How the Process Works
A plain-English breakdown of undergraduate finance recruiting — IB, consulting, and buyside.
The most structured recruiting process in finance — and it starts earlier than you think.
Investment banking is one of the most competitive entry-level paths in finance. Banks hire analysts straight out of undergrad to work on M&A deals, IPOs, debt offerings, and more. The hours are demanding (80–100 hrs/week is real), but the compensation, exit opportunities, and skill development are unmatched.
The Recruiting Timeline
Freshman Year
Build Foundation
Sophomore Fall
Apps & Networking
Sophomore Fall/Winter
HireVues + First Rounds
Sophomore Winter
The Superday
Sophomore Spring/Summer
The Offer
Junior Summer
The Internship
Freshman Year
Build Foundation
Sophomore Fall
Apps & Networking
Sophomore Fall/Winter
HireVues + First Rounds
Sophomore Winter
The Superday
Sophomore Spring/Summer
The Offer
Junior Summer
The Internship
Freshman Summer — Build Your Foundation
The process starts early. Banks recruit for junior summer internships while you're still a sophomore, which means your sophomore year networking directly determines your junior summer internship. Join your school's finance or IB club, maintain a strong GPA, and start having "coffee chats" with alumni on LinkedIn. Familiarize yourself with Investment Banking throughout the summer and start your networking around mid-late August / early September before starting your sophomore year.
Sophomore Year Fall — Applications & Networking
By September of your sophomore year, summer analyst applications at bulge brackets and elite boutiques are opening. Apply early & often — many firms review apps on a rolling basis. This is the single BEST advice anyone can give you. Do not make the mistake of waiting to secure X amount of networking chats at any given firm before applying.
Sophomore Year Fall/Winter — HireVue & First Rounds
Most large banks use automated HireVue video interviews as a first screening round. Practice your responses out loud and during mock interviews until they're fluid. First-round interviews cover your story, why banking, why this firm, and basic technical questions around accounting, valuation, and M&A.
Sophomore Year Winter — The Superday
The Superday is the final round — back-to-back interviews with 4–6 bankers from analyst to MD. Expect a mix of behavioral and technical questions. Offer rates at a given Superday are roughly 30–40%, so apply broadly and attend as many as you can.
Sophomore Spring / Summer — The Offer
Offers are typically administered within a week of a Superday. You'll see the early hype on LinkedIn for the real sweats who lock down offers in January and February, but the bulk are provided between March and May.
Junior Summer — The Internship
The internship is a 10-week extended interview. Most banks extend full-time return offers to the majority of their interns (historically 70%+). Show up early, ask smart questions, be coachable, and be a person — fit matters just as much as technical skills.
Section 02
What is Investment Banking?
The Intermediary Model
Companies
Need capital & advice
Investors
Supply capital, seek returns
Investment Bank
The intermediary connecting both sides
Underwriting
IPOs, bonds, stock issuance
Advisory
M&A, deals, restructuring
Sales & Trading
Markets, securities
Asset Mgmt
Managing portfolios
Fees & Spreads
How the bank earns its revenue
Companies
Need capital & advice
Investors
Supply capital, seek returns
Investment Bank
The intermediary connecting both sides
Underwriting
IPOs, bonds, stock issuance
Advisory
M&A, deals, restructuring
Sales & Trading
Markets, securities
Asset Mgmt
Managing portfolios
Fees & Spreads
How the bank earns its revenue
The Underwriting Process
Investment banks may underwrite issuances of:
Revolving credit facilities: Senior secured “corporate credit cards” typically used for liquidity and working capital purposes. These facilities are the most senior in the capital structure and banks may actually hold slices of them on balance sheet.
Loans: Floating-rate, 3-5 year financing to provide a lump sum of capital to be used to pursue strategic initiatives. For example: financing an acquisition of another company. Companies of all sizes can access loan financing through the public and private markets. Loans are typically junior to revolving credit facilities, but senior to all other securities in the capital structure.
Bonds: Fixed-rate, long-duration financing to provide a lump sum of capital to be used to pursue strategic initiatives. For example: building data centers. Companies issuing bonds are typically the largest, most credit-worthy companies. Bonds are typically junior relative to loans, but senior to all forms of equity in the capital structure.
Preferred equity: Debt-like equity which pays a fixed coupon. However, there is no recourse or risk of default for being unable to meet a preferred equity coupon payment. Senior to common equity in the capital structure.
Common equity: Shares of the underlying company which provide the holder a claim on ownership of the business. Most junior in the capital structure behind all other forms of financing.
Investment banks do NOT invest in these companies by holding the risk of the underlying securities for an extended period of time. The business model is fee-based; investment bankers look to underwrite as many deals as possible to generate the most amount of fees. The underlying securities they underwrite are sold to capital providers such as funds, large financial institutions, insurance companies, etc.
The Advisory Process
Corporate advisory primarily comes in three forms:
Advising on M&A: Investment banks are paid a % of announced M&A deals for providing the valuation work and marketing materials. A large component of M&A advisory is just pitching prospective opportunities to funds and companies until an NDA is signed to initiate the process.
Advising on IPOs: Investment banks are paid a % of the announced capital raise completed during an IPO. An IPO brings a private company to the public market where they sell equity in exchange for capital.
Advising on Restructurings: Bankers will also provide advisory to companies undergoing periods of stress by restructuring their capital structures.
Section 03
What do Analysts Do?
Analysts are the bottom of the banking food chain. They prepare materials (models, pitch books, etc) to be leveraged by seniors to win new business. It's a lot of Excel and Powerpoint work. Analysts rarely manage client relationships or prospect for new deals. The analyst job requires significant attention to detail and time management skills as you'll be staffed on multiple projects simultaneously.
Read a few pages on Google to find more detail about the analyst job. Beyond what is said above, you do not need to know more detail about what the job actually entails in order to get the offer.
The Analyst Workflow
Staffing Request
Assigned by senior banker
Ad-Hoc Projects
Updating internal trackers, organizing data rooms, building case studies, etc
Gather Data
Filings, comps, research
Build Models
DCF, LBO, valuation
Prepare Pitch Book
Slides & analysis
Senior Review
Markups & revisions
Deliver to Client
Meeting or send-out
Staffing Request
Assigned by senior banker
Ad-Hoc Projects
Updating internal trackers, organizing data rooms, building case studies, etc
Gather Data
Filings, comps, research
Build Models
DCF, LBO, valuation
Prepare Pitch Book
Slides & analysis
Senior Review
Markups & revisions
Deliver to Client
Meeting or send-out