Unlike many of my colleagues, I did not decide to recruit for investment banking until September of Fall A*. I knew I wanted to experience the financial world, but investment banking was not on my radar for many reasons. My biggest concern was making such a major career pivot: would any bank hire a 32-year-old guy with nine years of experience in only one company within the oil and gas industry? Would it be possible to go from not knowing what EBITDA was (not a joke!) to becoming an attractive candidate in only two months? Thanks to Tuck, I got an internship that I never thought I could get.
Among many, there are three main reasons why I was able to land an internship at Bank of America this summer, and why I believe Tuck is the best place for whoever wants to recruit for investment banking.
1. Small and Tight-knit Family
I know you are probably tired of hearing the “tight-knit community” phrase everywhere. And honestly, you can probably find it in many places when it comes to social events, academics, fun activities, etc. But when it comes to such an intense process like IB recruiting, that’s when you really know how “tight-knit” your community is. Some may think this is a competitive process in which only some succeed, but I can assure you that this is not the spirit at Tuck. We helped each other succeed as a team. Full transparency and genuine support were the trademarks of our group, and it made an incredible difference for career-switchers like me.
The size of the group recruiting for IB allowed us to connect and share experiences in a way that it would not be possible in a bigger school. Very quickly after the process started, we became a family sharing our experiences and carpooling to NYC together. We shared successes as well as failures, and we tried to make the stressful process as fun as possible. Throughout the entire process, I had the opportunity to interact with many students from other schools recruiting for IB. They could not believe when I told them we were a group of friends helping each other out. Some of them were even surprised that we all knew each other!
2. Alumni Support in Recruiting
One thing you should know is that most of the interactions, networking, and recruiting are conducted by school alumni working at those banks. This is typically the same for all the schools, however, not all of them are Tuck Nice and proud alumni! Let me lay it out for you:
Imagine 100+ students interacting with a handful of bankers from their schools (the circle of death ratio is 20:1). The bankers are probably all living in the same city or close enough so they can host their recruiting event for a few hours and then go back to work. Now imagine 35 students interacting with a handful of bankers (circle of death ratio is 5:1). These bankers traveled to their remote school campus just for recruiting and they could not be more excited about it! These bankers have to stay the night in the small town of Hanover which means they get to skip that night at the office and can have a drink at Murphy’s with the students. Which scenario would you say is most favorable for you to get to know all your recruiters, and for all of the recruiters to get to know you? On top of this, Tuck alumni are like an “oasis of niceness” in an industry in which being nice and amicable is not necessarily a trademark.
Franco with his wife, Sol, and dog, Lupita.
3. Available Resources
You will not find a bigger resources-to-students ratio anywhere else. This applies to any industry you want to recruit for. We had the support from all the second-year students who interned in IB, one-on-one mentors, and an amazing career services advisor with over 25 years of experience in the industry. We all had high-quality advice and personalized guidance from industry experts. For someone like me who had no previous experience and needed extra support, Tuck was a perfect fit. I will join Bank of America this summer and, what’s most important, the T’21 class will be present in all the top firms at Wall Street, showing that Tuck is a unique place for investment banking recruiting. Even before getting an internship offer, I knew Tuck was the right choice for my career goals.
*As of academic year 2021 – 2022, “Fall A” is now termed Summer Term and “Fall B” is termed Fall Term.
Franco Coria T’21 is from Argentina and, prior to Tuck, worked in the oil and gas industry both in his home country and Houston, TX. He is a Latin American (LATAM) ambassador and incoming co-chair of Hispanic American Student Association (HASA) at Tuck. This summer, he will be interning at Bank of America Securities (TMT group).
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