Ah I see. Thanks for your help!

1. Is there still any value to having overseas work experience on my CV if my long-term plans are in SG?
2. Am I better off pursuing the spring/summer grind in London and transferring back as an associate, or should I try to apply for summer internships in Singapore and get FT offers that way?
3. Would this process be different for IB and MC?

Thanks!

That’s great advice, thank you.

I completely understand the purpose of learning valuation, accounting, financial modeling for the sake of potential interviews (and I plan to do so), but is there any way to showcase that I actually took the time to work through material (i.e. on my resume or in information interview calls, when the time comes)? Or does that not really matter?

Also, during the stretch between now and January, I am trying to land an off-cycle internship in IB, PE, or VC roles. I have some potential leads for a private credit role. Do you think that would be valuable? Any other times of roles that you think would be beneficial for now? I know it’s not the time to be picky with options. Thanks again.

You can try networking internally to work on deals, but I would be careful about pushing it too much before you start working full-time. You don’t want to come across like you’re actually more interested in other areas before your full-time job has even started. But if you can gain some deal experience, yes, you will be more competitive for IB roles in the future.

Other than that, it always helps to learn accounting, valuation, financial modeling, etc., but you may want to hold off a bit and do that when you’re about to start recruiting for IB roles so you don’t forget the material and have to re-learn it.

I would say Notre Dame / Mendoza is the better choice here, even though Cornell slightly outranks Notre Dame in the university rankings. The biggest issue is that CALS at Cornell is quite different from the other majors/programs there, and you will be at a disadvantage coming from that program. It’s still Cornell, so you can get into IB, but your chances are probably better coming from Notre Dame in this case.

I would accept the IB offer because in the current hiring market, it might be very difficult to find something else good in tech or finance unless you have a very specific skill set (i.e., something related to the AI hype).

Also, I don’t think you want to spend your entire 2nd year of business school recruiting yet again when you already did that the first year and won a good offer from it.

If you really hate IB or do not like your group, I think you can stay in the role for ~1 year (which is basically nothing over a ~30-year+ career) and then find something better, maybe in corporate development or product management at a tech company. Yes, it may not be a fun year, but it will set you up for some better opportunities afterward and make you a lot more competitive for both tech and finance roles.

I would recommend reading the articles about lateral hiring, Master’s, and MBA programs because you’ll have to use one of those at this point since you’re already working full-time:

https://mergersandinquisitions.com/lateral-hiring/
https://mergersandinquisitions.com/investment-banking-masters-programs/
https://mergersandinquisitions.com/mba-investment-banking-recruiting-process/

The biggest issue is that the IB hiring market is currently terrible, so you might have to wait for a recovery. Also, it’s incredibly difficult to find roles in Canada because it’s a tiny market. If you can go to the U.S. instead, you’ll find a lot more openings there.

It depends on your past work experience. Big 4 experience can add value if you don’t have good brand names on your resume, and audit is relevant or many corporate finance roles at normal companies, but if you already have experience in corporate finance, valuation, investment banking, etc., I don’t think Big 4 audit will add much. It would be more useful for someone who has little-to-no accounting/finance work experiecne.