally like to stay on for a couple years as an analyst before looking to move to the buyside.
3)I did do spring weeks yeah! I converted one to a summer internship for IBD, but for the tier 1 offer mentioned in this thread that I have accepted, I applied online to their summer (they rejected me for the spring week funnily enough).

Original post by Ladbants

Haven't got any questions but well done! And best of luck on the internship

thank you

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 8

Aran2121

Original post by Breakingbank

Thanks!

It was one of the best feelings I've had, knowing everything has finally paid off was just an amazing feeling - it still hasn't sunk in! Can't wait for the summer to begin now!

Do not let the fact you're coming from a non-target put you down, during my assessment centres/interviews everyone was from target universities and the occasional students from semi-target universities, which at first made me a little nervous but I was confident I knew my stuff and didn't let their universities or grades intimidate me. Ofc you will have to work 10x harder than those at target and semi-target universities so I advise attending every networking event you can see banks hosting which as we're non-targets means no banks visit us so we will have to make the annoyingly long and expensive trip to London for these events, but I advise going to them all - this is what I did, also sending cold emails out to people I found on LinkedIn although very few replied, and lastly just making sure you ace your applications - I worked quite hard for all my cover letters and application questions/CV so make sure they are very good and no mistakes :smile:

Many thanks for your informative response man, definitely have motivated me even more, anything is possible.

Once again, good luck for the internship!

Reply 9

signal5

You clearly displayed a lot of motivation, ability and grit to win in the gruelling application process from a non-target - just curious how come you failed at school - why didn't you have the same traits then and what made you change your attitude?

Reply 10

Breakingbank

Original post by signal5

Thanks man, I didn't go to a great school and my mates and I usually skipped class to go play football at the park etc, didn't take it seriously, at the time I didnt really see the importance of it and hence ended up not doing well but then I realised what an idiot I was being and the trajectory of where my life was going so I wanted to make a change which was where I decided to spend a year retaking and worked 10x harder I still didn't achieve the best of grades but it was an improvement and managed to get me into university and on the path where I am today

Reply 11

gr8wizard10

well deserved :wink:

ready to grind these nights out?

q: how efficient are you at excel/ppt currently, and do you plan on practicing beforehand?

Reply 12

Breakingbank

Original post by gr8wizard10

well deserved :wink:

ready to grind these nights out?

q: how efficient are you at excel/ppt currently, and do you plan on practicing beforehand?

haha sure am, hoping the free takeouts will keep me going through the night, chinese wednesdays, indian thursdays & pizza fridays, sushi on the weekends

I would say im adequate, I defo plan on practising beforehand will be hitting up youtube, m&i and wso for excel short cuts etc.. if u had any resources you found useful - hit me up

Reply 13

gr8wizard10

Original post by Breakingbank

practice makes perfect.. simply pick a company.. and value it on excel.. trust me after a few.. you're good to go.

can send you a dcf of a deal i valued recently as a template

Reply 14

Breakingbank

Original post by gr8wizard10

practice makes perfect.. simply pick a company.. and value it on excel.. trust me after a few.. you're good to go.

can send you a dcf of a deal i valued recently as a template

yeaah that would be good man cheers!

Reply 15

liberalluv

what exactly is networking and how did it help you?

Reply 16

Breakingbank

Original post by liberalluv

what exactly is networking and how did it help you?

networking to me is all about building relationships with existing employees, either via talking about fit foreign girls or discussing their job etc, whatever clicks the convo and makes them like talking to you, sending follow up emails and eventually meeting up for drinks after they finish work

It helped me as in my cover letters I was able to relate to speaking to the banks employees and meeting up with analysts which confirmed my interest in the bank as I fit in with the people, then again if I was to be invited to an interview when I get asked why do you want to work for us i talk about those networking events, makes you stand out from simply saying generic answers or cover letters and shows you have the motivation and put in the effort to learn about their bank

Reply 17

souman

Original post by Breakingbank

Which uni are you coming from?

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Reply 18

Breakingbank

Original post by souman

Which uni are you coming from?

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For the UK it's generally as follows (I believe)

Target: Cambridge, Imperial, LSE, Oxford, UCL, Warwick

Semi-target: Bath, Birmingham, Bristol, Cass, Durham, Edinburgh, Exeter, KCL, Manchester, Nottingham, St Andrews, York

Unless I've missed something out all other UK universities are considered non-targets. In my opinion - my university, despite not being mentioned here, is still a decent reputable university. Would rather not say my specific university purely to keep myself anonymous :smile:

Reply 19

fayeztheman

Well done. How much did you know about finance and technical stuff when you applied? Were the interviews about competency and about your interests or were there some technical questions like 'how can you value a company'?