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I was wondering if you could help me out here. A lot of you are in the industry and can advice people like me pretty well and I know most of you are already tired of hearing this question again and again, but I would really be greatful to any comment you post.....positive or negative.
I am a Finance major and an Econ minor and am graduating in 2010. My expected GPA is 3.8 and I will be 20 at the time I graduate. My plan is not to stop here, but work for a finance company (preferaely an investment bank, no matter if it is bootique) for a couple of years before I get my MBA from hopefully NYU Stern or Columbia. After that I want to target working as an investment banker associate fr Goldman Sachs. I am an independent agent for a merchant company, but I stopped applying myself full time in Dec 2007 so I only put June 2006- Dec 2007 on my resume'. I play various kinds of sports as well, including Tennis and rock climbing among others. I am fluent in 4 languages- English, Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi and am currently learning German.
I know investment banking asks for a lot of hours and energy but I am used to it. as I mentioned, I will not even be 21 when I graduate, this I was able to make it by taking intense courses during regula semesters as well as taking full time summer courses, and honestly speaking, I do not hate it when everything comes and piles on top of me- Midterm for one class, homework for other, another midterm after 2 days etc. instead, it fills me up with adrenaline and I am able to handle the situation very well....most of the times. I was trained one month extensively by an investment banking camp. I know how to "Normalize" and "Spread" historical and projected financial statements, including in depth analyses of operational and leverage ratios, perform company valuations utilizing (i) comparable public company analysis, (ii) precedent transactions analysis and (iii) discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, I can build a fully integrated cash flow model, including 5-year projections, debt and interest schedules, revolver modeling and sensitivity tables, I also can model leveraged buy-out (LBO) and merger scenarios, with emphasis on sources and uses, pro forma financial statements, purchase price considerations, synergies, accretion/dilution and ratio analyses, among other concepts.
I am a CFA level 1 candidate in December and am hopeful to get a Wall Street internship in Summer of 2010, I am talking to a few companies (I would be a recent grad at that time).
Here I would like to say that I am not a genius, my plans do backfire at me a lot of times, but I know how to work hard. Some people are born genius, I have to work my rear end off for what I want.
Given all this, I just need some guidance from some of you very smart people and "players" in finance industry on which companies I should apply to and in which state are the companies located. Also, I would like to know that if I apply for any invstment banking firm, would they consider my resume'? I am talking about any investment bank- be it regional, mid sized, bootique and ofcourse, bulge bracket. I would also be thankful if I could know what I could expect as a starting salary- as I have some student loans that i would like to clear out before anything else.
Again, any comment/ feedback is welcomed, please guide me and help me plan for m future
What exactly do you want to do for a living? Do you want to stay on the capital markets side and focus on equity analysis, or do you want to go into the wholesale side of banking and focus on commercial lending?
First, go ahead and do a double major. I was contemplating doing a minor in Economics (I'm a Finance major), but ended up dropping it completely because I was ready to graduate. My friend (also a Finance major) did the Economics minor, and it really didn't help him with his career.
Get your bachelors in Finance and a bachelors in Economics.
Before you graduate, try to get an analytical internship like a financial analysis internship at a big name firm. Jobs in investment banking are really competitive and having work experience that differentiates yourself from others is the way to go.
Definitely do the MBA after a few years of full-time work experience.
Not many comments except - it is really a bad time to go into investment banking. The career is changing, the compensation rules are changing, and I expect there to be less of a demand in this field. You probably know this - Investment banking and M&A is a specialized field, but note that just "banking" is not, and it's not particularly well paid. Don't end up as one of a million Bank of America branch assistant managers with a vice president title and a barely above minimum wage salary. You also don't want to end up as a "stock broker", which is essentially not much more than a used car salesman position working on commision. So you have to manage your career path carefully into a proper direction.
On the other hand, don't limit yourself to investment banking. You can use that degree for many positions, if you have an MBA from an ivy league, better yet. Most people start as accountants and low level financial analysts and "grow up" out of finance into CEO or rewarding operational management fields. But if you have your heart set on investment banking, go for it. Just don't expect the rewards that you have heard of to continue in the future. The world is changing.
Thanks for the valuable knowledge. You are right. perhaps I didn;t mention this, but yes, when I graduate out of college with an undergraduate degree- with the qualifications i mentioned above, I was just wondering what are my chances of landing in a financial analyst career right out of college. Investment Banking M&A side sure is my goal, but my target is to land into that *after* I get my MBA from Ivy League. I was wondering, what are my chances of getting hired with a 3.7-3.8 GPA with Finance and Econ degrees, with a CFA level 1 pass out, a series 6/7 pass out and a decent internship? I am trying to diversify as much as I can, hence I am doing all sorts of extra curricular activities including fraternity clubs/ sports and am getting training at investment banking seminar. Also, even if low, what kind of pay should I be looking at?
As others have stated, there is UNPRECEDENTED change going on right NOW. Given this it might be more important to have some less traditional skills. Obviously FAR TOO MANY PEOPLE who should have known better but too much TRUST in the quants/ computerized risk modelers and that was a HUGE mistake. If you have the opportunity / ability to take the kinds of comp sci classes that would make you a valuable bridge between those worlds that is almost certainly more important RIGHT NOW than the sports and frats.
Similarly there are MANY academic types that do especially well in these tumults. Even Bernacke and Geithner are probably UNDERSCHOOLED in how the various "levers of finances" multiply theoretical risk in rapidly deterioating markets. IF you could work for / with the profs doing that kind of work NOW that would an enormous feather in your cap. Who knows -- the path from academic to regulator to whatever may be a better career move than a "herd" I-banker, as the herd pretty much all plunged to doom together on this go-round...
There is a huge GLUT of labor in the I-banker world. It won't get absorbed in a year or two. If you are serious about doing this kind of work for a long time the smart move is to set yourself apart from the herd NOW.
Emperor0989 i am currently 18 years of age and about to begin my 1st year in college, i am also interested in the investment banking field. i would like to know what Investment banking camp you attended and if it is a good idea that i should join. i am currently on a internship in Dubai but will be returning to NY in a month. if you can please give me some advice i would appreciate it. My goal is to transfer to Wharton Business College after 2 years.
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