A December Tradition on Wall Street

The Career Trek Series continues with double-feature coverage of Bank Week in New York City. The first post is from Felipe Marin, who provides us with an update of his investment banking recruiting experience.

Dana
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As the deal flow and corporate meetings diminish around Wall Street and bankers prepare to enjoy the December festivities, Chicago Booth aspiring bankers flock to the Big Apple to participate in a long-standing tradition known as Bank Week. The week’s events are organized by Booth’s Investment Banking Group and more than twenty top Wall Street firms participate. By attending corporate presentations and personal meetings with bankers, Bank Week serves us the ultimate opportunity to showcase our interest and proficiency as potential bankers.

The fall quarter comes and goes, and somehow it seems to fly by faster than a thirty second time-lapsed photograph. At last, after a rigorous fall recruiting process and despite the intensity of final exams, future bankers must swiftly recoup and begin their pilgrimage to America’s finance epicenter. Essentially, Bank Week allows us to establish new relationships and fortify those that have been cultivated since early fall; it has served generations of Boothies as an effective conduit to catapult ourselves into the coveted interview list.

The truth is that the fall quarter investment banking recruiting process and Bank Week provide insight into the reality of what being a banker actually means. For as harsh as this may sound, this industry is quite intense and, therefore, appealing to many of us but certainly not to everyone. One must have a strong conviction, aptitude, and discipline to be successful in the recruiting process and, eventually, as a banker. After all, life on Wall Street will have many more intricacies than anything one could experience in an ephemeral week in New York City. Frankly, if the process were easy, obtaining an offer would not be nearly as rewarding as it will be after months of persevering.

I, of course, am biased. After all, I decided to come to Booth because I felt that this institution provides its students the best chances of success in investment banking recruiting, and I have not been disappointed. Bank Week has only reiterated what I deduced beforehand: banks know that Chicago Booth produces excellent bankers and they are not shy to display their excitement towards us. From CEOs to newly minted Associates, we were greeted with enthusiasm as we heard time and time again why we should choose to join their respective institutions.

Perhaps this might sound a bit masochist, but I actually enjoyed Bank Week’s frantic and energetic pace. Despite the busy schedule, the New York weather, and even how nerve-racking one-on-one informational chats with bankers can be, Bank Week has taken us one step closer to our professional dreams. Not surprisingly, Booth’s leadership has exceeded our expectations by organizing Bank Week. Someone once said that luck favors the well-prepared, and the administration at Booth seems to live by these words; we all embraced Bank Week and our level of preparation showed. But, it isn’t time to celebrate just yet. Investment banking interviews will take place in a couple of weeks and Wall Street will no longer be a distant dream. For now, it is time to continue our preparation for those challenging interviews and uphold the great Chicago Booth tradition of banking success.

First experiences at Booth: my first campus visit, Random Walk, and my first quarter

It's hard to believe that this is the last week of classes for the fall quarter. Especially for the first-year students, the fall quarter has been packed with memories and exciting opportunities on the horizon. In the following post, Felipe Marin, a first-year student and Country Captain for Cuba, recounts the highlights of his first quarter at Booth and how the experience has been for him thus far.

Dana
***

It almost feels surreal, but the end of my first quarter at Booth is almost here and the experience has been all that I expected, and then some. I first thought about applying to business school in 2009, but multiple factors did not allow the goal to materialize until I began to study for the GMAT in mid-2011 – from then on, time seems to have flown and somehow I’m here, reliving the process through this blog.

My first visit to the Harper Center, and to Chicago, was only ten months ago, but as soon as I walked into the Winter Garden I knew that I had found the place where I wanted to be for the next two years.

At Booth, many of us participate in one of the twenty-five Random Walk trips that take place before orientation, and I would absolutely recommend this exciting adventure to all future members of the Booth family. I had the opportunity to visit Russia for Random Walk and I am convinced that I made friendships on that trip that will last well beyond my on-campus experience. Having heard many Soviet stories while growing up in Cuba, I had always wanted to visit the Kremlin, and I’m thankful that I was able to visit Moscow with classmates who were also interested in seeing the evolution of Russia’s new capitalist society.


Statue of Peter the Great and the Russian Random Walk team

Many exciting things have happened since our arrival on campus, but I’d have to admit that our orientation retreat to Wisconsin tops all other experiences thus far. It is difficult to summarize the retreat on a blog; more than being read, it has to be lived: the outdoor adventures, the games, and the group exercises all converge into a mélange of unforgettable memories. To be perfectly candid, I really did not have many expectations from a three day trip to the woods in Wisconsin, but there’s just something about high rope obstacle courses, improvisational acting lessons, and hanging out by a camp fire that makes people bond – even when the group is as big as 576 new Boothies.

Before coming to Chicago, many people familiar with the business school process told me that the first quarter would probably be somewhat overwhelming, and they did not exaggerate. Since I had been working as a Financial Analyst at a REIT for some years, I wanted to join Booth so that I could switch into a career in investment banking. The banking recruiting process begins three weeks into the quarter and it is all about adaptability: one has to juggle classes, group meetings, the endless array of bank presentations, and social events, which of course, happen quite regularly at Booth. Recently, I’ve learned the true meaning of the phrase drinking from fire hose, but we all get through it. As a matter of fact, not only do we get through it, but we also help each other in the process. I’ve gotten contact information of recruiters and bankers from many classmates, and I’m convinced that other Boothies have been helped in this regard as well. In the end, we know that more than competitors for the same jobs, we’re a family of 576 rooting for each other. I’ve even heard some former students say that they wish they could do this process again, so I’m enjoying it as much as I can because I’m sure that, at some point, I will miss it as well.

All in all, the quarter has flown by, but I am thankful to be part of a community that has been extremely supportive throughout this initial process. From a professional development perspective, I have to say that our Career Services office has impressed all of us – yes, I really mean all of us. My classmates and I feel that the school does everything within its power to prepare us not only for the interview process, but also for a career post Booth. As a true baseball enthusiast, I would like to summarize my Booth experience with words from Dean Kumar’s welcome speech: “Swing for the fences, Chicago Booth has your back” – he means it!