What is the AD Fellowship?

I knew I wanted to go into finance since freshman year of high school. My high school had a mandatory class that everyone must take at one point and so I decided to get over it at freshman year. But, I was so surprised seeing that a woman was the teacher and only teacher teaching business at my school. She inspired me to consider learning business and continued taking her classes until senior year. I also competed in DACA, and it made me realize that business and finance is not “boring” or just “crunching numbers.”

Once I was a senior and it was time to enroll for college and I knew I had to be in New York City. NYC is known to be the finance hub and I wanted to be in the center of it. I applied to Fordham University since it has a good business school and it was located in Manhattan.

Once I became a freshman at Fordham, all I knew was that I wanted to do finance but did not know many careers. Then, in one class, we were discussing different career paths and it was the first time that I heard about investment banking. It sounded so enticing because of the large pay you get and the reputation of it being prestigious. So, I was determined to become an investment banker but did not know how to.

Sophomore year rolled around and my friend, Sukhmanpreet Kaur, told me to apply to Access Distributed. I signed up on the spot because I wanted to learn finance, especially investment banking. We both got in and started our journey into finance.

THE AD FELLOWSHIP

Fall 2022 was such a hectic semester for me because I was in Consulting Cup. This was a semester long competition within my class in which I had to consult for a company. This was a large workload on top of exams, work, commuting, and being a part of AD. However, I did not view this in a negative light and rather seen this as an opportunity to grow and challenge myself. One thing that I learned about is time management and having a positive mindset. Everything that I have responsibility for, it being school or work, I imagined that there were multiple “Annas” that played different roles. During school, I only focused on being a student. At work, I focused on being an ice skating coach. During AD, I focused on being a team member and learning. By focusing on one thing at a time, it made me less stressed out and made me not feel so overwhelmed.

Anna and her team won the PE Case Competition at the 2023 AD Bootcamp in Washington, D.C.

THE IB RECRUITMENT PROCESS

The recruitment process was a 6-month endeavor for me. It started in January during AD’s boot camp, in which I got the wake-up call that I needed and started to really consider what type of career I wanted to pursue. Once I knew I wanted to enter investment banking, I started applying to every bank that had an application for that position.

I could explore more options primarily through diversity programs targeted at non-target schools and women. This is definitely something that I would advise everyone to try to get into because you get the feel of the bank culture, the working hours, the type of people there, and you want to be in an environment that works for you, not the other way around.

I wish I had created an Excel sheet with all the people I have connected with in these programs. You will be surprised how many people you will meet; the list gets long fast. So, get an Excel sheet that organizes everyone you meet, including their position, the bank, connection, etc.

When it hit mid-March, I started getting some interviews, and it was crunch time for interview prep. AD’s financeable models were helpful in explaining tricky concepts and gave you an ample number of potential interview questions. I also used the 400 Guide to practice some more technical questions. Surprisingly, the most challenging questions would be the behaviorals. I had to practice in front of a mirror to make sure I had a smile on my face when answering questions.

My biggest support system would be my mentors, whom AD provided, who would take time out of their busy schedules to do mock interviews with me and explain tricky concepts. They made me confident when answering questions, and I learned a lot from them. Additionally, my friend, Sukhmanpreet Kaur, a fellow AD member, was my most immense support since we went through this journey together at Fordham University while taking on a load of classes. Doing this journey yourself is possible, but having someone go through the process with you makes you feel you can accomplish anything.

I still had not received any offer by May, so I decided to take a break and travel. This break made me reconfigure myself and focus on my well-being, which I had neglected for months. Then, in June, I got an email from Lloyds Bank for an interview, and in July, I got my first offer. Luck played a role because I had never networked with Lloyd before getting that email. Initially shocked, I grabbed the opportunity to nail that interview with them. I am so happy that I got an offer at Lloyd’s because their culture is something I want to be a part of.

In November, I got invited to a dinner with some of the associates. They reminisced their time as an intern at Lyold’s and gave good advice and funny stories.