Community College Student
I'm a rising sophomore at a California community college majoring in Business Admin planning to transfer to a California University most likely and major in Business Admin with a concentration in Finance. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do exactly but I definitely want to break into some type of Banking Corporate/Investment. I understand this field can be extremely difficult to break into and you need to really work hard to have a chance of breaking in. I also acknowledge that as a community college student the path to Banking can be much harder. I'm really just looking for any words of advice from someone who might've been in a similar situation or from people who didn't have the same path as me but has advice nonetheless. Thank you
Went to a shitty community college and then a local satellite campus of my state school. I couldn’t afford attending the main campus as it would be too far to commute and I couldn’t afford paying rent. Ended up doing 2.5 years at my state school and grinded very hard to develop connections, understand the industry/why I wanted to do it and be interview ready technically/behaviorally. It is not impossible to break in as long as you start early and work hard to be ready/polish.
I ended up working in IB at one of the best groups in the street that no one in my state school had broken into/nor other similar groups. You just need to believe in yourself and actually put the work in. The second part is where most people fail at, I tried mentoring similar people and they are just very unprepared and you can tell that no work was put in. You have all the resources you need online. Everything you need to know to break in you can find online. The only person that will hold you back from breaking in is yourself.
Thank you for your insight im very appreciative. I don’t know if you applied to any internships or did any while you were at CC but if you did how did you stand out as a applicant other than gpa, Extra curriculars, networking, etc? And one final question did you find networking more difficult at community college, what are some of the methods you used? Sorry for so many questions and again thank you for your original comment.
I didn’t do any internships during CC, all my internships were post transfer. You probably won’t get any decent internship coming from a CC (as in the first summer during cc and the summer post graduation) but you can still try to knock on every door and see if anyone (no matter how small/shit the firm is) will take an unpaid intern (try to be as close to a 4.0gpa to help your case). If you knock on every door, someone is bound to open.
In regards to networking during CC, I didn’t do much networking but I did reach out to some people in finance (not only ib) that came from CCs who were helpful at giving a glimpse of the industry/day to day. They won’t be able to help you until later on (once you transfer to another school) but it’s very to start nurturing relationships from very early on. Treat these as friendships and nurture those relationships over time, don’t come off as desperate. Please also do your homework prior to calls so you don’t sound extremely uneducated.
I also went to a community college and transferred into a university of California school. Are you a diversity candidate or did you break into IB from the FT route ? I only ask because transferring in from CC as a junior… the applications are already over.. I had to delay my graduation in order to get enough experience (2 internships spring semester + 2 internships in the summer) before I was able to land an IB offer for the summer rn.
I did 2.5 years at my state school like I mentioned so when I transferred I was classified as a sophomore. So basically I also delayed my graduation for the same reason you mentioned.
I networked extremely hard and knew my stuff inside/out from the first day I transferred. Had some good internships during the school year and sophomore summer. I got fortunate enough to meet senior people who connected me with a lot of their friends so I had a very strong network and was able to interview at most places.
I am diversity but didn't do the diversity pipeline (somehow I didn't get in any diversity programs lol go figures), I interviewed with the regular pool and got my offer to a strong group after a few interviews/offers. I had a very strong and unique story that helped me stand out and be well liked by the people I networked with/interviewers.
Can I PM you? Im looking to go down a similar path in terms of going to a UC.
The sooner you transfer the better as far as internships are considered. I did the same thing, you’re not going to be at the top of the list in terms opportunities, it will have less debt and if you have the skills you can find your way into the opportunity.
Didn't go to a community college so cannot provide a similar perspective. That said, feel free to PM if you have any questions or would like any advice about how to best position yourself.
PM’d you!
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