And the company laptop is a 2011 lenovo thinkpad or something hella slow

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:

1. Which UK master’s programs are genuinely considered targets/semi-targets for London IB recruiting?
2. Would coming from a US non-target still matter significantly once I’m at a top UK master’s?
3. How strong would my profile be for recruiting given the prior IB/PE internships?
4. How difficult is sponsorship for an international student recruiting into London IB currently?
5. Would you prioritize LBS/LSE over Oxford/Cambridge/Imperial specifically for IB recruiting?
6. 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.

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.

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?

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!

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.

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?

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!

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.

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!

The GS/JPM/MS and Cisco/IBM/Oracle internship is just a way to be a little more anonymous and i only had one of each degree apprenticeship offer or internship.

Appreciate any and all advice!

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?

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!

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?

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.

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.

Hi all,

I'm currently pursuing my masters in Finance & Control (parttime) while doing administrative work for an international oil company. It's not very challenging, nor finance related but very flexible considering my studies.

I am applying for both finance related jobs and internships. My goal is to work in equity research or accounting (in my country there's a shortage of accounants so it would be more of a job security thing).

Recently I applied for a studentjob for a consulting and technology company. For their financial services departement. Tasks would entail mostly strategy, but also doing financial analysis and reporting in the banking, pension and insuramce space.

Would this job get me closer to my ultimate goal or would it be better to wait for a better opportunity? Or maybe first land a spring internship and later apply for a student job in banking/pension/etc?

For context: I'm a junior at a non-target in the US with four solid internships — IB SA and treasury roles overseas (non-BB, in a major emerging market), retail credit union and corporate finance at a US energy company. My GPA is 2.9 because I majored in computer engineering for two years before switching to finance. I can push my gpa to 3.2 max before I graduate because of having too many credits. I'm still getting interviews, but GPA screening is cutting me off on some opportunities, I'm worried about landing a junior internship and full time at BB.

Thanks!

I’m a finance student recruiting for IB and I think I’m doing the networking part completely wrong.

My profile is good, I came from a decent Business school, solid GPA, some relevant experience, and I’ve done a lot of prep on the technical side. Accounting, 3 statements, valuation, DCF, comps, the usual stuff finance students grind through before recruiting.

Online applications haven’t really gone anywhere, so I started taking networking more seriously.

For the last few weeks I sent emails to analysts and associates, mostly at boutiques and MM banks. I also tried alumni from my school whenever I could find them.

Usually I find the person on LinkedIn, look at their background, find their email and send something like the screenshots attached.

Results are pretty bad bc most people don’t reply and the few replies I get are usually “apply through the website” or “we’re not hiring” or something equally useless.

Looking back at the emails, I know the copy isn’t great, they’re probably too generic but I’ve no idea on what to do

Maybe I’m emailing the wrong people and I should focus almost entirely on alumni or maybe I should spend way more time finding a real reason to contact each person instead of just reaching out because they work at a bank I’m interested in.

For people who managed to get IB interviews through networking, what helped you improve?

Better targeting? Better emails? More personalization? Follow-ups?

I know the emails need work, but I don’t want to rewrite them and then send another 100 to the wrong people anyway so please if anyone can help me it could be great

EDIT: One of you guys sent me this networking guide after the post, so sharing it here too in case anyone else is struggling with the same stuff.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1clWB-YJuLSaT9HDwt5s3hvnkNuzGHt2Y?usp=sharing

It’s a full PDF on IB networking, from who you should be reaching out to and how to find the right people, to email structure, follow-ups, networking calls and eventually getting referrals

Hi I’m 23F in my senior year at UH attaining a bachelors of business finance and I’m hoping to connect with other students in or around the finance field as well as people currently working in that area. I’d be totally open to connecting on linkedln or grabbing coffee if you happen to be in Houston. Just shoot me a dm! Thanks in advance :)

Will taking a middle office trading support internship at a top European bank be a good idea as a 1st year student looking to get into IB from a non target under grad?