Bank on Banking

I am considering taking a summer (online) class from either a community college or state university. Note, I will have already graduated from college. I have done well as an undergrad, and was wondering if not getting an A in this class would look bad for B school admissions. Would I even have to send transcripts from this school?

If you get credit for it, you should probably submit it to the B school when applying. That said, if you don’t need it, and just want to take the class for fun, just drop it before receiving the final grade. Now, if you finish the course and earn an “A,” then there is no harm done and you can send the transcript over. If, however, you get a C, while it won’t kill you by any means since you said you did well during undergrad, it definitely won’t help you since it will be the most recent class you’ve taken. In short, you don’t want the most recent aspect of any part of your candidacy to be a glaring negative – even if it is a small part.

Essentially, if you are not going to get a great grade in the course and don’t need it, then either don’t report it, or, ideally, just drop it before the grade is official. That said, depending on the subject, you might just be able to learn it on your own and save the money and hassle of the online course.

I’ve been out of finance for a few years now doing a variety of things including running my own business. How do I break back in; do I really need an MBA?

I would agree that the MBA would be your best option. Is there any reason why you can’t go for the MBA next year – in other words, you said “until I can get an MBA” which sounds like you aren’t planning to apply yet?

Regardless of reason, if you aren’t planning to pursue an MBA yet, you will definitely have some difficulty and will definitely want to brush up on the technical concepts – finance and accounting and become much more comfortable with them. At this point, I wouldn’t be gunning towards 1 bank or another or 1 training program or another – instead, I would really focus on breaking back in, then if you want to advance or move around, either try internally or pursue an MBA at that point. You aren’t in the best position to be picky, so you should reach out to your network, headhunters, and go through the general application processes trying to get your foot back into the door. Learn or refresh the technicals on your own and try to be prepared to hit the ground running – this will also show your commitment to getting back in.

I want to do IB on the west coast, but live in NY – is this possible or not?

First, it depends on which groups you are targeting within IB – if technology or general M&A is strongly on your radar, then the west coast is definitely possible. Particularly Palo, San Fran and Menlo will definitely have heavy tech and solid M&A opps – especially for satellite hubs for BBs and many boutiques. Moving past that, you will need to go through the general recruiting channels – school recruiting, etc and push for west coast opps. For BBs, you’d make this selection during your sell day (for groups) and possibly just after your superdays (for location preferences, for some banks). For boutiques, you will need to search the pages – Craigslist, efinancialcareers, etc and look for west coast opps. Particularly if you are planning to move there anyway, you will probably have a decent shot and will show your commitment to the area and not just grasping at any IB job.

What “soft” qualities are bankers looking for when interviewing candidates?

They are looking for exactly what you’d expect them to look for: leadership (although you won’t be leading much), ability to work well with others/teamwork, ability to run with a project (drive), a positive attitude (since you will often be crapped on) and confidence (without arrogance – you want to be confident in yourself, but you don’t want to come off as thinking you are better than everyone else and everyone else is garbage).

A lot of it is common sense – IB wants smart people who they can tolerate at 3am…halfway through their gauntlet day (for example).

I’m currently a freshman at a strong west coast semi target with a 3.8 GPA. Should I transfer to something better (such as H/P/W/Chi/Col/Stern/Stan) if I want to break into IB or stay put?

A 3.8 is absolutely competitive, but whether you need to or should transfer is really subjective. If, for example, you are set on working NYC and getting into the best BB or elite boutiques, then transferring to H/W/P will definitely help you on your path. If, however, you are interested in staying in CA or just want to be in a good IBank or like the Tech space of IB, a strong semi on the west coast (such as Berkley) is definitely a great place to be.

Finally, if you are considering making a move, just apply – if you get in, then great, you’ve got a very nice decision on your hands – if not, no harm done at all. If you are going to apply, I would recommend H/W/P and if you want to work in NYC, Columbia. I would probably leave off the rest.