Ask a former Wall Street investment banker (almost) anything

[HtotheOV]

was searching past threads about finance and came across this. read whole thing. prob most informative thread ever.


awesome stuff OP

[imajoey]

good thread, few questions in general...

GPA in my major (finance) is about a 3.45 and overall a 3.23, what would you recommend putting on GPA... Also can't get my resume to sound like I want it to after my last internship thoughts?

[Aaronza]

in 4 toliet reading later

[rdy1107]

How ****ed am I going to Penn State as a finance major? My GPA is currently 3.9 after my freshman year, and I'm working on my involvement as well as working on finding an internship for next summer. But I didn't really put any effort into high school, so I was kind of limited as to where I could go to college.

[EffortPoaster]

I know the thread is old and you rarely post on the misc anymore OP, but thanks for the informative thread. I have also sent you a PM in case you check back on here.

[gainzcheckingin]

How ****ed am I going to Penn State as a finance major? My GPA is currently 3.9 after my freshman year, and I'm working on my involvement as well as working on finding an internship for next summer. But I didn't really put any effort into high school, so I was kind of limited as to where I could go to college.

You'd be fine, I'm guessing you're a sophomore? What are you doing this summer?

Your college doesn't matter as much as you think it would, but you definitely need something to help you stand out. In addition you really need to network, and I don't mean just cold-calling people every week. I mean taking networking trips through your university, meeting bankers for coffee, and even sneaking into Penn's career fairs.

[AchievingAlpha]

Could you tell me where to find it as well ?

Edit "the J P M guide"

[saullyb]

How did you decide to do what you did?

[Hector002]

Wonder what OP is up to nowadays.

[imbeingcereal]

Rugby will help with a lot of things. There are a lot of former ruggers (scrum half, checking in) in the business and it will give you something to talk about in an interview. The head of M&A at RBC is a huge rugby guy and if you're semi-qualified will at least earn you a good look from him.

Don't do A&M if you want to go into banking. Serious. It's a fine school, but not one that will help you get a Wall Street job. It may hurt. Even top b-schools like Michigan are useless for banking placement.

Good schools:
Wharton
HBS
Columbia
Tuck
Darden
Kellogg

OK schools
Anderson
Stern
Sloan
Haas
Fuqua

I might have missed a couple.

Generally, everything else is worthless for placement.

This was a great thread, but OP really lost me here. Stanford, Booth, and Yale SOM are worthless for IB placement? If you want to make the argument that Stanford and Yale have other focuses than IB (Consulting/Tech or NFP, respectively), I can maybe get behind that idea, but I don't understand how Booth is worthless but Kellogg, which is more known for marketing, is not at that point.

[Yellowbeaver]

You'd be fine, I'm guessing you're a sophomore? What are you doing this summer?

Your college doesn't matter as much as you think it would, but you definitely need something to help you stand out. In addition you really need to network, and I don't mean just cold-calling people every week. I mean taking networking trips through your university, meeting bankers for coffee, and even sneaking into Penn's career fairs.

Why are you giving misinfo. Your school and gpa matter immensely for breaking into FO. Going to a target school gives you OCR.

IMO, finance is a terrible major choice for IB. I'm a strong advocate for majoring in liberal arts. Technicals are easy to learn on the job, but liberal arts helps you develop critical thinking and communication.

I'd suggest networking with alumni on the street to see if they can push your resume for an interview.

[apo99]

Why are you giving misinfo. Your school and gpa matter immensely for breaking into FO. Going to a target school gives you OCR.

IMO, finance is a terrible major choice for IB. I'm a strong advocate for majoring in liberal arts. Technicals are easy to learn on the job, but liberal arts helps you develop critical thinking and communication.

I'd suggest networking with alumni on the street to see if they can push your resume for an interview.

your correct, Ib is now looking for more Pure math, stats, CS and even engineering grads

[DoragonKingu]

OK, here are the ground rules:

1. Let's keep it civil. You think Wall Street is evil? That's fine. I disagree. But if that's all you're here to say I don't have much to add to the conversation.

2. I'm not here to push a political position, so let's try to avoid sermonizing (one way or the other) as much as possible. I'll give my opinion if asked, and it's worth as much as you paid for it.

3. I was a Mergers & Acquisitions specialist. I was not a trader or capital markets guy. I am not the right person to discuss the relative merits of delta-hedge strategies in reducing gamma.

4. I log in often, but not continuously. I still have a relatively demanding day job. If I miss your question or take a while to answer, I apologize - sometimes work intervenes and things like the misc slip through the cracks.

My background is that I retired from a sixteen year career on Wall Street, all of it in M&A. I was a managing director, and head of M&A for an industry sector. I covered a variety of industries, including technology, telecom, consumer, healthcare and industrials. I did very little real estate, financial institutions, or oil & gas. I spent time at a number of firms, spanning the very large to the very small, but always at a publicly traded firm.

Fire away.

I have a passion for stock trading currently trying to go back to college which degree would be most beneficial in the stock trading market?

[Toker095]

What is your daily facial care routine

[Spazzzzy]

I have a passion for stock trading currently trying to go back to college which degree would be most beneficial in the stock trading market?

Not IB related question.

For trading:
Get a job at any finance role would be a good start. You don't need a degree to break in, have known many who don't have one.

You need to be reading anything and everything you can related to whichever market you're looking to trade. Getting these jobs initially is more about networking, so reading the top 20-50 books on trading/finance/financial collapse is your go to point. The basics are learning how different things interact with one-another so you can have intelligent conversations at job interviews. Being a cool dude and being able to chug a beer will go a long way.

The more appropriate question is what is your idea of trading? I will be able to answer more accurately. Do you actually know what trading is or have you just watched a movie and thought "that's cool i want to do that".

Most guys i know who are in trading in some form or another usually aren't that smart. Most looked at the lifestyle and the promise of big bucks and that's what motivated them from a young age. If you aren't motivated you won't get a start.

Age will also be a factor. There's a big difference between a 21yo single guy who doesn't know his dik from his as$hole to a 45yo with a wife, kids, mortgage...etc

Shares specifically and as a broad answer for the route most take - Get a job somewhere that has something to do with finance (if you can go equities more specifically great). Do CFA (or get a few levels done) with good marks. Network whilst at that job and make it clear you want opportunities to become an equities analyst. If they don't give you a role but like you management will be able to recommend you to someone they know to give you a start. Learn how to interview well and be willing to take a significant paycut with no guarantee of future earnings to follow your dream.

[BIGJIMSLADE22]

I have a passion for stock trading currently trying to go back to college which degree would be most beneficial in the stock trading market?

Took my finance class to the floor of the CBOE. One student asked, what path do I take to end up working here. Guy replied, Programming. Said floor is 90% programmers, 10% finance guys.

[DevidChan]

how do you feel about traders, and would you like to become one of them?

[Toker095]

Took my finance class to the floor of the CBOE. One student asked, what path do I take to end up working here. Guy replied, Programming. Said floor is 90% programmers, 10% finance guys.

U wot m8?

What kind of programming?what language? how do they implement it ?

So me struggling for a Ms in finance from a b tier uni for 50k $ in total, doesn't promise me big bucks?

[proconsul]

Wonder what OP is up to nowadays.

I've been away from the forums for a while. I took a senior executive position at a biotech company in 2014 and helped take them public on the Nasdaq global select market, then took the CEO job at another publicly-listed biotech company in 2017, and am still in that position.

This was a great thread, but OP really lost me here. Stanford, Booth, and Yale SOM are worthless for IB placement? If you want to make the argument that Stanford and Yale have other focuses than IB (Consulting/Tech or NFP, respectively), I can maybe get behind that idea, but I don't understand how Booth is worthless but Kellogg, which is more known for marketing, is not at that point.

I don't think I said they're useless. Stanford, however, has very much moved towards a tech/internet-heavy placement emphasis. As a Yale undergrad, I'd love it if Yale SOM were better, but it's just not competitive. In my career, I met one associate from SOM. Chicago is a core school, I just didn't happen to list it.

Could you tell me where to find it as well ?

Edit "the J P M guide"

Associate Training: Valuation & Merger Consequences

https://docs.google.com/presentation...it?usp=sharing

M&A Reference Manual

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IZR...ew?usp=sharing

[TugOfPeace]

OP, I really enjoy trading but have only been at it since the pandemic started. If I'm turning 33 this year, would you have any advice for breaking into the finance industry? Is it even worth it at my age? I've got about 9 years of consulting experience on the electrical engineering side of oil/gas.

[A1lthatrema1ns]

I've been away from the forums for a while. I took a senior executive position at a biotech company in 2014 and helped take them public on the Nasdaq global select market, then took the CEO job at another publicly-listed biotech company in 2017, and am still in that position.



I don't think I said they're useless. Stanford, however, has very much moved towards a tech/internet-heavy placement emphasis. As a Yale undergrad, I'd love it if Yale SOM were better, but it's just not competitive. In my career, I met one associate from SOM. Chicago is a core school, I just didn't happen to list it.




Associate Training: Valuation & Merger Consequences

https://docs.google.com/presentation...it?usp=sharing

M&A Reference Manual

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IZR...ew?usp=sharing

strong successful misc brah