Hey everyone. First of all, it's pretty surreal that I'm writing this post on here on the "success stories" section. Maybe writing this is one piece of officially cementing my career journey from where I started to where I am now.

To put this in perspective, I think I discovered WSO sometime back in 2011 when I was GMAT-ing, looking at business schools, and figuring out what my path forward would be. Since 2012, I haven't been very active on WSO, but I hope this post is inspirational to other people here.

My story:
Native of the washington, DC area, class of '00 in high school (waaaay before any of this stuff existed).

Undergrad: went to a pretty good local high school but didn't get stellar grades, and had motivational issues. Spent 1 semester at community college, and then transferred to UMBC (near baltimore). Picked Geography as a major because I really liked playing SimCity and thought that urban planning / zoning would be an interesting career... Until I had to re-take Cartography, which was hours and hours of making maps on the computer which was intensely boring.

I transferred to Salisbury University to switch to exercise science, because I was pretty serious into soccer and wanted to play more and get into coaching. I was very driven and for the first time found something to really sink my teeth into. By the time I finished college, i had every coaching license available to coaches in the US except the very highest level ones.

Spent a year in florida having fun and coaching part-time, moved back to DC in fall 2006 and picked up a few teams for the fall season to train in the afternoons. Over the next 2 years, I had a series of jobs during the daytime, none of which lasted more than 3 months, including:

Personal trainer at Gold's gym
IT recruiter
Nightclub promoter
Real estate agent
Marketing assistant for a loan officer

Oddly enough, what would happen is after 3 months I would learn as much as I could about what I was doing and then realize that it was a dead end. However, I picked up a lot of things along the way, such as when I worked as a recruiter, I was able to really understand the hiring process from the inside, learn what makes a great resume, and understand nuances of interviewing.

In 2008, I tore my ACL in a soccer game and had to get surgery; during my recovery period I made a VOW to myself that I was going to get my career handled, NO MATTER WHAT. Although I really like coaching (and I still do it today), you need something to do during the daytime to really do OK financially and live a normal lifestyle around here... the DC area is somewhat expensive unless you live way outside the city in Maryland or Virginia.

I literally had no idea where to begin as far as career planning. Originally, because of my 3 months as an IT recruiter, I thought I had some inkling of a shot in anything related to technology. I although thought that I should naturally combine that with finance, because hey, finance is the place to be. Go big or go home.

Well living in DC isn't exactly the place for tech unless you're in military tech or anything related to government... so aerospace and defense industry it is, since all the major companies are headquartered here. So my new path became equity research focusing on the aerospace and defense industry. If I broke into the field and did well, maybe I would have a chance to work for the Carlyle Group.

Next step was set my sights on an MBA program. Since I had take ZERO math / finance / accounting / economics / business courses during undergrad, went to a slightly out-of-the-way school in Maryland in a non-business major and graduated with a 3.1 GPA, I realized I would have to do some work to get into a program, and I would probably have to do it part-time so I could work and live locally. DC is actually a pretty good place to be for career/education if you know how to navigate here.

So in fall 2009, I did an internship, leading to a 2-year stint as a part-time research assistant in which I worked mostly from home analyzing defense budgets of other countries. During that time, I took another full-time job that lasted a few months (while working the part-time research job remotely) and taking classes in the evenings and Saturdays. Yeah, don't ask me about how I managed that.

From January 2010 to August 2012, I took these classes which were really inexpensive at a place called Graduate School USA. It is also known as the Harvard Extension School of DC and is the cheapest/highest quality place you can take classes in the area without paying out the nose for graduate credit. Each class costs something like $300. (Maybe its slightly more expensive these days)

Accounting I, II, III
Auditing I, II
Business, Government, and Society
Precalculus, Calculus I, II (thought I was going to die but it turned out fine)
The congressional budget process
corporate finance
Economic indicators
Econometrics I,II
Financial accounting
Financial statement analysis
Government accounting I,II
Intermediate accounting I,II
Linear algebra (hated it)
Macroeconomics
Microeconomics
Math for economists I, II (don't take this unless you like torture)
Statistics I,II
Natural resource economics

I may have missed a few but it was 30 classes in total. I ended up with a 3.5 average. About 2/3 of the way through these classes, I left my job and did nothing but studied for the GMAT for 2.5 months. Literally nothing else. Took it once, got a 530. Was traumatized by the result and completely burned out. Programs around the DC area really look for a 600 or higher. Immediately after went back to work for the same company I had done research for but as an analyst on their consulting team. Over 100 people applied, 2 were hired. I came in on a referral since I had already been working at the same company but in a different silo. The MD said they were too busy to look through all the resumes, so they just hired the 2 of us based on our interviews.

Despite being really frustrated with the GMAT, a friend of mine suggested I look at a certificate program offered by Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. If you look for the school on here, there are a lot of posts about people curious about the school since it's pretty new and not ranked yet. I applied to the certificate in investments program, got in because I had done well academically and had good work experience from my research jobs and good recommendation letters. YES. Got in.

Got decent grades and transferred into the part-time MBA the following year (early 2013). During that time left my analyst job after a year to start a crazy business idea with a good friend. Both of us thought we'd eventually go find jobs in government, and I was looking at positions at the Department of Defense.

It took me 3 years of going to JHU Carey part-time to finish. I actually am taking my final class now, and have 7 weeks left before I am done. Also, that crazy business Idea that we started has turned into something that has a lot of potential. Now I am in the process of getting ready to raise funds for a technology platform that we want to build. I am also beginning to teach entrepreneurship since I have gone through the process myself.

A few funny stories looking back:

I can't tell you how desperately I wanted to get into equity research for the defense industry. There are really only a few financial companies that have good analysts for that industry, and junior positions rarely open up. I sent a resume to the head analyst at a local firm and followed up with a call. Was nervous as hell. He said "you have a great resume"... "but we're going through some restructuring right now, but I can pass it onto HR". So yeah, never heard back.

I also called up the founder of an aero/defense boutique consulting company here. Did the same thing. Said he appreciated the fact that I called and would pass to HR. Nada.

Met a managing director from the Carlyle Group after he spoke at a conference in 2009 when I was interning and asked what type of people they look for. "Oh, usually we hire people off wall street".
At the time, I didn't know what that meant, and I thought you had to literally work on the physical street in New York for them to consider you, not realizing he meant the financial industry.

Very recently, I went to a conference where someone who is very, very successful that I happen to look up to as a role model was speaking. After he finished his talk, people basically swarmed him as he walked out of the conference room. He actually did talk to a few people before it really got ugly. Since I go for the gold, I approached him and he basically kept walking. As he was exiting, I approached him again and started to introduce myself, that I heard him speak several years ago and model my career after him (which I do) and tell him that I would like a short leadership mentoring session from him. He basically says "oh that's nice""very good""uh-huh, that's great" a couple of times while avoiding eye contact.

Let me tell you, when someone you have admired in business for years completely ignores you when you have a chance to talk to them, it actually makes you into more of a man when you realize that everyone is human and these super-successful people that we idolize are just like you and me and they don't have time for everybody in the world. Everyone should try doing this, and the more famous the person you choose, the better.

There is probably a better time and a place to interact with this person again, but I felt like I accomplished my goal from having a series of jobs that I would never touch again with a 10-foot pole to having about 1 minute one-way conversation with a prolific business leader that I (still) admire as a role model, minus the starry-eyed aspect of admiration.

So the story is that everything turned out great, I LOVE being an entrepreneur, our business has a lot of promise and potential, and I found out that being an equity research analyst and consulting wasn't my thing after all (although I'm still a defense industry junkie), and I realize that everyone is human regardless of how much money you have, where you went to school, what you do, where you work, or what your gmat score was, or how many beans you can fill a 747 with when the beans are different shapes and sizes.

And I feel at peace with myself and am happy with my choices. I now feel that I can leave the chaos of my "early" career behind and begin a new leaf for the beginning of my "mid-career" phase.

Hope this is helpful to everyone, happy to answer any questions or elaborate on any specifics. Writing this helped me get this out of my system. A bit of a rant but I hope someone finds this inspiring.

I'm living proof that you can do your best, ultimately find your place, and do what makes you happy.

But you HAVE to work your a** off for it.

And we are ALL monkeys.

I was working on a practice test for Level 1 when I came across this bugger. The answer provided makes absolutely no sense to me. I honestly think they made an error. If I don't get to the bottom of this it will really bother me. Please give it a shot and let me know. Should be very simple.

Question:

An investor examines the following rate quotes for the Brazilian real and the Australian dollar and shorts BRL 500,000.

Spot rate BRL/AUD 2.1128 BRL 1-year interest rate 4.1%
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forward rate BRL/AUD 2.1388 AUD 1-year interest rate 3.1%

Question:
The risk-free arbitrage profit that is available is closest to:

a) BRL6,405.
b) BRL1,344.
c) -BRL6,327

b) is the Correct answer...somehow

This is how I got my answer:
Scenario 1(invest locally) vs Scenario 2(invest abroad then convert back):

Scenario 1.

Step 1: Simply invest 500,000 BRL locally @ 4.1%
= 500,000 * 1.041 = 520,500 BRL

VS.

Scenario 2.

Step 1: Convert 500,000 BRL to AUD, @ BRL/AUD = 2.1128 (2.1128 AUD for every 1 BRL)
500,000 * 2.1128 = 1,056,400 AUD

Step 2: Invest that 1,056,400 AUD @ 3.1% for 1 year
1,056,400 * 1.031 = 1,089,148 AUD

Step 3: Convert that 1,089,148 AUD back to BRL @ BRL/AUD 2.1388 (Locked in Forward Rate)
2.1388 AUD for every 1 BRL, so 1,089,148/2.1388 = 509,233 BRL

RESULT: Scenario 2 - Scenario 1
Arbitrage Profit = 509,233 BR - 520,500 BRL = -11,267 BRL
Ergo, no arbitrage profit, you are better off keeping those BRL and investing locally
Am I missing something here?? or is it an error?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This is what the answer key gave me:

Left side of equation: BRL500,000 x (1+.041) = BRL520,500

Right Side:

1

BRL500,000 x (1/2.1128AUD/BRL) = AUD236,653 <--- **Why are they doing 1 over spot?**
**500,000 BRL= 1,056,400 AUD not 236,653 AUD wtf?**
Convert domestic to foreign

2

AUD236,653 x (1.031) = AUD243,989

Invest foreign @ foreign rate

3

AUD243,989 x 2.1388 = BRL521,844

Convert foreign to domestic

Arbitrage profit = BRL521,844 - BRL520,500= BRL1,344 <----Wtf? Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

When we ask for a nation's symbolism as a whole, the first thing that comes to mind is the national flag. Of course, nothing can express a country's culture, history and meaning more than its national flag.

Indeed, the Luxembourg's national flag consisting of three horizontal stripes, red, white and blue which is derived from the coat of arms of Ardennes, has been chosen to represent the country when in 1830, patriots had urged and fought to have the Grand Duchy be symbolized and honored. But this is not the only thing that represented Luxembourg's official treasures and unofficial cultures.

An ensign was also created for all of the coat of arms of Luxembourg. The red lion on top of white and blue stripes has been used in ships and aviation purposes. Ten white and blue stripes serve as the field for a red lion with a yellow tongue, claws and crown. The proper ratio for this ensign is 5:7.

The national flag and ensign is not without issues though. People from Netherlands have complaints on the similarities of the country's color to their own flag. Because of this confusion, the blue color of Luxembourg's flag has been changed to sky blue. On October, 2006, Luxembourgish politician, Michael Wolter introduced a legislative proposition to change the current flag to that of the national ensign. He argued that the confusion with the Netherland's flag has not yet been cleared and that the red lion on a flag expresses more holistic value and aesthetic feel.

A petition was circulated around many institutions in the country, asking to support the cause. Balmoral International Group Luxembourg even received an invitation on a conference held on October 24, 2006 expressing their need to explain the intention behind the initiative. On the other hand, many politicians have disapproved of the cause, pointing out the timing and necessity of the change and even doubting Wolter's possible fraudulent move for higher political office. Just recently, a citizen submitted a formal petition to the Chamber of Deputies to replace the current national flag with the Roude Leiw (Red Lion Initiative).

Luxembourg has other national symbolisms which in all represent the unique culture of the country.

The national motto, Mir welle bleiwe, war mir sin , means "We want to remain what we are." That accurately captures the two dominant goals of contemporary society: protection from linguistic or other imperialism on the part of its more powerful French and German neighbors and protection from economic and political instability that would threaten the country's prosperity and extremely high standard of living.

The national language is Luxembourgish.

I've had some downtime the last few weeks before I start my new role and have been mulling over making a post on WSO, long time lurker, first time writer. I feel exceptionally lucky to have landed a buy-side gig (at at PE firm no less) straight out of undergrad with minimal experience, no "prestigious"internships, a horrible GPA, little to no alumni to tap.....frankly I could make a post dedicated to the list of hurdles I've faces for the last 3 years. I would like to throw my story out there as a counter to the conventional structured wisdom on WSO and present an alternative narrative to those aspiring to enter into principal investing and private equity.

Since my firm and school are quite small and I'd like to maintain my identity I will be intentionally vague about some details and focus on the meat of my story.

I graduated in 2014 as a finance/econ double major from a regionally well regarded liberal arts university with a strong track record of producing successful professional track graduates, but one with no national recognition, finance recruiting (we are one of the top schools in the country for accounting however), few if any alumni in corp. fin/IBD/PE/HF/PM/etc., and with no faculty from any of the above. In short, probably the worst setup possible from someone trying to get into a PE firm.

I had one internship sophomore year doing international trade and what I like to term "physical commodity arbitrage" for a company based out of Mexico. Unfortunately, I had a PE internship fall through right before junior summer began, but I'm still friends with the MD to this day (it's a small world people). My overall GPA was 2.9, and I'm rounding up, however my GPA my final 4 semesters was 3.4, and my MGPA was 3.5 - we have an unusual grading distribution and the median and average grade in a finance course at my school is a C+/B-, even in senior seminar - in other words I was one of if not the best finance student in my year. I also studied for CFA Level 1 my senior year and passed with flying colors.

I started out as an economics major, and figured out quite quickly that I hated the theoretical aspects of the subject and was more interested in it's application, so I switched my focus to finance beginning Junior year. I had a lot of time as a rising sophomore to do research and read - I actually spent part of that summer reading Security Analysis - 1951 - and figure out what kind of coursework I should take and what the 2nd half of my college education would look like. Upon returning from holiday I immediately started taking finance courses and in tandem started taking upper division accounting and digging into the world of finance. After about 6 months, I had figured out that if I wanted any kind of career in finance I would have to get out there, start meeting people, learn how to present myself, and develop a level of maturity beyond "above average", so I started attending alumni functions and went so far as to fly to several events in different top 10 metro areas to network. Nothing really came of it, but it was good experience. A few months later I coincidentally ran into an alumni who at the time was a director (now an MD) at a >$1B PE fund and ended up having an interview with him. It was my first contact with someone in principal investing and his story uniquely resonated with me as opposed to some HF and IM professionals I had met and found interesting. For me, the tangibility of PE, and the opportunity to be hands on with your investments and have a definitive impact was enthralling, and I kept in contact with him, and had a few meals. I also networked through an ex-board trustee who introduced me to a director at F50 company who introduced me to a young guy (30s) who runs a >$2B public holding co with a PE strategy, and he as well had a uniquely interesting story that resonated - he is extremely hands on with his investments as well. Those two people really sparked my interest in PE and are the reason why I chose to pursue a career in the space.

When I graduated I was a fish out of water - no job offer, no prospects, no nada. I spent time after graduation studying for CFA L1, took a few weeks after the exam to recharge from a senior year from hell (IBD hours every week), and started looking for a job in July. I had some prospects going when I decided to reach out to a boutique bank in town, and struck up a conversation with one of the MDs about how I'd never seen him at a CFA function. He invited me to meet his analysts and a day later they offered me a job. It was less than ideal - I was working as a "consultant" ie. a part-time analyst due to their level of deal flow, but I was working on PE due diligence for a few companies that our MDs were considering investing in and turning around (my MD was a M7 MBA with a MBB consulting background). I had, without realizing it, found a spot working in PE, even though I wasn't being paid well and had 0 job security. However the deal experience was invaluable, and I learned a ton.

When I was hired by this boutique Investment/Merchant Bank, the partners were very upfront that I probably wouldn't be there long because of deal-flow and their current analyst/associate pool, so I took a few interviews, including with several top notch boutiques and BBs, but really fumbled hard with my story and my work experience and although I managed to make it to final rounds with some exceptionally competitive firms was unable to land a single offer. I stopped working for this firm around November/December 2014, which looks rather bad on a resume to work for only 5 months before leaving. Christmas and New Year went by, and really everything from mid-January till now really blends together into one continuous timeline marked by incremental successes.

The one major event in between was I began studying for Level 2 CFA in February and ultimately passed the June 2015 exam. I cannot articulate strongly enough how important an event studying for level 2, and passing it, was for my job search. It doesn't matter what space you're in, no one with ever doubt your technical savvy if you're a CFA candidate with at least one, and preferably two exams under your belt - the material you are REQUIRED to know in order to pass those first two exams puts you far above most IBD analysts/associates in terms of financial and accounting knowledge. While it may not teach modeling skills, you really must have an intuitive grasp and truly understand the mechanical and theoretical aspects of financial statements to pass, which will get you past numerous technical questions/teasers and give you a unrivaled skill set to critically evaluate financial case studies which are part of the PE interview process and your day-to-day job.

From January to August, I really can't even begin to count the number of interviews I've had. For those of you who care, the list includes JPM, Goldman, Piper, RBC, Cowen, multiple other MM banks, several endowments/sovereign wealth funds in the 10's+ billions, probably 20-30 PE funds....it's a long list. I also turned down multiple offers during that time from things I didn't really want to do long term like portfolio management and real estate PE. I decided to keep interviewing full time because I saw continued improvement with my interview prospects, the frequency with which I was contacted by PE firms, and how far into the interview process I was able to get within PE/IBD. If I had been shaken out consistently in the first or 2nd round, I would likely have caved much sooner, but I was able to consistently make it to 3rd, 4th, and final rounds with strong firms, and lost closely to a pool of 2-3 other people, all of which were associate level hires to my fresh undergrad resume with ~6mo IBD + CFA L2 Candidate. I knew that if I kept at it, eventually things would fall my way and this back log of associate level hires would pan out.

Eventually they did, and I passed Level 2 CFA (2/2 so far baby), and I'm starting my new gig in October. I'll be working for a PE firm with a fixed capital base (yes, we are not a private equity "fund" per-say), working directly under the CIO, leading the due diligence process, portfolio company integration, transaction financing, participating/presenting in board & hold-co. level meetings, etc. and I'll have an office with a window, at 23, and all with the ridiculously stacked-against background that I have.

If I could identify two things that made me truly unique, and that ultimately differentiated me from a host of 2nd year analysts/MBAs landing me a coveted spot which was advertised as a post BB/MM IB analyst program pre-MBA associate job (312 resumes last I checked with my boss), one is the ability to be articulate, and the other is genuine intellectual curiosity. It's unbelievable easy to find someone who can build a complicated excel model and has technical abilities, but asking that person to walk another person through the model, detail their assumptions, be concise in doing so, and answer questions while conveying understand, is a rare skill. At the end of the day, it's all about making things tangible for someone else - maybe that means thinking up a metaphor on the spot to explain a revenue accrual, or intuitively explaining the pitfalls of a valuation methodology in a way that makes sense to your grandmother, if you can do that, someone will eventually see that skill and recognize how rare and valuable it is when working closely with the partnership or a portfolio company. Secondly, having genuine intellectual curiosity - unlike investment banking, investing requires a creative mind and type, which is essential to vetting deals and seeing pitfalls/opportunities no one else does. At a typical PE firm, you will end up investing in maybe 2-3 deals a year, out of over 100 evaluated, or many more depending on firm size, every year. If you don't find the evaluative process interesting - picking up a new product, learning about it, understanding how it works, is made/marketed/serviced/used, and enjoy questioning facts and the status-quot, you may make it to final rounds, but will never get an offer.

I'll add a couple of things for housekeeping before I end this post.

The interview process was as follows:
Applied via LinkedIn - I have a flashy color resume, and yes, the color is red
Contacted 1w later, phone call next day

1st round: 30-40 minute call, long form elevator pitch followed by unique technical questions stemming from the firms current portfolio companies, invited to case study 2nd round at the end

2nd round: provided CIM (Confidential Information Memo, in case you're in undergrad) from one of the partners former investments, also given previous year of financial statements in excel - asked to create a full month-by-month lbo model with tax schedule over a defined investment period, and do a short write up on the investment - given 24 hours to return a model and materials - essentially a firedrill. I ended up running out of time, emailed the partner my work at the 24 hour mark, explained that I was having some difficulty linking the schedules he asked from back to the circular LBO model but that the rest of the model was build and functioning, and he offered me more time. (be honest, humble and willing to admit if you can't finish something, rather than turn in a half-ass product and hope it gets by)

3rd round: week after I turned in my model, partner setup a call to discuss it, the logic behind my assumptions, gave me another few technical questions, and invited me to fly up and meet with him

4th round: flew up the following week to meet with the partner, was given another case study in person - no modeling, just a really, really, really difficult scenario that required a lot of financial statement knowledge to solve, was immediately given an offer in the room upon solving the case study in ~5 minutes. Called from the airport to accept, with the stipulation that I would receive an office, with an outside window.

Comp was offered at 55+30, reset at the end of 15', very much in-line with the industry, if not slightly above after we renegotiate after he's seen a few months of work product (I'm a Level III CFA Candidate too, for crying out loud). Could have negotiated higher but I'd rather not fight for 5-10k more this year when i can ask for 30-40 more next year, at least. It's better to to prove yourself anyway.

I guess I'd like to end this post with a note to the community: WSO has been helpful, while there is plenty of bullshit here, there is also plenty of good information and it's been helpful to peruse it over the years, and educational to have to read between the two. It's been a far better resource, combined with a fair number of blogs and interviews, than my university career services was.

Hello! My GF and I have been together for 5 long years. I think its high time for us to get married. She has been waiting for me to propose her all these years I but I wasn't financially ready for it. Recently I found a good job and paid off all my mortgage. I had a plans to propose her last month but due to certain health issues I had to postpone my plans. So, now finally everything is fine and I'm going to do this . I got a ring for her from Phera Diamonds Vancouver. So now, I need your support to make the event a grand one. So please pour in your most romantic ideas of proposing her, may be with the venue,decor and all. Thankyou!

Hey all, I made a burn account so I can share a story of sub 2.5 gpa student getting offers from multiple MC firms including one from MBB.

Firstly, I'd like to preface this by saying that my purpose in 5 years of college experience was to experience as many and different things as possible. I attended a very strict all boys prep school throughout my entire life starting kindergarten, graduating with high honors (rank 5 out of 120 graduating class) with 2300+ SAT and double digit number of AP courses taken. I just simply wanted to stop studying like a damn machine and experience as much crap as possible. examples include blowing 15k on alcohol in 3 months, racing friends across the continent with rental cars etc etc

So when I did enter a top 20 school as an economics and math double major, enough was enough. I probably attended less than 50 classes throughout my entire college life. I just crammed for mid terms and finals and just wanted to get by while experiencing new things to the full. Now by experinecing, I do not, DO NOT, mean derping around home watching netflix and going to parties. Internships, travel etc was what i wanted.

I started interning starting freshman summer. I worked for a dotcom startup managing expert contacts and taking care of the website. It was fun and all but definitely not the lifestyle I wanted.

I started seeking for other opps during second year. I made some calls to family and friends and landed a strat internship at a fortune 500. It was better, but damn corporate life was boooooooooring.

I wondered what would be dynamic, exciting and thought provoking all at once. I started throwing out resumes like mad in september of my junior year. I landed a gig with Accenture but they wanted me to start right away due to a very busy project schedule and I said sure. I simply told my school i will be on a leave of absence and took an 8 month internship with Accenture strategy. I had found my calling. I worked on a 2 billion dollar go to market strat project for a fortune 30 and damn it was exciting.

Partner (engagement manager) of the project kindly gave me an offer after the internship was over in august. I simply left that hanging and he didn't mind. I still wanted to see more, see what other firms did and what they did better/worse. Because I had taken a semester off, I was still a junior so I had to participate in summer analyst recruiting when I returned. I got some offers from several firms but i decided to try Accenture again, albeit a different office. This time, it was not so great as I landed on a PMO project focusing on change management. Still, I liked the culture, the people, but I wanted to do strategy.

After the summer, I went back to school, preparing to graduate. Clearly I did not have much of a shot at recruiting full time for MBB. I shot for summer internships. I knew that If I could have just a little bit more of a pedigree and recommendations, I could maybe make it through to MBB.

Partner from Accenture who gave me the offer introduced me to a principle from BCG who eventually gave me a summer internship offer. I performed great but the office (non-US) was not giving any offers to summer class this year. What EM did though was refer me to the full time recruiting committee So I could partake in recruiting process for 2016 class. I did and performed outstandingly in the interviews. Because it is one of the biggest holiday season in the country, BCG told me they would get back to me next monday with a decision of offer or not as all partners were on vacation.

I am currently working as a contractor with Deloitte S&O and well just simply waiting for BCG offer.
I know I have not made the breakthrough of an offer yet but still, I am quote happy to say that despite horrenduous GPA, (literally half of what my weighted average in high school was) I still made some ground and hopefully I will get an offer next monday.

To those in trouble because of GPA, although it certainly is important and could work as a barometer, I strongly do believe that other attributes and qualities of your life could make some way for you to break in to MC.

Cheers.
H

Metro Manila is known for its heavy traffic and heavier pollution, yet, it remains the most interesting city when we speak of history and cultural heritage. Eclipsed between its more progressive neighbors, Makati and Quezon City in terms of infrastructure and business developments, the city of Manila takes pride of being a melting pot of cultures, religions, languages and eminence. Manila is one good place to start if you are into experiencing different things in every turn. The city is always busy and full of life since it is a given that it is one of the most crowded places in the world.

If you are a tourist and are planning to stay in Manila for a short trip, here are the following things to do:

1. Wear Comfortable Clothes
Well, for starters, the Philippines is one of the hottest places on Earth. Summer time in London or wherever you are from is the coldest in the country. Temperature can reach up to 34 in a normal dry season in Manila. If you are planning to take long walks, it is wise to dress appropriately and make sure to wear the most comfortable shoes. Be like any local and blend with the crowd. If you are lost, don't hesitate to ask from a local. Filipinos are known to be the friendliest people in the world so it wouldn't be hard to approach them.

2. Travel on Local Transportation
Each Asian country has its own unique means of transportation. The Philippines also has its own to offer. Jeepneys. Tricycles. Pedicabs. Kalesa. These are the rides that can make your trip colorful. Prior to your ride, make sur you already have the exact amount of fare on your hand. Prepare yourself for chaotic moments, traffic, and tons of things to see. Learn to say "para" when you have already arrived in your destination. To show respect, you can add "po" at the end of the word.

3. Try the local food
Filipinos have a unique taste palette and your trip cannot be completed if you don't try to these different set of flavors. Plenty of food are sold in the streets (as Filipinos love to eat, 5 different set of meals complete the day). Try balut, isaw, sisig, chicharon bulaklak, fish/squid ball, dirty ice cream, mani, banana cue, taho, turon, tokneneng, kwek kwek, binatog and the list goes on. Sinclair James International

After a lot of struggling I made it to the promised land. I'll be joining a super-regional bank's capital market arm as an associate. I first came to WSO as a clueless undergrad that was at the epitome of a non-target. I did my masters, networked hard and got a job at a consulting firm then parlayed that to IB, it only took about five years, but I'm glad to have finally gotten where I wanted to be.

Ask me anything

I got my offer a couple weeks ago, and figured I'd give back a little to the community that made it possible. This is particularly geared at people interested in elite boutiques - think on par with Lazard, Blackstone M&A/RX, Qatalyst.

Recruiting with these firms is particularly hard if you have a lower GPA (3.3-3.6), as most candidates are 3.8+ at the top schools (Harvard, Wharton, Berkeley, MIT, Dartmouth); as such, I want to also make myself available as a resource for those thinking of applying with that kind of background.

Best of luck, and may the odds ever be in your favor! If you want any advice that's specific to my process, you're gonna have to PM me, btw.

Background - target school (but not for the bank I got an offer at), GPA in the 3.3-3.6 range, not URM or athlete.

Edit: I'm in M&A, to be clear. Not restructuring or capital markets (I didn't even realize some boutiques have capital markets).

Happy to help anyone that needs advice.

Mod Note (Andy): #TBT Throwback Thursday - this was originally posted in 2006. To see all of our top content from the past, click here.

So I'm new here and spent a good deal of time reading all of the posts from the past few weeks. I thought I would share my story.

So I am at a Business school in New England majoring in Computers. No banks recruit at my school with the exception of maybe 1 or 2 smaller ones. We have almost no alumni in I-Banking and I certainly don't know any of them or even bothered to find out who they were. I didn't have any previous experience in I-Banking but I had taken a couple Accounting, Finance, and Economics courses.

So I knew the first thing I needed to do was build both my technical knowledge and industry knowledge. I purchased numerous Vault guides on everything. Investment Banking, Venture Capital, Finance Interviews, anything I felt would relate to I-Banking. I bought a dictionary of Finance terms and familiarized myself with the lingo. I even bought books such as one titled: Mergers & Acquisitions from A-Z. My friends who were finance and accounting majors lent me their textbooks to read in my spare time. I had already spent a lot of time on Yahoo tracing the market and learning about interest rates and all of the economics I could take in. Whenever I had a free moment I'd be attempting to learn more finance/accounting. This gave me the technical basics I needed.

Second, I had to get work experience. As a Computer major I had a number of internship in "computer" roles, but nothing in finance. I found a boutique bank that was willing to take me onboard part time during the semester. Not many people are willing to work during a semester for free. I set up my work hours around my classes and agreed to come in on the weekends as well. All in all my internship eats about 40ish hours a week. I think this internship was really the thing that made it possible for me to secure interviews. By working the equivalent of a 9 - 5, while simultaneously taking a full course load, I was able to prove to banks that I could handle the hours. Not to mention I proved to myself that I was capable.

There I stood with my rapidly increasing technical knowledge and an internship under my belt. My resume was quite strong with a number of extra-curriculars, a high GPA (not 3.5 but not 4.0), and some things that screamed mathematics. I had some family in similar industries so I was able to have them pass my resume through to some banks. I was also able to secure a few interviews at MM banks on my own merit. I didn't care too much for the BB firms because I'm more interested in learning as much as I can and I feel as though MM is the best way to do that. This isn't to say BB doesn't teach you anything, but MM was just a better fit for me.

So I built my own personal database of companies that I wanted to send my resume and simply used the brute force method. I must have sent out near 50. Looking back at the process, I definitely should have done 75 to 100. I saved myself time and didn't bother sending it to Goldman, MS, and the likes.

Obviously things didn't end there. All of my preliminary interviews were done over the phone. Banks simply didn't go to my school. I spent about 30 - 50 hours going over my resume, perfecting answers to any possible question that could be thrown at me. I continued to read the WSJournal daily to ensure I was up to date (not to mention I think its interesting ... but thats besides the point). I practiced doing math quickly in my head while I was in the shower. Interview prep took over the little free time I had and was always the last thing on my mind going to bed and first thing in the morning.

Another thing. Every company that granted me an interview I researched intensely. If they were publically traded I read through their 10Ks and charted their historical stock performance. I had at least 10, sometimes 20 questions prepared per interview. Often times I was telling the interviewer things they didn't know about their own company.

I'm no super-hero and I'm definitely not at an Ivy League school. I fumbled up on numerous accounting questions during my interviews and my SAT scores weren't 1600. However, I was able to really demonstrate my interest and excitement to be an analyst and that was the key selling point. Most of all, I was sincere. This is truly the career path I want and the work is thousands of times more interesting than coding 9-5 in some dark room.

50 - 75 interviews later, I was finally given an offer. I'm not going to a bulge bracket or even to New York, but I can say that I'm going to be working for a top tier Middle Market bank.

I guess I don't have a purpose for this post other than to give encouragement to those who have seen nothing but rejection thus far. There is hope, but you have to really want it. I haven't had more than 2 straight hours of relaxation for the better half of the year but its nothing compared to what I'll be put through as an analyst. So, if after sitting down and determining this is really what you want, dive into it head-first and I promise it will pay off.

So I am from a very non-targeted Southern school. I grew up in a small South Carolina town and I am the first in my family to get a degree from an accredited school. I didn't come from much money (my family was in real estate and the recession really hurt us), so I had to pay for college. For me, this meant going to a state school and graduating as quickly as possible--Bachelors and Masters in Economics in three years. I knew I wanted to do investment banking and eventually venture capital/startup, but I was turned down from every internship I applied to in the industry. I missed deadlines for most internships (no one from my school did IB, so I had no mentorship) or I just simply did not qualify. It was definitely a humbling experience. I ended up taking an internship doing strategic planning grunt work for a sustainable engineering non-profit. Great experience with lots of travel, but it wasn't banking.

I learned from my mistakes, did my research, and sent over fifty resumes to every banking or consulting opportunity available. I was ignored by most, but some gave me interviews. I noticed that my interviews mostly confused recruiters. I can't blame them. What were they supposed to think about a guy who was graduating early with mostly international engineering internship experience? However, I received an invitation to a superday at a firm in New York. After realizing everyone I interviewed with was elite schools, I decided my only shot was to be as confident and memorable as possible. I attempted to convince them that I was the best-rounded candidate available. My engineering experience, accelerated education, and state school education was only beneficial to them and displayed work ethic and ambition. I assumed I wouldn't get the job which allowed me to be as confident and 'risky' as possible in the interview. I just received and accepted a FT offer from the firm as a Capital Markets Analyst, and I can't wait to start working and representing my school well!

I did learn a lesson though. I will definitely be paying for my kids to go to an elite school.

Has anyone interviewed for the commercial banking full-time analyst program with JPMorgan?

On October 22nd I had my first interview with JPMorgan. It was an on-campus interview. About 2 weeks later I was invited to interview with the middle market banking team at their office. That interview went well, and the managing director told me I would be hearing back in 1-2 days. After leaving my interview, I got a call from a lady who worked in the office who told me that my recruiter had called her saying that the middle market banking team in a different city wanted to interview with me as well. 2 days passed and I did not hear back from the managing director who told me that would be the case. I interviewed in the second office about 10 days later. I was wondering if anyone could tell me more about the interview process with JPMorgan for this position. It's been a few days since that last interview, and I'm wondering if I got the job or not. Any suggestions on what steps I should take next?

There are only 2-3 major players in recruitment in Canada - Thorek Scott, Ludwig, Vlaad, & Beqaj. Did anyone ever work with either of those? What was your experience?

Metro Manila is known for its heavy traffic and heavier pollution, yet, it remains the most interesting city when we speak of history and cultural heritage. Eclipsed between its more progressive neighbors, Makati and Quezon City in terms of infrastructure and business developments, the city of Manila takes pride of being a melting pot of cultures, religions, languages and eminence. Manila is one good place to start if you are into experiencing different things in every turn. The city is always busy and full of life since it is a given that it is one of the most crowded places in the world.

If you are a tourist and are planning to stay in Manila for a short trip, here are the following things to do:

1. Wear Comfortable Clothes
Well, for starters, the Philippines is one of the hottest places on Earth. Summer time in London or wherever you are from is the coldest in the country. Temperature can reach up to 34 in a normal dry season in Manila. If you are planning to take long walks, it is wise to dress appropriately and make sure to wear the most comfortable shoes. Be like any local and blend with the crowd. If you are lost, don't hesitate to ask from a local. Filipinos are known to be the friendliest people in the world so it wouldn't be hard to approach them.

2. Travel on Local Transportation
Each Asian country has its own unique means of transportation. The Philippines also has its own to offer. Jeepneys. Tricycles. Pedicabs. Kalesa. These are the rides that can make your trip colorful. Prior to your ride, make sur you already have the exact amount of fare on your hand. Prepare yourself for chaotic moments, traffic, and tons of things to see. Learn to say "para" when you have already arrived in your destination. To show respect, you can add "po" at the end of the word.

3. Try the local food
Filipinos have a unique taste palette and your trip cannot be completed if you don't try to these different set of flavors. Plenty of food are sold in the streets (as Filipinos love to eat, 5 different set of meals complete the day). Try balut, isaw, sisig, chicharon bulaklak, fish/squid ball, dirty ice cream, mani, banana cue, taho, turon, tokneneng, kwek kwek, binatog and the list goes on. Sinclair James International

Here is how I found a pure mind, body, and soul synced to the power of oneness.

Many of the sites I saw told me that it was important to clean my colon because of the toxins that fester in the lower GI. It all made sense to me. As we all know, or should know, the colon's main function is the reabsorption of nutrients and water into our bodies, and the elimination of toxic wastes through regular bowel movements. When your bowels are impacted, problems can arise, such as constipation, hemorrhoids, ulcerative colitis and colon cancer.

Now, stay with me here: if the walls of your intestines/colon/bowels are caked with years and years of butt mud, and your colon doesn't operate properly, won't that have an ill effect on your entire being? Even worse yet, as some sites claimed, over time, might one actually start to absorb the caked-on shit into your bloodstream? I believe we can all agree is bad... right?! Quite frankly, I was scared into action!

I stumbled across a product called Oxypowder. Their website went over everything you need to know and more (I encourage everyone to go there), including all of the symptoms one can expect from a filthy colon. Common symptoms resulting from accumulated toxins in the bowel can include headaches, bad breath, allergy symptoms, acne, PMS, fatigue, depression, irritability, bloating, and frequent infections. Good Lord... I have some of those! Well, except the PMS part. (Being a man and all, if I had PMS I think the least of my problems would be a dirty colon!)

The basic point of their site: if you have a healthy colon, you will be healthy. Without hesitation, I ordered a bottle of the stuff, which arrived about a week later. I decided to wait until the end of the weekend to start the process. I followed the instructions, taking ten capsules on an empty stomach before I went to bed Sunday evening.

Monday morning came along, and I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. I woke up and was going about my business on the computer when I felt a little pressure building up. I decided to go with a fart. Mid-fart, I felt something wasn't quite right, so I stopped. Unlike some of the people on WSO, I have never confused the difference between a fart and "something else." I have a crack (no pun intended) team of specialists running the show back there. The second something seems to be going awry, they lock things up tighter than a maximum-security penitentiary. To this date, knock on wood, nothing has ever escaped without having the proper papers. There is no early release program, no work release program, and not a chance for parole. They are to serve their full sentence, no exceptions!

So I stopped the fart and decided I'd better continue this hovering above the safety of a toilet. Once there, I simply relaxed. I'm not really sure how to accurately describe this, but things just sort of fell out of my ass. Nothing spectacular, but when I turned around to admire my work, I was taken aback by what I saw: the once-clear water of the toilet now resembled beef and barley soup!

If I'm not mistaken, I'm pretty sure I saw a few pieces of gum I had swallowed years ago in there. But I'm certain I did see one lone corn kernel, and I hadn't had corn in over a week! I remember saying to myself, "Geez, I guess that stuff really does work." I cleaned up, which was surprisingly easy, and went back to the computer.

About thirty minutes passed until I felt the urge to purge again. I went back to the bathroom and started anew. This time, something was definitely different. I started to go when all of a sudden a torrent of liquid shot out of my rectum with such force that I was worried it would suck my balls into my body and shoot them out of my ass along with everything else, turning me inside out like a sock. I took the Lord's name in vain, adding several middle names that don't appear in any scripture I've ever seen.

When it stopped, I cleaned up. Again, cleanup was surprisingly easy, but closer inspection of the toilet itself revealed that the rim had poop shrapnel all over it. I ended up doing more wiping up of the rim and seat than of my butt itself!

This went on throughout the day, reaching its Crescendo around dump number four, during which - I kid you not - a jet of old foul hot saucelike butt water shot out of me for a solid five seconds.

All in all, I crapped about nine times that day. The instructions told me to do this every day for a week, then every other day until my bottle ran out. I made it five days, at which point I felt that I couldn't possibly have anything more in me. Days Four and Five weren't nearly as eventful as the previous three - only two or three "movements" each day. I should have stuck it out the whole week, but I had too many things to take care of the following weekend and didn't want to have to change my plans for pooping purposes.

My conclusion: if you really, and I mean REALLY, want to clean yourself out, get a bottle of this stuff! You will be absolutely amazed! The only drawback is you won't want to ever be that far from a toilet. If you'll be away from a toilet for any extended period of time during your workday, I wouldn't try it. I ended up losing eight pounds.

Oxypowder provided me with several days of entertainment, and I really did feel better. I still have about half a bottle of the stuff, and have done one treatment in the last month or so, when I felt that there was an imbalance in the input-output department. Needless to say, it puts stuff back into equilibrium very quickly.

About a year and a half ago, I posted about getting 20+ interviews and no FT offer (20 Company Interviews Later...No FT Offer looking for Advice). I wish I could say that I quickly got a job after that, but that wasn't the case. I'm going to be very vague about certain details, because I'd like to remain anonymous.

Working in finance has been my dream since I was about 12. Around 14, I decided that I wanted to do IB. I started seeking out any and all finance mentors I could find, in addition to reading the news, getting magazine subscriptions, watching CNBC/Bloomberg, etc.

My passion was self-directed

I'm from a very poor community. For perspective, I had neighbors without running water, a neighbor without electricity, and I knew someone without indoor plumbing. Yes, this was in the U.S.A...just in the parts no one talks about. There was violence. I don't want to describe my home life too much. It's too painful. It's too revealing. I'll just say that it was very 'volatile'. That's why for me, investment banking meant so many things in terms of financial independence, being part of a community full of intellectuals (to an extent), and status. It was (sorry MLK) my promised land.

Even so, I was not naive about my status in the world. As both a female and a URM, I knew that it would be even more difficult to break into the high finance world. I started networking and interning as a freshman. I spent thousands (no exaggeration) on networking events, conferences, and industry organizations over the years. I had up to 3 jobs at a time so I could cover my school costs as well as my career costs. This was all so I could meet people with the hope that one day they'd admire my intelligence and tenacity enough to provide me with a lead. When I was 15, a finance person told me that who I knew would matter more than what I knew. While people made fun of me in college for spending money to 'meet' people, it made sense at the time.

Now flash forward to my senior year. I had multiple high quality internships under my belt, not bad grades (considering how much I worked), and tons of people that I'd met in the industry. My school's career center knew and loved me. I never thought things would get so bad...

****Disclaimer for the people who want to say it's easier if you're a minority.****

I don't want to hear anything about companies' diversity programs because that only 'helps' if you're at a target school! There was something in my previous post that I purposely omitted. I didn't want it to turn into a crap show. At some point, there was a lull in the amount of interviews I was getting. Around December '14 things/calls slowed down significantly. I changed one thing before I started to get a faucet of call backs. I refused to check my race, or fill out an application where it was required. No agenda here. I'm just being 100% transparent now.

***End of disclaimer*****

After graduation

Anyhow, I graduated without a job and began to move around from place to place. I kept being persistent. I lost count of how many applications I submitted after 350. I kept making calls. I kept seeing people, eventually maxing out my credit card to have those coffee conversations. It was difficult to keep up appearances. My friends started calling me stupid, dreamer, a leech (for couch surfing even though I bought my own food). I was told to grow up and be realistic. They encouraged me to give up.

After running out of money and hospitality, I found myself sometimes sleeping on the subway or train station. It was scary and painful and cold. At my lowest/poorest point, I could only afford to eat one bowl of cereal a day. I lost around 30 lbs between graduation and my hardships. I was able to do some part-time seasonal work, but while I had that job and was couch surfing, I had to pay for my stay, so I saved nothing. By the time I was permanently kicked out, I was maintaining odd jobs (one of which was a bathroom attendant) while trying to interview for my stable positions. (I just want to say if you walk into a club bathroom and there is no vomit or urine, please tip the attendant. I swear they do more than hand you paper towels. It's just the only way you can see them.)

Anyhow, I would be lying if I said I didn't go to a deep dark place. I thought many times about walking in front of a moving train. I saw so many years of work go up in ash. And for some reason, people in the industry began to express that I must not be trying hard enough. I could go on and on about the shitty things that happened. These are on the mild side.

However, I'll just end by saying that eventually I got the offer. An alum knew someone who knew someone who knew someone who was hiring. I had 4 different rounds of interviews before I got the job, and I'm very happy. Sometimes it gets annoying to hear people brag about their fathers getting them the job or seeing frat boys that barely graduated with no relevant experience go to more 'prestigious' institutions. But I'm never bitter. I see it this way: I've already weathered one of the largest downturns in my life and anything the markets throw at me will be no big deal.

For all of my struggling monkeys, persistence and consistency in the face of adversity will pay you dividends! You got this!!!

Mod Note (Andy) - as the year comes to an end we're reposting the top discussions from 2015, this one ranks #32 and was originally posted 1/25/2015.

Hey everyone. The ink has just barely dried on my accepted offer to join a boutique private equity firm as an analyst, but I think now is a better time than any to tell you how I made the jump to private equity from a VERY non-target background.

A little bit about me: I graduated from a Canadian university with a finance degree from a relatively unknown business program (I was in the third class of graduates ever), had ho-hum grades and no relevant internships. I was pretty keen on becoming an analyst at an investment bank, but with almost no alumni network and an extremely rigid hiring process, I took the advice of my dean and began targeting commercial banks as he thought it was "a good place to start".

After interviewing with a few banks, I accepted an offer to start an 18-month training program, which upon completion, would result in a promotion to the position of account manager, commercial banking which entailed managing a portfolio, prospecting for new business, and underwriting new deals for my own deals as well as for senior bankers. I've been in that role for 18 months, and have passed all three levels of the CFA program and will be eligible for the charter with another year of work experience.

What I learned:

1) If you're coming from a non-traditional background, you're going to have to do something exceptional to get noticed. The truth of the matter is that for every great opportunity, there are a ton of good applicants vying for it along with you who probably fit the traditional requirements better than you do. You can either use this as an excuse and give up, or you can sack up and do something that shows an employer that you're willing to go above and beyond for you and the company you work for. For me, passing all three levels of the CFA program was huge here. Passing every level on my first attempt was icing on the cake.

2) Be honest about your weaknesses. If you're coming from a non-traditional background, there's a good chance that your on-the-job skills aren't going to be enough to get you the job you want. Case in point, my current role requires absolutely no modelling to succeed, but the bare minimum skill for any analyst/associate role at a private equity firm is good modelling skills. To offset my weakness, I took the Wall Street Prep program (more accurately, re-took it after going through it during my senior year) and got comfortable with all the main models. I then went a step further and started modelling companies of interest. I've probably done close to 20 models on my own now and this really came in handy as the application process for the analyst role involved building an lbo model and writing a deal summary. Supposedly there were over 100 applicants for the role so the fact that my self-taught modelling got me through was a huge boost to my technical confidence!

3) Network. I don't know how many times I keep reading this in success stories, but I'll reiterate this point - YOU HAVE TO NETWORK!!! It's hard enough picking a resume out of a pile of good applicants, but it's next to impossible your resume will get picked up with a non-traditional background. Pretty much the only way to get your 'out-of-the-box' resume in the shortlist is for someone at the firm to have met you and vouch for you. Honestly, this can often be the hardest part of the process; just getting yourself to the interview stage. So instead of letting this be the hard part of the process, do the hard work before. Pound the pavement, email people, go for coffee. You'd be surprised at how generous other people are with their time and how willing people can be to help you out. Just don't abuse the basic human kindness that a lot of finance professionals have.

4) If you've done the first three and things just aren't clicking, be patient! I don't know how many times I looked at all of the things I was doing, or heard "you're doing all the right things" from someone I had gone for coffee with and thought to myself "are things ever going to change?" To be honest, I think it's probably harder to stay motivated when it seems like you're doing all the right things but you're not getting any success. But you have to persevere! As your network grows, people you've never met will start hearing about you, your network will refer you jobs, you'll hear about unposted opportunities (seriously, some firms just hate going through the formal hiring process because they think it takes too much time), etc. So keep your skills sharp, stay in touch with your existing contacts regularly, and sometimes the opportunity will come to you.

5) For me, this was the most important aspect of the process, but I wouldn't be surprised if many of you ignore this part or think it's BS. I'm a Christian, so as much as it's easy to reduce my success to things that I've done, I know for a fact that my relationship with God is the biggest explanation for getting me to where I am. Case in point: for the role that I ultimately got, I was referred by three (!!!) private equity professionals to the same position. I sent an email to the guy hiring, made sure to do some name dropping about the referral, etc. Just as I was thinking that this role wasn't going to work out, I attended a local CFA society networking event. The night before the event, I prayed and asked God to have me meet someone at the event who would help me find a new role. At the event, I ended up running into one of my contacts I had met for coffee previously. We sat at the same table and he asked me about the position he had referred me to and I told him how it was going. Anyways, this guy mentioned that he knew the person looking to hire an analyst (who I had previously emailed) was coming to the event and got him to sit next to me for the entire evening. I ended up getting the equivalent of a first round interview just by sitting next to the guy! (and he admitted my resume didn't make it through his filtering process) Needless to say, it's impossible for me to think that what happened was just a coincidence (it certainly wasn't the first time this happened either!)

All in all, I'm beyond thrilled to be taking the next step in my career, and I hope my story helps you make a change as well!

Feel free to ask me questions in this thread or via private message.

Mod Note (Andy) - as the year comes to an end we're reposting the top AMA's from 2015, this one was originally posted 2/21/2015.

I had a good, but not great GPA, and went to a similarly leveled college on the east coast. It's still a non-target university known more for sciences and engineering than for business and finance. I had to work my way into a 2nd-tier bulge bracket bank that is mostly US focused through a summer internship and then dealt with the crash and worst time in recent memory for wanting to break into Investment Banking. Once full-time I moved to a truly global bulge bracket bank (GS, DB, MS, CS, JPM) as we all know them and then transitioned a couple of years ago to one of the large M&A shops where I currently reside.

I enjoy helping others that come from non-target schools or might have GPAs that will be overlooked because they aren't 3.8+ and are interested in breaking into Investment Banking.

Status: Analyst, Associate Promote, VP

Deal profile: Completed more than 30 deals encompassing M&A (sell side, buy side, MoE), Equity (IPOs, follow-ons, block trades), Debt (Converts, IG, HY, RCF, Mezz) and LBOs

Industry specializations: TMT, Consumer Retail

Locations: East and West Coast Banking Experience