The Investment Banking Thread: Our Excel Models Smell of Rich Mahogany

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > The Investment Banking Thread: Our Excel Models Smell of Rich Mahogany

Vexxal: Jul 16, 2010

So I'm a high school student (A year left before I start college) and this career greatly interests me for the following reasons:
-maths is as much a hobby to me as anything else
-i'm quite happy to work 100 hours a week
-i like the idea of constantly worrying about how the stocks are going to go
-some (possibly psuedo) science about a high dopamine personality and how it's good for investment banking
-infinite room for progress
-new york looks awesome
-that motherfucking bell i always see on CNN

I am in the process of looking up more, but basically, I'm Irish, so going to ivy league/Oxbridge/LSE etc. will be hard. I think oxbridge will be impossible because it's too late for me to do the STEP test ( an aptitude test required for mathematics)
But I can still go to trinity college dublin which is about 50th worldwide (15th for maths, better then a couple of ivy league colleges) and UCD (second best in ireland but not so highly ranked. Would either of these be good enough? What if I got a first class honour in something like Maths and Economics or "management science and information systems studies" (basically a mix of finance, programming business, economics, mathematics, quantitative analysis and personal skills. it's almost as if it was made for IB'ing eh?) as well as taking active part in societies, and being on the school swim team, and hopefully getting a foundation scholarship (best ~20 students in the college) would I have a shot ? As I said, I'd love to be able to go to new york. afaik there arent any front office investment banking roles in Dublin.
My main question is: based on the sliver of information you have about me, would it be suitable? Which of these college courses would be best:
Maths and economics in trinity college dublin
Management science and information system studies in trinity college dublin
Actuarial and financial studies in the less prestigious UCD

Thanks in advance! And it's two o clock at night where I am so sorry if my post is poorly constructed

# ¿ Aug 16, 2011 01:13

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 00:46

Vexxal: Jul 16, 2010

zmcnulty posted:

Have you actually worked 100 hours a week before? Rang a bell?

I haven't but if I was in a stimulating job then I'm pretty confident I'd cope. As it stands during school I get up at 5 AM for swimming training and don't finish study until 8 PM, some days I go to the gym and i'm not finished until 9PM (then immidiately go to bed to wake up at 5) so I think I can cope.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2011 01:25

Vexxal: Jul 16, 2010

GO gently caress YOURSELF posted:

Frankly, there's a lot of firms, it looks like, that have EMEA stuff open right now. So if you want to work in London or something, it's doable. If you'd really rather be in NYC and you actually love math, consider pursuing a MS in math or possibly a Phd. It's not a guarantee of work, but those guys (especially top performing ones) will be seriously considered for trading, hedge funds, etc.

If you want to work deals, though, begin looking at small firms in your area or in London. Talk to the business school at Trinity and see how often they place someone in IB. Make sure you begin applying to summer analyst positions as soon as possible and by casting a wide net. Co-op, part-time, or off-cycle positions may be open to you if you keep your eyes open. The most critical thing to do is to get out ahead of the recruiting cycle - prepare yourself well academically by achieving highly but still by challenging yourself. Make sure you know when all the dates are for applications, but equally important, attend recruiting events either at your school or nearby. Demonstrate initiative and pursue leads.

Hopefully some of that helps you, but frankly it's pretty open-ended, I know.

Ja that's helpful. Thanks.

Hopefully some of that helps you, but frankly it's pretty open-ended, I know.

quote:

Not trying to be discouraging but from reading this it sounds like you don't have a clear idea of what different jobs in finance are really like. You're not working 100 hours a week in almost any trading or capital markets position. If you're really serious about this set aside an afternoon to do some research. http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com is a great starting point. Just load up a ton of articles on your browser and work through them and you'll already have a huge leg up.

Thanks, I've already started reading articles there, and I'll continue. From what I've read it seems a trading role would suit me because it seems to have less grunt work and more mathsy stuff? (compared to becoming an analyst at an IB)

# ¿ Aug 16, 2011 12:06

Vexxal: Jul 16, 2010

flyingfoggy posted:

I studied abroad at UCD last fall and I remember there were various events for a few of the big finance/consulting firms going around for London recruiting. Frankly it was pretty shocking to me since the coursework there seemed very easy even compared to my complete non-target school in the US (Bain would not be caught dead undergrad recruiting here), but there are not nearly as many schools there so they don't have the option of being as extremely-ivy-biased as they are here, and I believe the grade distribution makes it harder to get all A's.

I think Trinity or UCD would be fine as long as you network and get good grades. Emphasis on networking, especially since the Irish are spread out all over the world because there aren't too many jobs in Ireland. I would guess Trinity is better than UCD due to the brand name, but you would have to do some research yourself to figure that out.

(If you do go to UCD, I remember some kids in my marketing class were in some chinese/business combo major that sounded really cool)

I might send trinity a letter to see if they have any of these events. I'd hope so but sometimes UCD is considered more financial. *shrug*
What were you studying in UCD? Was it just a years exchange?

# ¿ Aug 17, 2011 12:39

Vexxal: Jul 16, 2010

Nodrog posted:

"Management science and information studies" doesnt sound like a real degree to be honest, I would guess youll be better off doing Maths/Econ.

edit: also doing something with a strong compsci component will potentially get you typecast into an IT/technology role. You should probably decide whether this is something youd be comfortable with. And if you are, youll probably be better off just doing straight comp sci.

But honestly, if you genuinelly enjoy maths then just do maths; you cant really go wrong with that. I dont think Oxford/Imperial/LSE/UCL require STEP, so you could apply to those too.

Is the presitigious uni worth the debt? keep in mind irish third level is free and trinity is ranked 15th in the world for maths

# ¿ Aug 22, 2011 20:03

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