Northwestern Students Want Undergrad Business Program

uc_benz
Thu, 12 May 2005 20:00:00 +0000

Now, I didn’t say they wouldn’t matter. I just said they aren’t going to impress anyone, and they won’t.

Let’s take JP Morgan for example (since you mentioned it):

I’d go as far to make the assumption that over 95% of the applicants for a position in investment banking have never had any exposure to investment banking. Getting a junior summer internship at JP Morgan has acceptance rates in the single digits, but getting a summer internship before your junior year is infintesimally impossible. The only people I have heard getting summer interships before junior year are those with connections in the firm.

Ok, so let’s assume that 95% of the people applying for IBD at JP Morgan have no experience in investment banking whatsoever. Therefore, the interviews/job offers are not judged on past performance at all. It comes down to the type of person they want and whether the applicant meets that criteria or not. I have talked to several people in the IBD at various banks, and they all said that pretty much all internships are meaningless when it comes to IB. Sure, you might have a nice internship at a financial firm, but it’s not investment banking. Therefore, you do not learn anything that would help with investment banking, and thus, they do not really care about your financial internship.

So what I’m saying is if the internship isn’t with an investment bank then it is not going to be impressing anyone. Yeah it might be a deciding factor if you are in a fierce competition for the last spot, but in general, they aren’t going to be looking at any other internships.