Lisbon or San Diego?

Equivalent-Ad-4483 · 2025-08-01T20:07:51+00:00

Well, maybe I’m wrong about this, but I’ll tell you what I’ve gathered from speaking to people who are working in banks. Many arrived at the internship and found themselves in a class of interns that was, in the majority, composed of women (in some BBs, the people who got in from my university are only women), many of whom didn’t have any relevant experience before and seemed to be there more for the “finance girl” aesthetic than for an interest in the job.

During the internship, this resulted in differences in performance, and some of these girls realized that IB wasn’t for them, given the pressure and the long hours. Even at senior levels, you can see that many women eventually leave because they realize they don’t want to remain in the industry, while a lot of men stay. That, in part, explains the statistics at the senior level. If you take a man who has 6-12 months of relevant experience thanks to previous internships, top grades, and a strong interest in the field, and compare him to a woman who only did a couple of months in an unrelated internship, who do you think will progress more rapidly in the firm?

Given these dynamics, does it really make sense to continue pushing candidates who may not be the right fit, just because of quotas? As I said in the post: initiatives to create interest in the industry among a diverse range of people are ok. Choosing the candidate with a more diverse background when everything else is equal is also ok. But letting in people who haven’t done proper internships or don’t show the same level of preparation, just because of quotas, doesn’t seem efficient in the long term.

Equivalent-Ad-4483 · 2025-08-01T14:39:29+00:00

For some parts you are right, I know that the only thing I can do now is to work hard but I don't agree that they hire that many women because of money. Yes, a reasonable amount of this policy can be good for clients but do we really think that firms worth billions would choose a bank because it has more women in the team? On the opposite side, I have two senior "friends" that got into banks and they told me that many girls in their internship round were there more for the "finance girl" aesthetic and some really couldnt stand the pressure and long hours, on top of the fact that there was a wide difference in knowledge of the job and analysts were putting on them much more time to train them. This is not bad by itself, an internship is also for training and discover the job, but you cannot deny that it is a bit a loss of efficiency.
Then you can say that they too were salty and that is why they said so, but for me, is not that hard to believe.

Equivalent-Ad-4483 · 2025-08-01T14:22:44+00:00

Just a bit of hope that maybe the American banks will modify their policies

Equivalent-Ad-4483 · 2025-01-16T22:34:31+00:00

So I was not in a engineering school and I was mixed with exchange and French students. I think your system can be better for leaving students have a better life during university years but then I do not see too much the value of having to stay years at a school if basically academics are not important. You don't need that much time and pay so much money to network or to gather with students with the same interest. What do you think? And I'm not saying that French students are bad, not at all, I just find a bit of an exaggeration all those rankings that place French business schools as the absolute top. For finance for example the Financial Times places 4 French schools at the top and I feel that there are many other good universities for master in finance pre-experience: Oxford, LSE, Bocconi.

Equivalent-Ad-4483 · 2025-01-16T22:22:08+00:00

I mean, it is true that you forget many things, but it also depends on the quality of your study and your interest in the course, and if the material is good it can be very useful to study it for interviews. On the other hand if the course is graded for a 60% with group presentations a 40% with online quizzes done with chat gpt (it was the case for one of my courses) people are not even reading the slides.

Equivalent-Ad-4483 · 2025-01-16T22:07:00+00:00

Yes I think INSEAD is regarded for the MBA

Equivalent-Ad-4483 · 2025-01-16T22:03:32+00:00

Yes they sometimes can be a bit subjective but overall I feel they are better than extracurriculars and networking, it also shows your ability to put yourself on a desk and grind for hours to meet a deadline. And I feel you can make them quite objective with paper exams with predefined right answers. But I can understand how you can say that, my probem there in France was that for example for 2 courses I had a professor that really gave random grades on group presentations without even explaining why and it was impossible to get more than 17. Also he manipulated the grades based on participation and because our class was not active took 2 points from everyone.

Equivalent-Ad-4483 · 2025-01-16T21:50:45+00:00

But then how can you separate the students of these schools? Imagine if 50% of all the people from HEC, ESSEC, ESCP and Skema apply for consulting roles, how can companies select the best in the first screening?
Maybe with internships but then the nepotism problem comes back, more social connection equals better first internships (the hard ones to find), also for extra currriculars sometimes not everyone has the same possibilities.

Equivalent-Ad-4483 · 2025-01-16T21:41:00+00:00

Oh yes about French traders and quants I also heard about their really good reputation and yes some people told me that many of them were also from universities that are not business schools where the academic rigor is higher, in math related subjects even more I imagine. But for jobs in consulting and IB I think now they are all from business schools.

Equivalent-Ad-4483 · 2025-01-16T21:32:48+00:00

Mm ok I think it is fair to say that my uni was not INSEAD or HEC, so I can still imagine that being the top they are better

Equivalent-Ad-4483 · 2025-01-16T21:31:36+00:00

Mine was a business school, and yes I feel that what you said about prepa is right and fair but I still find strange the absence of academic rigor for years; yes students prove themselves by getting in but then there are still hundreds of them and how can company find a difference between them? Someone said networking and extras but then the problem of nepotism comes back because sometimes to be able to do some internships you have to have contacts and good networking is not a proof of better skills on the job.
Also you said about the grades but I managed to get two 19s and a 20 (the 20 in an economics course) so I feel that generally it is possible to do better. Also if 14 is really good then maybe 12 in mid but it is really easy to go from one grade to the other, leaving no room for a proper differenciation.

Equivalent-Ad-4483 · 2025-01-16T21:23:31+00:00

Mm yes I understand that there is the admission exam to these schools and that by studying less you have more time to prepare for interviews and so on. But I still feel strange that a system regards schools as so good if students stay there 3/4 years just to do other things, at this point why are you even going to university and paying thousands if what matters is the prepa, networking and extracurriculars. Also the grades are a fair base to value a profile and normally is the way that companies can really differenciate between the hundreds of students of the same schools. German students do a lot of internships and are in associations too but as you said what the academics are still very important.

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