Ask Borno about undergrad business internships

[btmagnetw]

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I'm going to be starting my 2nd year of a B.Comm program. I will likely be specializing in accounting (3rd year). My goal is to get my Master's from U of T or Laurier.

General advice appreciated.

[/ QUOTE ]find out what CPA requiremenets are in your state to more efficiently plan your college education. keep your grades up, and find a part time job at some accounting firm if you want. i only mention that because i got one before our recruiting started and all the firms were SUPER impressed with me, and the only explaination i have is that i could talk about my experience there, even though i just did administrative work.

[pmuir10]

Borno,

How do i get a job like yours? I am entering my senior year at Boston University's business school and have a pretty good GPA. But I don't really have any experience since I wasn't able to land any good internships this summer and I just played poker for most of the summers before that.

What are some things I should be looking to do my senior year in order to get a solid consulting or financial job right out of college?

[Borno]

If you've got a good GPA that's a huge start as that is the first thing they'll look at before deciding to give you an interview.

Without any solid previous experience it will be hard to get a job at a major firm but you'll have a good shot at some boutiques if you interview well.

Being well rounded is big for consulting - less so for finance and marketing.

You should have a solid 1 page resume and cover letter. The career services at your school should be able to help.

To get to that well rounded point I would make sure you get some relevant or at least good work experience. At school you should try to get on a club in a leadership position (a finance or consulting related club is best obviously)

If the firms recruit at your school it makes it a lot easier but if they don't research firms big and small and seek them out. Look for networking opportunities wherever you can, business case competitions are often good for this and if there are any small firms there sweet talk the recruiters and get their contact/forward your resume and cover letter.

[emon87]

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I applied specifically to consulting. I have friends that applied to ERS, Audit, or Taxc also. They don't randomly place you, its what you apply to.

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No, did your fellow class of BAs (ie, those who you work with now) have consulting internships between their junior and senior years? If not, what did most of them do?

[fightingcoward]

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If the firms recruit at your school it makes it a lot easier but if they don't research firms big and small and seek them out.

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Pretty much no firms besides a local bank recruit at my school... it is a small public liberal arts school in Virginia (University of Mary Washington, anyone hear of it?).

I've gone to many different finance companies career web pages and none of them visit my school. Does that put me at a disadvantage to applying?

How many different places did you apply? I'm considering just sending out my resume/cover letter to as many financial companies as I can.

Also how big a part does being on a sports team play? I'm a 3 year all conference member on the swim team as well as the SGA Treasurer but I didn't make Deans List till last semester and I will likely graduate with a 3.2 GPA (every company I have looked at requires a 3.0 minimum, beating that by .2 cannot be impressive can it???).

[Borno]

My bad...

The undergrad BAs don't have any previous consulting experience. The MBA 'consultants' (entry level for an MBA at Deloitte) often have one summer consulting.

One was a beer girl for Bud Light, I did marketing, another worked at Deloitte doing data management stuff, others did engineering related jobs because they are from engineering schools..

[Borno]

Your school not being recruited at puts you at a disadvantage because they are not looking for you, you are entirely looking for them. It means that your school doesn't have the reputation of having great business students.

It doesn't mean you can't get a job though.

If you have finance experience thats huge because they know you've done something like this before.

Varsity atheletics and club treasurer is awesome but work experience is key.

Grades are always so tenuous, 1st semester when I got my job I had a 3.2 GPA (Canadian = 80% avg)... I had some very good experience though and got lucky when I interviewed.

3.2 won't be impressive but it might be enough to get your foot in the door and allow them to read your resume and cover letter, if those impress them you'll have the interview and then YOU are all that matters.

[edtost]

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3.2 won't be impressive but it might be enough to get your foot in the door and allow them to read your resume and cover letter, if those impress them you'll have the interview and then YOU are all that matters.

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getting an interview with a 3.2 from a non-target, without connections will not be that easy.

[burkoboy]

What's considered target? Is there a list of these? or do you guys just go upon undergraduate rank? And then after rank what is out of the range of non target?

like is it <50, <40? what?

[edtost]

a 'target' school is one where undergrads are actively recruited on campus, so h/y/p/w/s plus maybe 10-15 or so others (mit, cornell, columbia, nyu/stern, cal, etc). there is some correlation with undergrad rank, but also with geographic location and where the people in charge of recruiting at the various firms are alums of.

edit: note that the above list is geared toward top tier banks, consulting firms, and hedge funds ... moving down a tier or two or adding accounting firms to the mix expands the list of targets a lot, but my general statements about how the lists are made would still hold.