Investment Banking Recruiting - Q&A

Moss, do you have any opinion about ibanking recruiting in NYU vs MIT? Trying to decide which school would be a better fit since I am trying to go into investment banking post-MBA.

Jana: Not a whole lot of insight. My firm is taking the same number from each school this summer, but that's a pretty small sample size. Both are solid schools and you'll probably get your foot in the door to most banks at either place. NYU probably offers more networking opportunities if you feel that your personality excels in face-to-face interactions... but honestly who knows how much of a difference that makes.

If its a close decision you might just want to go to the school with the better overall fit for you. People change their minds with their career goals. If you go "all in" on one path over a small difference, it could end up biting you later if you decide to change your recruiting goals. Either way, congrats on getting in to two great schools and best of luck!

Pelihu's guide to recruiting and schmoozing is very helpful for those looking to go into Investment Banking: guide-to-recruiting-and-schmoozing-part-58003.html

Moss,

I have offers from Emory & UNC obviously both are outside of the top 10 MBA programs. 2 questions 1)Do you see a marked difference in recruiting from top 20 vs top 10 and 2) do you see a marked difference in Emory vs UNC IB recruiting.

Lastly would banks send non-top 10 candidates to smaller offices say in Charlotte or elsewhere?

Thanks

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There is definitely a difference between top 10 and top 20 schools. I would estimate the top finance programs may send 5-10 people into the major banks each, the numbers for non-top 10 programs are going to be around <5 or so at each of the major banks (with outlier programs and outlier years for every program). Further, you may not get as many touch points as other schools and may have to network your way into events.

Basically its going to be tougher. You probably knew this -- I mean it should be obvious that its easier to get a banking job from HBS/Wharton than it is from University of Phoenix Online, and every school in between lays somewhere on this spectrum.

I would reach out to the banking club presidents at each school and chat with them about how the recruiting process works. I'd ask the following questions:

1) How many students went to banks this summer and full time, the #s that went to each bank, and the offices they were at (CLT, NYC, etc)
2) The names of the firms that held events on-campus and how many events they held
3) The names of the firms that held on-campus interviews

Once you see the breakdown for each school, it should greatly inform your decision. Ultimately, your biggest edge is when banks come to you -- it makes the networking and recruiting process a lot easier and also signals that they're serious about hiring from your school. The banking club presidents should be a great resource to help you get a feel for which school has the best recruiting process.

Another quick question... Getting into banking seems to definitely rely heavily on networking - Have you seen MBAs leverage their undergrad institution that have a top MBA program even if they didn't go to that MBA program. For instance if I attended Duke ug then went to Ross MBA - would it be ludicrous for me to contact a Fuqua alum and expect a response?

It wouldn't be ludicrous at all. That said, if the bank you're looking at has a recruiting team, ultimately the buck stops with them. They're the ones tasked with everything related to recruiting at your school, and they actually might get annoyed if someone from another recruiting team starts messing with their business. There can sometimes be a bit of friendly rivalry to get the most numbers from one's alma mater, so having the "competition" give you "friendly pointers" people could prove annoying.

Not saying this is always the case or that this type of territoriality is even the norm, but I actually did hear a story of someone getting on the bad side of their school's recruiting team by focusing on some connections he had at the bank who were on another team at the expense of his home team. So unless your ugrad contacts have some serious firepower at bank, your efforts are probably best applied to connecting with members of your school's recruiting team and/or the groups you're looking to join (if the bank has group-specific hiring).

That said, if there isn't a structured recruiting program for your school or the bank just doesn't recruit there, all bets are off. Use any and all ways to network your way in, including MBA and undergrad networks alike. That's why I think it pays to find out what banks recruit on campus early on so that for those who don't do structured OCR you can start your networking blitz early. Those are going to be the programs where being scrappy and staying on the grind will pay off.

Keep me posted on your decision!

Great advice! Thanks for making this Q&A. I think it will be helpful for many aspiring bankers

Hi Moss,

Thanks for the initiating the thread and sharing your insights! I noticed you mentioned taking advantage of TTS workshops on campus; my question is would you recommend getting TTS courses outside of the free(?) campus workshops? I am a student about to begin a top 10 program for class 2014 and would also greatly appreciate any advice on how you think I can use the summer to prep for recruiting.

Thanks a lot

TTS sessions are not free, although our investment Banking Club subsidized the cost by a pretty significant amount. I would hold off on paying for TTS pre-matriculation for a couple reasons:

1) it's not subsidized - wait til school and pay much less
2) you are almost certain to not be asked technical questions until either the interview or very late in the process
3) I'd be surprised if they were even offering any classes w/ a live instructor this time of year, considering that every bank on the street is beginning their full-time hire training, and you can't beat the banks on price or volume.

Chill it out, take a class or two at the lower rate once classes start and then assess if you need to round out your skill set with some additional coursework. GL!

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Moss,

Now that you've presumably actually started your internship, how has the actual job compared relative to what your expectations were going into the whole process?

Thanks Moss! Hope you are enjoying your new summer position.

Great information on this thread. Would be great to get your experience on how your internship went and how your second year is going when you get a moment to update.

I am interested in a MBA program to get into the investment banking field; however, I wanted to ask, are most of the individuals breaking into the investment banking fields have business/finance related UG degrees? When I review the employment reports of many top 10 programs, it seems that most entering classes are 30-50% business/finance related backgrounds and there is a less percentage of individuals breaking into investment banking.

My question, is there a correlation between a business/finance UG degree and experience individuals filling majority of the investment banking positions post MBA or are non-business/finance UG and experience individuals such as engineering background individuals have the same opportunities?

Thank you,

Hi,

Its nice to find someone from CBS. I would like to ask few things such as:-
1) Approximately what percent of Finance students make into Investment management?
2) As per you, where CBS stands against NYU, Booth, Harvard as far as finance is concerned?
3) What does CBS look in an application? Work-ex, GMAT Score?
4) How much value does CFA charter add to CBS passout?
5) As per you which is BEST college for finance from 3 perspective - Quality of faculty, Placement in Finance Field, Brand Name during placement & after placement.

I highly appreciate for your efforts, in advance.

Waiting for your reply.

well done man !!!

1 - 2) Just check out our employment report
3) Just check out the BW survey w/ 80-20 GMAT split for a good guide
4) I think the charter has helped me both get into CBS and with recruiting. Not sure how to quantify how much, nor if the ROI is worth it relative to cost ($ & time) of getting it.
5) idk man CBS? Check out the rankings and stuff... I've only taken classes at CBS so I can't really say if our classes our better or worse than anyone else's.

If you have a banking-related question, please ask away.