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

Hi all, I've only recently thought about management consultancy as a career. I don't have any business work experience (yet) although I do have a whole load of law stuff I could put a consulting spin on. I don't know enough about management consultancy to try and apply for any of the graduate schemes starting next year so am planning on taking a year out after I graduate and applying for 2014 entry. I'm just about to go into my third year of law at cambridge and I should graduate with a 2:1 (hopefully).

It's been suggested that instead of this I could try and do a business masters however I don't really want to spend another year or two studying (and it would be a lot of money too).

I'm planning on applying to the insight day (open days) the big four run. Has anyone been to these before? were they helpful?

and are there any other consultancy firms I should be looking at? and is there any general advice on getting work experience at this stage (as I've left it abit late for summer internships).

Also I only have maths to gcse level and am very out of practice with it. Will that be a problem?

I think you should apply for the 2013 grad schemes. The insight days don't mean much and won't really help. You could try apply for internships instead though, I guess.

Why don't you want to apply for 2013 schemes?

Because I'm not really sure I want to go into it so wanted an internship/some work experience first to see what's involved.

I'm pretty sure I've missed all the 2013 internship applications though.

Because I'm not really sure I want to go into it so wanted an internship/some work experience first to see what's involved.

I'm pretty sure I've missed all the 2013 internship applications though.

Not sure if you're talking about something else here, but apps for Summer 2013 banking internships have just opened.

She was talking about consulting actually but I think the same applies, they've only just open or are yet to.

Probably got dislikes because you probably have a better than average shot at IB. Great GCSEs are perfect and you have good subjects at A-Level that they will like so just stick with that. Maybe take Economics instead of going all out on Science? Try and get involved with Student Union as a president or treasurer or something if your college do that or do some extra-curricular that is either highly relevant such as an investment society or very athletic demonstrating team-work. Try and get on some insight programmes at Investment Banks or some experience and you'll be flying. And make sure you go for the top uni's

Yep I was talking about consulting. And that's good at least, I'm not sure where I got the idea that they were all full from. Maybe its the graduate schemes that are full already.

Which firms should I be looking at applying to? I've only heard of the top 6 so I'm guessing there's more to it than that. I also need firms which will accept final year students on their internship schemes (which narrows the selection from those 6 at least).

Erm well there are a few but I don't know of that many either.

Big 4, Mckinsey, BCG (don't think Bain do internships), Greenhill, Centerview. I don't know of any more that do internships but they'll exist - do some Googling

Thanks for your help

EDIT: Should have done this first but if you can raven login to the university careers service they have a big section on consultancy with a list of firms. There's also a consultancy fair on the 9th October and the careers centre on mill lane. (You might have known this already though)

Uni: UCL
Degree: BSc Mathematics
Year: rising 2nd year
Extra-curricular (at uni) : Maths Soc (President; all students in the dept are members)
Investment Soc (Secretary)
Etc: Top of the year in mid-sessionals
6th in finals (90 av.)

*Went to Oxford for a year, reading maths. Withdrawn for medical reasons (and hence failing the exams, obv.)
I'm really not confident about myself because of how I failed at Oxford and how this could make me look in the HR guys' eyes.
Opinions?

Hi, so I haven't started university yet (going in a week or so), just wondered what people thought about my chances. I haven't fully looked into investment banking properly, as I'm only really beginning to think about careers, but just wanted to know if it was worth considering (I'm unsure what's open to me due to my degree choice), and what I could do to further my chances.

A-levels: 4A*s (Maths, Biology, Chemistry, French)

Degree (just going into first year): Modern and Medieval Languages

Uni: Cambridge

... and that's all I have so far. I realise the university shouldn't be a problem, but wondered which areas would be possible, and what I need to do to prepare for applications/get further insight during my time at university!

Actually not sure, maybe for M&A roles but most others generally require a quantitive degree. You would probably have to prove to them somehow through other activities that you can handle figures and think analytically.

Have you looked at consulting? You would probably walk into that, especially with a language to offer as well.

Was looking into graduate consultancy, just wanted some more views

Uni: University of Southampton - Bsc Economics (on course for a 1st hopefully)
Experiences/Activities - No relevant one's which I fear may hold me back. I've worked at a restaurant and at ASDA. I'm part of a mentoring scheme at uni to help first years. I ran/managed a football team last year (organised training/matches/socials etc). I play quite a lot of team sports.

Any point in applying?

Try and get an internship for next summer, and work a bit more because you can pretty much relate anything to consultancy in your CV.

Yes, there is point in applying , lots on here will tell you there isn't because your not in a top uni but thats not true.