california_love8

hi,

I'm still really confused about what it takes to become an investment banker. From what I hear, you have to go to an Ivy straight out of high school, but then what? Can you just be above average and still manage to get into an investment bank, or do you have to be at the top of the ivy-league again and then get recruited?

Also, what hope does that leave for people who don't go to a ivy-league but opt for a top 50 school vs a top 20 for whatever reason. Are they basically screwed, or what do they have to do?

thanks in advance

Denzera

one word: internships. Pursue finance-related activities while in college, and every summer (starting your search in january), try to get an internship in an i-bank.

bluedevilmike

Denzera's right on the money that you should try every summer, but you should also be warned that it'll be very difficult to do early.

D, are you sure Jan. isn't too late?

Denzera

I'm looking at my school's career center list of job postings, and the majority of summer positions on wall street have resume submission deadlines in january.

dpa38d2u

you should really start in November if you're not a junior, since a lot of the really competitive internships that allows sophomores sometimes have December deadlines or earlier... a lot of junior internships also have 1/3 deadlines, so starting in January is too late. December is really the latest one should start.

bluedevilmike

Yeah, I'm usually of the opinion that deadlines should be noted (know when they are) but not followed (you need to submit much earlier than that).