I'm going to sound negative, but would rather give it to you straight. If you are talking about the big paying investment banking jobs, then your best bet is to go to grad school and only if you get into one of the top-10 MBA programs. Schools like Columbia, Penn, Cornell, U of Chicago, NYU, Harvard to name a few. Getting an MBA from Hofstra, St Johns, or Fordham is not going to get you an interview for one of the big paying IB jobs. For the jobs you are likely referring, the companies hold events at the big schools and they are not going to talk to you unless you go to one. I'm sorry if I am being negative, just want you to know what the truth.
You CAN get a job as an analyst out of undergrad, but you really need to have connections and be from a top school. A friend of mine from HS was able to get a job right out of college. He graduated Johns Hopkins with a 3.5 and someone with whom he played football at Hopkins got him in. As someone said, he worked LONG hours. I don't speak to him often anymore, so not sure he ever went on to get his MBA.
My old roommate did it a little different. He graduated Cornell Suma *** Laude in Computer Science. Worked for 3 years, then decided he wanted to go for his MBA and get into investment banking. He applied to all of the top b-schools. Had a very high GMAT. Only place that accepted him was Columbia. He even had a strong connection to U of Chicago and the admission officer told the connection to have him apply in 2 more years. Got the same feedback from NYU and Penn. So, it is a catch-22 in that case. Can't get the big job without a top-MBA, but the programs won't accept you right out of college.
My brother is currently at NYU for his MBA. However, he graduated from Binghamton, and while in undergrad went to OCS. Was in the Marines as a Lt, and Captain for about 5 or 6 years after graduation. Did 2 tours in Afghanistan. Last summer he had an internship with a large bank, doing something with Energy. At the end of the summer, they extended him an offer for this summer. He is hoping at the end of this summer to get a full-time offer for after he graduates in May.
Few things to keep in mind, after starting at NYU, the application process for summer jobs starts pretty quickly. Last October, only 2 months into the program he was applying and being invited to events. Most of the events involve open bar or people from the company taking you out and throwing their cc on the bar. He was always careful not to get too hammered. Others were not so careful and soon after received letters saying they will not be offered positions. At the first event, he noticed one of the hosts kept walking away and talking into his phone. Yes, by the end of the night this host was wasted. What he later found out was the host was sending emails and texts to himself taking notes on the recruits. One of his fellow recruits kept asking one of the hosts if they had any coke, needless to say he was not extended an offer. Another recruit suggested they all go to the strip club since the companies were paying for it, he wasn't given an offer. Over the winter, a few guys from the company took him and 4 other guys who have been given offers to this company for this summer to a Knicks game with 2 big money clients. My brother could not care less about basketball or the Knicks, but still played along. The 2 clients were HUGE Knicks fans, so my brother cheered for the Knicks as if he was, as well. So did the other recruits. They all still had their jobs for this summer.
The point, these events are NOT done by companies as a way to RECRUIT you. They are not doing it to be nice or show you how wonderful they are. They KNOW they hold the cards. Yes, they need to constantly fill positions with talented people, but there is more to it then knowing how to read a balance sheet or how to calculate a P/E ratio. However, there are THOUSANDS of people qualified to just do the job on paper and thousands willing to work the long hours that are required. It is done to TEST you and it is part of the hiring process.
