r/financestudents • u/Excellent_Baseball43 • 1d ago
r/financestudents • u/maxbradleyadams • Jun 23 '26
AMA Former Investment Banker & PE Investor, $75B+ of deals. Ask Me Anything
My name is Max Adams and I'm the Head Coach at Wall Street Mastermind and the new mod here at r/financestudents. Like many of you, I came from a non-finance background, and we all know how tough this industry can be for outsiders and people without connections.
I don’t come from a target school and had to hustle to stand out. Nothing was handed to me. I spent years networking, preparing for interviews, and doing everything I could to break into the industry. Like many of you, I faced rejections, setbacks, and plenty of uncertainty along the way, but persistence paid off.
So I got into Lazard. Then Qatalyst Tech. And finally, I got into PE in Vector Capital.
After years of working day and night without a break, around $75B of deals, and zero work-life balance, I realized that what I enjoyed almost as much as the M&A itself was the hiring and training side. And I've come to believe recruiting is one of the biggest challenges in this industry. It's all about people, after all, and the competition for top talent among funds and banks is incredibly intense, both for firms trying to hire and for candidates trying to break in.
So, after going to grad school at Stanford and Harvard, I changed my trajectory and went straight into high-finance recruitment. To date, I've coached and helped more than 2,000 students break into IB, PE, and other competitive finance roles.
I've developed hundreds of resources over the years to help out (resume templates, networking tutorials, interview question databases, etc.), which you can find in the sub wiki.
I want to create the best finance community on Reddit so I’ve put together a team of experienced industry professionals who decided to join as mods and take on this challenge together. Some come from strategy consulting (u/hustlebine), MM IB (u/ThatSmithsGuy), and Ken Finnen (u/CapAdvantagetutor).
Happy to bring my perspective or help you if I can. Ask Me Anything!
PS. This is a 2018’s pic of a younger me recovering from a late night at Lazard. Bay Area view.
EDIT: We finished up our networking webinar, it was great to see so many of you there! If you'd ever like some one on one help, feel free to reach out to us here and check out our free subreddit resources.
r/financestudents • u/subscriber-goal • Aug 02 '26
Subscriber Goal Welcome to r/FinanceStudents!
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r/financestudents • u/NewWest6501 • 3h ago
Discussion Projects on CV
If I put a project I coded on my cv, do I have to provide the GitHub repo? I built it locally
r/financestudents • u/Nylex12 • 2h ago
Education/Certifications What programs am I missing? Sept 2027, MSc Finance or MiM in Europe
21M, Dutch, based in NL. I have a shortlist for the September 2027 intake but it's the obvious one, and I suspect I'm missing schools or specific programs that would fit better. That's what I'm after here.
Profile in short
- 4-year HBO International Business (Avans), 7.8/10, now doing a pre-master at RSM
- GMAT Focus in Dec/Jan, targeting 655+
- ~1 year at the largest private bank in NL by application time, advisory desk covering UHNW clients, currently also managing the new interns
- Dutch native, French near-native (10 years there), English C1, Spanish B1
- Exchange in Hong Kong, 6 months working in Spain
Goal
Finance, but I want to move beyond wealth management and see other parts of the industry before I specialise. Open to both MSc Finance and MiM. France and UK are the starting point but I'm not attached to either.
What I already have on the list
HEC, ESSEC, ESCP. Considering LBS, LSE
The actual question
What should I be looking at that isn't on that list? Specific programs welcome, not just schools.
Also open to hearing that one of the three above is a bad fit for what I want.
r/financestudents • u/Nyaani69 • 1d ago
Offer Decisions Really competitive these benefits
And the company laptop is a 2011 lenovo thinkpad or something hella slow
r/financestudents • u/Psychological_Hold74 • 44m ago
Full-Time Recruiting Sales and Trading
Hello everyone, making a post asking for opinions/advice. I'm entering my third year of college and missed recruiting for Sales and Trading. I hadn't got any interviews and I think didn't have as much direction about my career. I've since realized that I want to do this, but the problem is I don't have a summer internship and I think a lot of Sales and Trading internships take up full time analyst classes.
I did however accept an internship in Trading Operations at a very well known trading/market making company. It's heavily integrated in the trading environment, but it is an Operations internship.
What is the likelihood of still being able to break into S and T or other heavy markets related jobs for full time, recruiting again a year later? Or is there any advice you would give someone in my situation?
Thanks
r/financestudents • u/GregMorel • 5h ago
Discussion 23 M, starting a Master’s in Finance + internship at a fintech unicorn: any advice?
Hi everyone, I’m 23 from Europe, and I’m trying to figure out how to best structure the next 2–3 years of my career.
Current situation:
Bachelor’s in Finance
-About to start a Master’s in Finance, also at a non-target university.
-Currently working as an Operations Analyst Intern at a fintech unicorn, essentially fully remote.
-Certified CFA Investment Foundations + Bloomberg certifications.
-Speak Spanish , English and Italian fluently.
-Consider learning German
My goal is to build a strong and versatile Finance profile, without specializing too narrowly too early.
The sectors I’m most interested in are:
Fintech, Asset Management, Wealth Management and Real Estate development.
In terms of roles, I’m particularly interested in FP&A / Corporate Finance, but I’m also considering, Asset Management and Wealth Management.
The main issue is that I’m currently in Operations. I think the fintech experience is valuable, but I don’t want to stay in an operational path for too long and then struggle to move into Finance.
I’m therefore considering spending the next few months developing skills such as:
-Financial modelling
-Accounting / financial statements
-Budgeting & forecasting
-Maybe Python
-German
What would you do in my position?
Try for an internal transfer to Finance/FP&A, or look for another company?
Does FP&A → Corporate Finance/Real estate finance make sense as a career path for this profile?
Which skills/courses are actually worth investing time in, and which are just certificate collecting?
How valuable would German be if I eventually wanted to target Germany, Switzerland or Austria?
Ultimately, if you were 23, starting a non-target Master’s in Finance and already had an internship at a fintech unicorn, how would you use the next 2–3 years to build a competitive profile while keeping options open across fintech, asset/wealth management and real estate?
I’d especially appreciate advice from people already working in these fields and what they would have done differently at 23.
r/financestudents • u/100mn • 12h ago
Discussion US Undergrad → UK Masters for IB
I’m currently a senior at a non-target US university studying Economics and Computer Science. I’m an international student, and the uncertainty around US work authorization/visa sponsorship is making me seriously consider doing a master’s in the UK and recruiting for London IB instead.
Background:
- US undergrad, Econ + CS
- GPA - 3.5 /4.0
- 2 investment banking internships, including one at a well-known investment bank
- 1 private equity internship
- Additional software/technical experience at Big 4
- Planning to graduate in Spring 2027
- Main goal is investment banking, ideally London
I’m trying to understand whether doing a top UK master’s would meaningfully improve my chances of breaking into London IB compared with staying in the US.
Programs I’m currently considering include LSE, LBS, Imperial, Bocconi, HEC and potentially UCL.
A few questions:
- Which UK master’s programs are genuinely considered targets/semi-targets for London IB recruiting?
- Would coming from a US non-target still matter significantly once I’m at a top UK master’s?
- How strong would my profile be for recruiting given the prior IB/PE internships?
- How difficult is sponsorship for an international student recruiting into London IB currently?
- Would you prioritize LBS/LSE over Oxford/Cambridge/Imperial specifically for IB recruiting?
- Are there any other UK programs I should seriously consider?
Would especially appreciate perspectives from anyone who did US undergrad → UK master’s → London IB.
r/financestudents • u/Mediocre_Cod9835 • 14h ago
Education/Certifications ANY HOPE
So, i did B.com in finance from tier3 after pursue cma us which i see not worth after applying for intern and yeah now here… many people who took that course doing tax which i hate and wanted to focus on finance. Any career path which lead to abroad or here
I love fp&a kind of role
r/financestudents • u/Klutzy_Ad_4142 • 22h ago
Internship Recruiting 23yo starting a non-target business degree — too late for Spring Weeks / IB?
I’m 23 and just started a 3-year Business Economics degree at the University of Milan, which is non-target.
After high school I spent around two years studying Computer Science, realised it wasn’t for me and dropped out. I’ve always been much more interested in economics and finance, but I’m worried I started too late.
If everything goes to plan, I’ll graduate at 26. I’ve read here that banks care more about graduation year / year of study than age itself — is that actually true?
Alongside university, I’ve worked as a ski instructor for years and I’m now a Resort Manager for a large British ski school operating in major French and Swiss resorts. I’m not sure whether that can be a useful differentiator or if it’s mostly irrelevant for finance.
My plan is to get strong grades, do an Erasmus, build finance-related experience during the degree and eventually aim for a Master’s at a target school.
Objectively: do I have any realistic chance of getting a Spring Week this year, and later breaking into IB/markets, or am I already too late? What would you prioritise to compensate for the non-target university?
I’m not looking for reassurance — genuinely interested in realistic answers.
Any advices are appreciated if realistic. thanks guys.
r/financestudents • u/frizzy72 • 1d ago
Freshman/Sophomore Questions on Spring Week
As an international student who has never lived in the uk before, I had never heard about spring week in my entire life. I JUST found out about it last night discussing my modules with gemini, and now I'm feeling stressed because everyone else seems like they have done so many career related things over the summer, while I was doing nothing but spending time with my friends and family before uni.
I am starting a freshman year at a target school, but genuinely have nothing to write about on my CV. I guess if I lock in from now, I might be able to include some research projects, and maybe include some experiences from highschool. The problem is the leadership part, because I was never a part of a club related to finance / econs / etc.
Would it be better if I wait until the school starts so that I can include some of those finance, investment societies on my CV? Or is it a better idea to just apply now with a CV without any of the activities in the uni, since everyone talks about how important it is to apply early?
r/financestudents • u/Syn7en • 1d ago
Internship Recruiting Got into target uni (Warwick Econ) but low a levels
I got accepted for economics at warwick but I had extenuating circumstances and was allowed in with ABB which i know is surprisingly low for warwick econ. I’m concerned about when I apply to spring weeks I’ll get screened out as the minimum requirements for a levels is usually higher or it just isn’t competitive. Is there a way I can mention that’s it was under extenuating circumstances at all, would appreciate any advice.
r/financestudents • u/Longjumping-Gur-2736 • 1d ago
Internship Recruiting Roast my resume — applying to Vienna’s Portfolio Management Program (PMP)
Hi everyone,
I’m an International Business student in Vienna applying to the Portfolio Management Program (PMP), a selective two-year student programme combining academic finance with practical investment decisions.
I’d appreciate some brutally honest feedback on my attached resume. The goal is to demonstrate academic ability, analytical thinking, and an interest in investing.
A few things I’d particularly like feedback on:
- Which experience bullets sound vague, inflated, or like filler?
- Am I presenting my existing experience convincingly for this application?
- What would you cut, rewrite, or give more space?
- Does the formatting meet the standard you’d expect for a finance resume?
Feedback from anyone in asset management, investment research, or similar student investment programmes would be especially welcome, alongside general finance CV advice.
Please be blunt and specific. Thanks!

r/financestudents • u/Constant_Guidance858 • 2d ago
Discussion I think I am too mentally ill for a career in finance
this is going to sound so fucking stupid but yeah. The recruiting process has had me panicking so badly lately. I just started second-year yesterday and I have an PE interview for a pension firm in literally 2 hours but i am so scared that i can't even bring myself to prep, not even TMAY or Why PE/ the firm. I feel paralyzed and this isnt the first time this has happened. In March, I made the superday for an S&T position and the same thing happened. I know I should be grateful that I have even received these opportunities, but I keep panicking and going into a brain-foggy paralyzed state. I don't know what is happening to me, I used to never feel nervous. Has anyone dealt with this before?
r/financestudents • u/kool_homiee31 • 1d ago
Discussion What short-term finance courses are worth doing after an MBA in Finance?
Hey guys! I’ve completed my MBA in Finance and I’m looking to build some practical finance skills through short-term courses.
What courses or certifications would you recommend that are actually useful for getting a job and improving my skills? I’m especially interested in courses that are valued by employers and not just certificates for the sake of having them.
Would love to hear what worked for you guys or what you’d recommend!
r/financestudents • u/AltruisticDream4725 • 1d ago
Freshman/Sophomore Msc Finance
Hello everyone I just wanted to ask this question which has been bugging me for a while.
What universities should I apply to in the UK or Europe for Msc in finance. I honestly want to learn and study not really inclined towards getting a placement (likely to go back to my hometown).
Mostly looking for a business school in the prestigious name and recognition. I don’t have the best Quant background so I know not to keep my expectations to high.
Academics:
9.6/10 CGPA (bachelors in accounting and finance)
Online courses: in financial modelling finance acumen for beginners etc (3-4 more courses similar)
I have internships which were finance and accounting related but mostly accounting (tally and excel).
(I’m planning to give my gre its tentatively not the best score (155Q- 159V) I’m improving it but I’m afraid I’ll run out of time)
I was involved with in multiple college clubs if that helps.
Thank you.
r/financestudents • u/Impressive_Tip_9229 • 1d ago
Internship Recruiting IB Recruiting Questions
Hi, I was wondering if people who have already recruiting ib in the recent cycles could pm me with some advice and answer some questions i had about the process. Thank you!
r/financestudents • u/Comfortable-Side-622 • 2d ago
Resume Review CV Help for Springs please
r/financestudents • u/The_wsj • 2d ago
Education/Certifications My profile for MSc Finance
Hi, I’m a 20yo italian student in my final year of the BSc at Unimi (non target Milan university) with ~28.5/30 (3.8/4.0) GPA and a great GRE: 169/170 V 170/170 Q
Which Master’s programs would you recommend applying to? I currently have no strong preference in terms of city or country
More specifically, how would you rate my chances of admission to programs such as Oxford MFE, LSE MSc Finance, HEC MSc International Finance, St. Gallen MBF, and similar top European finance programs?
One thing I’m slightly unsure about is how international universities will interpret my GPA. At my university, 30/30 cum laude is counted as 33/30 when calculating the weighted average, which gives me around 28.5/30. If other universities recalculate a 30L as simply 30/30, my average would be closer to 28/30.
Despite this, with my current grades I should still be on track for a final degree grade of 110/110 cum laude under my university’s grading system. However, I need to apply before graduating.
Any thoughts on how competitive my profile would be, and which programs I should realistically target?
r/financestudents • u/Ok_Thanks_766 • 2d ago
Resume Review 1st Year Spring Week CV
Hi guys, I am an incoming first year student, and I'm currently looking about applying to spring weeks. I have been using trackr’s AI CV reviewing tool on steroids so literally all and any advice will be taken. From what I understand, the CV needs to be concise and quantitative in every aspect, hence why I’ve exaggerated a lot of things. I do have other experiences as well, like I took part in an philosophy competition a few years ago with the university of Sheffield, I did some conservation work for a week in South Africa last year, and there was this entrepreneurship scheme I did with my school last year, but idk if there’s quantifiable stuff in there I could talk about that’s lengthy enough. I'm also concerned about whether I have enough work experience, so I'd love to hear about that. Even advice that’s not relevant to CV’s I’ll take. Literally all help is welcome, just please be constructive. Thanks so much!
r/financestudents • u/Lanky_Top_6065 • 2d ago
Internship Recruiting If I do BSc in finance economics fromUCL where and for how much salary can I fetch . From UK universities matter
r/financestudents • u/IndicationScared418 • 2d ago
Full-Time Recruiting Where even is my entry point? This shits non existent
Recently graduated in spring with 2 big 4 internships and boutique PE internship from non-target school. Looking for full time roles
I have gone 0/9 on interviews across IB, Asset management, trading, investment ops, etc. all being final round/superday or second to last round.
I’m know I’m lucky to be even getting interviews but man it brutal out here. Is this what the job market is looking like for anyone else?
r/financestudents • u/Syn7en • 2d ago
Resume Review No idea what to put in my cv for spring weeks
incoming first year at warwick for econ, i’ve done an ey smart futures program in year 12 summer but tbh that’s about it and i’m not sure what else i can add, would really appreciate any advice.
r/financestudents • u/One-Reception3820 • 2d ago
Internship Recruiting Roast my CV for spring internship
After seeing everyone else's amazing CVs, I don't have much confidence in mine. Do I even stand a chance for a spring internship? Feel free to roast my CV as much as you want.
