i want to be an investment banker.?

Question

what will matter more: where i got my BA or where i got my MBA.

can i go to an Ok college for my BA. then get my MBA at a top university. or is going to top schools for both imporant.

also what about work experienc. while i'm in college should i work part time as a bank teller or what other jobs should i get???

Answer 1

The Finance industry is highly caught up on pedigrees. If you plan on working in investment banking after your undergrad, then yes you need to go to a top school. It sucks, but prestige of school is very important in investment banking. You need to go to the best school possible.

Bulge Brackets recruit heavily at:

Harvard
Yale
Princeton
Stanford
Northwestern
Dartmouth
UPenn(especially Wharton)
University of Chicago
NYU(Stern)
and a few other top colleges

Work experience in college? being a bank teller won't do you a bit of good. My advice is to not work and do as well in school as you can because for these ibanking firms GPA is VERY important. GPA and school prestige are the most important things.

A 3.9 art history major from princeton will beat out a 3.4 finance major from University of Michigan Ross school of business 9 out of 10 times.

While you shouldn't work in college, I do suggest that you get a summer position at an ibank. They take on summer associates each summer and usually last ten weeks.

If you plan on starting Ibanking after your MBA then going to a top school is very very important, while undergraduate school is not important. You'll need a top MBA from schools such as:

Tuck
HBS
Stanford GSB
Northwestern GSB
Wharton

Investment Banking is a very lucrative career; however, it does not come easy. Getting your foot in the door is the hardest part and takes a lot of work. Once you are there, know that ibankers at bulge bracket firms work 12 hour days, and a lot of them work on saturdays as well. You will be working your butt off. On the other hand you will be making tons of money if you're successful.

Base salaries will be somewhere between 75k and 150k. Then the bonuses, oh god the bonuses. 1st year associates at Goldmans Sachs are rumored to be getting bonuses between 275k, and 425k this year. The average annual bonus last year was 500,000 dollars.


EDIT: Tracy mentioned the CFA. While it would be good to have it is definitely not easy. Most people who go for Chartered Financial Analyst have 10-15+ years of work experience and most people who try are unsuccessful as it is VERY challenging.

Answer 2

It helps to have both colleges at the top of the heap, but MBA's are important since that is where you really learn what you need in that job.

Work experience is very important, a teller's job I'm not sure about that. Maybe a work experience type job with an actual investment banker (see Occupational Work Experience at the college while getting a BA). You can get credit, a salary and work experience all in one--pretty good deal!

Answer 3

I think going to the best school possible for both degrees is your best bet given the competition in the workforce. Anything in the banking field will be a good way to at least get your foot in the door and may lead to possible full time employment in the investment banking field upon graduation. You should also take the CFA course as well.

Answer 4

I make investments, so i become in contact with investment bankers plenty. those adult adult males grant a brilliant number of banking centers like different bankers do, different than, they handle expert traders and businessmen. those human beings make a fantastically penny for an worker; they even make extra desirable than medical doctors. a brilliant number of the investment bankers I handle make close to to a million income line with twelve months; often between $800,000 to a million.2 million in line with twelve months. for faculty tiers, a brilliant number of them have tiers in Finance/commerce, economic Accounting and so forth.

Answer 5

Why do they rhyme investment banker with total wanker?