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We receive a lot of questions every day. Here are answers to dozens of the most common ones:
For undergraduates, the recruiting equation is simple: get an investment banking internship. Or come very close.
Get a relevant internship. It doesn't have to be at a bulge bracket bank - even an unknown local boutique will give you a huge leg-up if you can write "Investment Banking Analyst" on your resume.
Activities and classes are useless next to a solid internship.
See this article and video tutorial for more on how to spin your resume if you've had no real work experience.
No, but it helps because you then have a demonstrated interest in the field.
Specific classes matter much less than internships.
Finance or economics-related classes are good to demonstrate interest and gain some knowledge, but if you are spending hours deliberating whether to take Advanced Microeconomics in Developing Economies I or International Monetary Policy II, please stop because it doesn't matter.
Internships are much more important. If you have a low GPA you'll have trouble getting interviews through official channels, but beyond that a "good" vs. "better" GPA doesn't matter nearly as much as doing an investment banking internship vs. being a lifeguard.
Someone with a 3.5 GPA who can write "Investment Banking Summer Analyst" on his or her resume will beat the person with a 4.0 who only has experience waiting tables any day of the week.
The closer it is to investment banking, the better. Investment banking, private equity, and hedge fund internships are the best; venture capital, corporate development, sales & trading, and consulting are also good.
Asset or wealth management are further removed but are also better than non-finance alternatives, and everything else is below those.
No, and no. You will never start as an Associate unless you have an MBA or unless you're a direct promote from an Analyst - and you need at least 2-3 years of work experience to pull that off.
And you won't be anything more than a normal 1st Year Analyst if you're just out of school and have no full-time work experience, no matter how many degrees you have.
It might be. If you went to an unknown school and had no access to recruiters, going to a Master's program at a top school could be a good investment.
For more on this issue, read this article.
Also check out Masters in Finance HQ for more on Master's programs.
Don't bother. Investment banking requires only basic arithmetic.
There's no universally agreed-upon list, but they are schools that investment banks actively recruit at. In the US these are mostly the top schools according to the US News & World Report.
Recruiting is 100x easier at these schools because banks come directly to you and say, "Hi, would you like to work for us? Please submit your resume here."
It might be a good idea, but it depends on why you couldn't secure the full-time offer. If your interview skills were the problem and everything else was fine, consider it. Otherwise, other strategies like pursuing a Master's degree are a better idea.
For the more detailed answer, read this article.
Nothing is impossible, but most places are pretty strict about only giving summer internships to students. It never hurts to ask, though, so you might as well see what turns up and focus on smaller places that might be more receptive to the idea.
No, but you can check out The Banker Blueprint for what to do once you get to college.
Your GPA is what it is - so stop worrying about it so much.
Anything above 3.5 is fine. 3.0 to 3.5 is iffy, and with a GPA below 3.0 you will not get in via a formal recruiting process.
List your GPA with a single digit. You can get away with rounding your GPA by up to 0.09 in most cases. Some examples:
You need to list either your overall GPA, or your overall GPA and your major GPA. You can change around the order, play with font sizes, bold / un-bold, and more, but you can't list only your major GPA.
If it's good (over 2100/2400 or 1400/1600) then list it - otherwise leave it off unless they specifically ask for it. Banks do look at it, but it matters less than GPA.
Network like crazy, and go around the official channels. If no one at bulge bracket banks will pay attention to you, start small and go to local boutiques first and then work your way up.
Also, read this article.
Usually they conduct background checks just before you start working, though sometimes they have your transcript at interviews - it depends on your bank and school.
If you're applying to banks in your own country, list them the way you normally would - for example, in the UK you would just list "2:1" or whatever your performance was based on their system.
If you're applying outside the country, you may want to list your grades in the local system and convert them to the system used in the country where you're applying.
Prestige is my least favorite topic ever, but here are a few common questions and answers.
No. Prestige is my least favorite topic ever (even worse than GPA rounding or the CFA) so this will never happen.
If you really want rankings, check out the survey that Vault.com does each year and have fun arguing about the results.
Unless you are 100% set on KKR, Blackstone, or other large-cap PE firms it doesn't matter.
In school there's always a competition over who gets the "best" jobs, but after you graduate you lose touch with most people and everyone else stops caring.
Your exit opportunities are more limited - you won't get into the largest PE firms and hedge funds coming from an unknown boutique.
The same way you do anything else: network, network, network. To move to a bulge bracket bank, cold-calling is rarely effective - focus on professional referrals, alumni, and headhunters to pull it off successfully.
More on lateral hiring.
If you want to work at KKR or Blackstone, go for bulge bracket banks; if you want to do venture capital, work in a well-known tech industry group; if you want to do real estate PE, go to a real estate group, and so on.
We rarely discuss specific banks because the information goes out of date too quickly - the turnover rate in finance is incredibly high.
Recruiting at the MBA-level is not dramatically different, but you do need to be a lot more polished than undergraduates.
Nope. It helps, but nothing is guaranteed.
Excel at something interesting outside of school and work, and tell a good story about what you did and how it relates to your future.
The most important part in interviews is your "story" - read this article for more on that.
For prep before you get there, a pre-MBA finance internship or even something informal on the side while you're in school is highly recommended so that you can prove you've been interested in the field for awhile and so you can present a good story.
Ask friends, contact alumni at all levels, the career center, and see what turns up - if they are not helpful, just visit local firms, explain that you're attending a nearby MBA program, and ask about setting up an informal internship.
Not if you want to leverage it to move into investment banking.
In general full-time programs are better-known and you will have better luck recruiting out of full-time programs, but this is starting to change - you should ask alumni of the program you're thinking about.
More on part-time MBA programs and another reader's experience with part-time programs.
It all depends on where you want to work afterward - if it's internationally, sure, go ahead. If you want to work in the US, it's better to go to a top program there instead.
It's not dramatically different from what undergraduates go through, but you need to be more polished and you need to be a better talker.
The competition is also tougher because students in top MBA programs are quite savvy and less naive than undergraduates - everyone else will be networking a lot.
Recruiting questions are simple at this level: business school or aggressive networking, or both.
It's hard to break in as an Analyst if you're over 30, and hard to get in as an Associate if you're over 40. These are not "hard limits," just general guidelines.
More on age and investment banking.
Use your imagination. Find something - anything - business-related and use that at as your finance "spark."
Read this article. You need to do corporate / securities law, spend a few years there, then network with clients, co-workers, and former clients and co-workers to get conversations with banks going and then take it from there.
Aggressive networking. Cold-calling, professional referrals, informational interviews - start small, go to local boutiques, and then work your way up once you're there.
It's best to wait a year so you can get something solid on your resume, and so you can prove that you're not just changing your plans haphazardly.
Certifications and classes can be a part of your strategy for getting into finance, but just having them listed on your resume will not get you in.
They help you learn finance and demonstrate your interest in the field, but taking a course alone won’t make the difference between getting an interview and not getting an interview.
The key is to apply what you learn – so try for something that covers the job search as well as the finance. A course that lets you network with professionals would be even better.
And, of course, there are more affordable and better alternatives to expensive in-person training…
It's more applicable for portfolio managers. Don’t bother for banking/PE unless you have hundreds of hours to spare and you've already networked exhaustively (e.g. you've met with 100+ bankers).
You can list it on your resume, but it won't get your foot in the door in the same way that a summer internship at Goldman Sachs will.
We've discussed networking on the site a lot and even have an entire product dedicated to it.
You have several options:
"Thanks again for speaking with me the other day. With recruiting approaching, I wanted to ask you how I could best position myself for an interview with your firm."
Yes. Sell some crap you never use, auction off your kidney, and do whatever it takes to make the money for in-person networking.
More on why weekend trips work so well.
Yes - fortune favors the bold. Just don't be like those Princeton kids in Harold & Kumar.
Ask a specific question or make a specific request, and keep it short and to the point. Aim to stay in touch at least once every 2-3 months, but don't write just for the sake of writing if you have nothing to say.
No. Why not?
Location: another factor that doesn't matter nearly as much as most people say.
Most people would say that New York or London are "best" because you get more flexibility if you want to transfer elsewhere later on - whereas doing the opposite, say transferring from another region to New York, is more difficult.
But if you're interested in tech or energy and you'd rather go to San Francisco or Houston respectively, don't feel obligated to start in the major centers.
At the Analyst and Associate levels, base salaries and bonuses are standardized at bulge bracket, middle-market, and well-known boutique banks.
While New York bankers claim they work longer hours than anyone else, you won't have much time for a personal life as an investment banking analyst or associate no matter where you are.
Exit opportunities can vary significantly, because you're more limited to the region you're working in - if you're in London it would be logistically difficult to fly in and interview for private equity positions in LA, for example.
Most people stick to where they started out when it comes to exit opportunities.
Networking, networking, and networking. Get someone in the other office to like you and "go to bat" for you, and you'll be moving in the right direction.
Usually you need to stay somewhere for at least a year before you think about moving elsewhere, but there are exceptions.
Hint: There's no such thing as "politely saying no without burning bridges."
Just tell them that you appreciate everything, enjoyed meeting their team, and appreciate the offer, but you've decided to accept an offer elsewhere. Email is fine if you don't feel comfortable doing this via the phone.
You can't. This is like saying, "How can I break up with my girlfriend / boyfriend without anyone getting upset?"
Just tell them that you appreciate meeting their team and receiving an offer, but that your plans have changed and you have decided to accept an offer elsewhere.
More on reneging on job offers.
No, but you probably won't be able to interview for full-time positions with that group.
For all product-related questions on the financial modeling course, networking course, and interview guide, please contact Breaking Into Wall Street.
For all questions about resume editing and coaching, please ask via the coaching contact form.
When it comes to clothing, think KISS: no one cares what you look like as long as you're presentable, at least at the Analyst and Associate levels.
If you're male, read this article on investment banking fashion for men.
Yes, read the article above for men and the one below on fashion for women.
Read this article on investment banking fashion for women.
And our plans for world domination, of course...
I (Brian) saw a market opportunity. Many sites featured financial news and deal-making, but no one else covered how to get into the industry and what you do on a day-to-day basis.
We also all felt that existing solutions for networking, interviews, and financial modeling were inadequate.
No. We do not accept advertisers because we sell our own products instead.
Please contact us via the BIWS Contact Form and give an idea of your audience size and how you want to promote it.
Probably not - all of us are also working full-time, in school full-time, or a combination of those, so time is limited and existing projects are going well.
Feel free to send suggestions - keep in mind that we rarely cover the news unless it's a major event.
If you want to see coverage of a specific group or region, the best way is to find someone who knows about that group or region and then introduce them to the site.
Sure. Just make sure it's something not already covered on the site.
Few of us ever planned to stay in finance or consulting for life - we just viewed them as steppingstones to other opportunities.
Three reasons:
