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

Original post by Industrious Orca

Compared to what? It's a very good degree for getting into IB, but then any degree from the targets puts you in roughly the same position. Compared to a normal russell group university it's a pretty big advantage.

So Camb Maths = Warwick Management?

But Warwick Management >> Nottingham Economics?

Who actually thinks this though? Im just interested as to how/why anyone would think this makes sense.

Reply 2601

Industrious Orca

6

Original post by funkydee

So Camb Maths = Warwick Management?

But Warwick Management >> Nottingham Economics?

Who actually thinks this though? Im just interested as to how/why anyone would think this makes sense.

Any degree at a target is roughly in the same area, of course Cambridge maths probably has more of a wow factor than Warwick management. The university is far more important than the course though; i've met loads of people at GS who studied all sorts of random degrees; you find a lot more from the targets than from other universities though.

Not to say you can't make it from Nottingham; it's a great university but it's a bit harder than from the targets.

And i've heard it from GS HR themselves that they hire a lot of graduates from Oxford, Cambridge, LSE and UCL... (and i expect Imperial and Warwick are up there too, but i was chatting to a UCL recruiter). They don't care about the course so much. Yes management is a bull**** degree, and economics takes a lot more hard work, but they don't seemingly care for your course, and you need to get past HR in most circumstances in order to get an interview with the bankers who know that management is **** compared to economics.

Reply 2602

crafty bison

14

Original post by Aliylum

Hi everyone,

I am currently tailoring my CV and covering letter with a view to going for consultancy. Targeting MBB first, but appreciate this is ambitious. Will be going for Big4 and boutique firms also.

Applying for a summer 2013 internship. Will just give a snapshot of my background; I have posted my actual CV and covering letter in the appropriate part of the forums for advice.

Education

•

Strathclyde, BA (Hons) Management & Entrepreneurship. 1st and 2nd year both passed with Distinction

•

The Open University, BSc(Hons) Business and Computing with IT - comlpeted two modules worth 60 credits at overall 85% and 82%.

Experience

•

Economic development agency as European Funding and Policy Assistant. Outlined my unique commercial awareness, understanding how political and economic factors at a European level filters down to SMES. Also worked with a small team of consultants to develop a funding and engagement strategy, as well as did a stakeholder analysis.

•

Research studentship with Cambridge Judge Business school - assisting in the development of a new MBA module

•

Business awards scheme - directly supporting businesses to comlpete their applications

•

Development Advisor for a nascent jewellery retailer/entrepreneur - project management over the development of the organisation's website, financial analysis, developing strategies for training, CRM and social networking.

•

Medical Administrator in GP

•

Data Clerk for Scottish Government handling quantitative data and generating reports

•

Recruitment administrator for a charity

•

Sales assistant

Leadership

•

Founded a management consutlancy society at uni, attracted interest from 2 large employers, enlsited 30+ members

•

Class rep

Awards

•

Carnegie Vacation Scholarship, won a full award and was the only student from my uni to do so.

Any comments welcome on my chances of going for consultancy, particularly top-tier. Many thanks for any help! :smile:

A levels? It matters.

PM me if more helpful, I work for a top tier strategy consultancy

Reply 2603

TheCityBoy

Original post by Industrious Orca

Both are pretty rubbish but RHUL is going to give you a significantly better chance of getting in to IB. Of course, it all depends on the division too, which division are you looking at?

Mainly S&T, however I will be applying for Big 4 firms in their Tax and Audit divisions too

Reply 2604

Zweihander

3

Original post by funkydee

So Camb Maths = Warwick Management?

But Warwick Management >> Nottingham Economics?

Who actually thinks this though? I'm just interested as to how/why anyone would think this makes sense.

That's not how it works. As had been said if you go to a target university and do a respectable degree you will get a certain degree of consideration from the banks, and while Oxbridge do get the most preferential treatment of the target unis there is no black and white ranking as such, so statements like "Camb Maths = War Mngmnt, CM > WM, CM < WM" don't mean anything. Your uni & course only matter so far as checking a box, your personal experience and achievements are far more important.

All you need to worry about is a) getting into a target uni, b) doing a course that you enjoy/and is respectable. Everything beyond that is just detail (in terms of the significance of your uni/course).

Also, just want to dispel one myth about Warwick Management in particular. Yes, management is a BS degree, but there are a lot of people at Warwick who get summers/springs and grad jobs, and a large percentage of those people come from the Management degree. I think it's mostly to do with the fact that the course has a high number of international students, and they have qualities that make them attractive to banks (eg. multilingual; lived in various countries; broadly speaking seems easier to get finance work experience in Europe than UK; etc)

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 2605

saks10111

7

So I'm an LSE econ student and I got a 2.2 my first year and failed a course (LSE first year grades policy is to take the average of the best 3 courses and if you only fail one, you get to move on to the next year and retake the course along with your second year courses). I've heard that having a 2.2 does not completely kill my chances of getting an internship, but obviously I'm being realistic. For people who have applied/know about the application process, do the banks actually ask for a breakdown of your grades and a transcript of your first year or something? Can I still possibly get around this? If I do well this term I could hopefully try and convince my advisor to predict me a 2.1. I'm not looking at nothing less but investment banking at goldman sachs, but I was aiming for a FO/MO role at a BB. I'm also keen on looking into smaller boutiques as well as consultancy firms. I think the Big 4 are completely out for me because they explicitly ask for a 2.1 achieved in your first year, right?

Can someone please advise me on my options (smaller firms, easier divisions etc.) and ways to hopefully resurrect my future career lol? I worked pretty hard to get into LSE and I think I just got in over my head this year and really didn't put in enough work. I know I can turn my grades around, I just don't want my first year results (which only count as a 9th of my total degree- even LSE understands how distracting first year can be!) to completely mess up my chances of a good job. Any constructive advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

Reply 2606

maths134

13

Original post by Zweihander

That's not how it works. As had been said if you go to a target university and do a respectable degree you will get a certain degree of consideration from the banks, and while Oxbridge do get the most preferential treatment of the target unis there is no black and white ranking as such, so statements like "Camb Maths = War Mngmnt, CM > WM, CM < WM" don't mean anything. Your uni & course only matter so far as checking a box, your personal experience and achievements are far more important.

All you need to worry about is a) getting into a target uni, b) doing a course that you enjoy/and is respectable. Everything beyond that is just detail (in terms of the significance of your uni/course).

Also, just want to dispel one myth about Warwick Management in particular. Yes, management is a BS degree, but there are a lot of people at Warwick who get summers/springs and grad jobs, and a large percentage of those people come from the Management degree. I think it's mostly to do with the fact that the course has a high number of international students, and they have qualities that make them attractive to banks (eg. multilingual; lived in various countries; broadly speaking seems easier to get finance work experience in Europe than UK; etc)

Surely the degree matters in maths/econ being better (to get into IB) than say english/classics?

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 2607

SonnyZH

6

Original post by maths134

Surely the degree matters in maths/econ being better than say english/classics?

Define better.

Reply 2608

maths134

13

Original post by SonnyZH

Define better.

to get into IB (sorry should have made that clear lol) I don't in any way mean in general.

Reply 2609

Industrious Orca

6

Original post by TheCityBoy

Mainly S&T, however I will be applying for Big 4 firms in their Tax and Audit divisions too

You'll struggle a lot with S&T from any of those universities, even Exeter. Just make sure you have some other selling points in your application that make you stand out next to those at the targets. RHUL is the better than Plymouth though.

Reply 2610

Industrious Orca

6

Original post by saks10111

So I'm an LSE econ student and I got a 2.2 my first year and failed a course (LSE first year grades policy is to take the average of the best 3 courses and if you only fail one, you get to move on to the next year and retake the course along with your second year courses). I've heard that having a 2.2 does not completely kill my chances of getting an internship, but obviously I'm being realistic. For people who have applied/know about the application process, do the banks actually ask for a breakdown of your grades and a transcript of your first year or something? Can I still possibly get around this? If I do well this term I could hopefully try and convince my advisor to predict me a 2.1. I'm not looking at nothing less but investment banking at goldman sachs, but I was aiming for a FO/MO role at a BB. I'm also keen on looking into smaller boutiques as well as consultancy firms. I think the Big 4 are completely out for me because they explicitly ask for a 2.1 achieved in your first year, right?

Can someone please advise me on my options (smaller firms, easier divisions etc.) and ways to hopefully resurrect my future career lol? I worked pretty hard to get into LSE and I think I just got in over my head this year and really didn't put in enough work. I know I can turn my grades around, I just don't want my first year results (which only count as a 9th of my total degree- even LSE understands how distracting first year can be!) to completely mess up my chances of a good job. Any constructive advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

Predict yourself a first and worry about transcripts later. Only McKinsey has ever asked for my transcript along with my application. Most banks don't care about grades to some extent so if you give a reason why you won't get a 2.2 then they'll be fine with that.

Reply 2611

Industrious Orca

6

Original post by maths134

Surely the degree matters in maths/econ being better (to get into IB) than say english/classics?

Depends on the position. For IBD, ECM, DCM, more vanilla areas of sales and trading, any degree (which isn't film studies, media studies etc) will do. If you want to go into structuring, some exotic areas of sales and trading, quant, then you'll need more than an A level in maths in all likelihood. So in terms of IB specifically (IBD) it doesn't really matter.

Reply 2612

saks10111

7

Original post by Industrious Orca

Predict yourself a first and worry about transcripts later. Only McKinsey has ever asked for my transcript along with my application. Most banks don't care about grades to some extent so if you give a reason why you won't get a 2.2 then they'll be fine with that.

Seriously? Thanks, that's really taken a load off lol. Would predicting myself a first be pushing my luck though, would I be safer with a 2.1? Thanks again, appreciate it.

Reply 2613

lilys

1

Is there any point in applying for grad roles in IB (FO) if I have no summer internship (anywhere) but a spring week at one of BBs? Sorry if this has been asked before - blame the search engine then :smile:

Reply 2614

SonnyZH

6

Original post by lilys

Is there any point in applying for grad roles in IB (FO) if I have no summer internship (anywhere) but a spring week at one of BBs? Sorry if this has been asked before - blame the search engine then :smile:

There's loads of people applying with only SWs.

Reply 2615

lilys

1

Original post by SonnyZH

There's loads of people applying with only SWs.

OK, let me put it another way: do you know/heard about anyone who applied only with a SW and GOT the job?

Reply 2616

SonnyZH

6

Original post by lilys

OK, let me put it another way: do you know/heard about anyone who applied only with a SW and GOT the job?

Yes, it's not uncommon (esp. if you go to a target).

Reply 2617

Industrious Orca

6

Original post by saks10111

Seriously? Thanks, that's really taken a load off lol. Would predicting myself a first be pushing my luck though, would I be safer with a 2.1? Thanks again, appreciate it.

I mean, i would always say a first just in case that makes a difference in getting an interview. If asked in an interview just give a reason why you didn't do so well, but once you have an interview, they'll be rating you on that rather than your grades.

Reply 2618

bmqib

13

Original post by lilys

Is there any point in applying for grad roles in IB (FO) if I have no summer internship (anywhere) but a spring week at one of BBs? Sorry if this has been asked before - blame the search engine then :smile:

why do you not have internships? rejected?