This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sara Thomas, 22, a 2025 graduate from the University of Chicago and incoming investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley. Business Insider’s recent “Path to Wall Street” series highlighted how finance careers continue to attract young talent, despite the industry’s long hours and demanding entry-level roles. Entry-level bankers typically earn about $110,000 a year, not including bonuses. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I had barely decided on banking as a career choice when I had to start preparing for interviews.
My experience was similar to most stories I’ve heard about the banking world: the recruiting process starts early.
Before submitting my internship applications, I spoke to about five people at each major bank — mostly recent UChicago grads and people the university’s career advancement program connected me with — so they would recognize my name when they saw my résumé. Cold LinkedIn messaging didn’t work very well for me. Those introductions are often necessary to get an interview.
At most banks, I interviewed for multiple rounds, including calls focused on my personality and technical skills and a two-hour “super day.” The whole process lasted about two weeks. Then, by the spring of my sophomore year, I was done. I landed an internship at Morgan Stanley, and I knew my full-time job would be set as long as I got a return offer. My prior internships had been at Bain Capital and the Chicago-based firm Ariel Investments.
The only other career trajectory I considered in college was academia. I studied economics and considered getting involved with economics research, but I realized it wasn’t for me. I just work better in a faster-paced finance environment. In my free time at school, I tried to focus on clubs and internships that would keep me close to startups and entrepreneurship, so I joined a venture capital fund on campus. I was also involved in a campus group for women and minorities interested in finance and investing. Those opportunities really helped me build my industry chops.
I would tell any college student hoping to land a Wall Street or Silicon Valley job: be decisive. Even if investment banking or consulting isn’t your lifelong passion, plan to commit to a career path sooner rather than later, so that you can give yourself the most amount of time to prepare, network, and do really well in the interviews. And, for the application process, students need to be careful with what they put on their résumé — recruiters pay a lot of attention to the “skills and interests” section at the bottom. Don’t say that you’re a mountain climber if you have never climbed a mountain, because people will ask you about your hobbies, and you need to be able to genuinely talk about them. Of course, your credentials matter, but I’ve found that recruiters are most interested in meeting well-rounded people.
Job applications and postgrad life make me anxious sometimes. I’ve leaned on my friends a lot: Some aren’t going into finance, others have gone through recruiting alongside me. I’m also grateful for my family — my Morgan Stanley role will be in San Francisco, and it will be the first time I’ve moved far from home, since I grew up in Chicago. Exercise has always been a coping strategy for me, too. I’m trying to build healthy habits and make sure I don’t isolate myself. Those are the main ways I’m dealing with stress.
Long, long term, my biggest goal is to be able to work for myself in some way. That could mean working at a big company that gives me a lot of autonomy to make decisions or starting my own company, if I am brave enough to do that. For now, I’m excited to keep building my career and learning from my coworkers. Having engaging conversations with people you’ve never met can be the most challenging part of the finance industry, but it’s also the most rewarding.
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