Spring Week - Investment Banking and Risk Review

I really enjoyed my Spring Week! The structure was great and the ability to network with employees increased my practical awareness significantly. Despite this, I felt as if we weren't given an opportunity to explore other divisions and the Banking & Risk Spring week placed too much of a focus on M&A.

I felt valued from the very start. The introductory talk spent quite a while praising us for getting into the programme which was very competitive. Throughout the programme, our views were always taken into account by everyone - from anaylsts to MDs and HR too. I complained about not being able to see very well from the back as this is where my table was placed - and I was delighted to see that HR took my complaint into consideration and printed off powerpoint slides for my table to help with this issue! The only time I didn't feel valued was when an MD made an unfriendly comment during networking session but I'm assuming that this would be a rare occurence within the firm because everyone else seemed lovely.

I recieved a good amount of guidance - not just from the employees of the firm but form people on my team too. Analysts assisted us with out project work and whenever we had a problem they would always break it down in a clear way that I always understood. We also recieved a lot of career choice guidance and guidance on presentation skills too which was fantastic.

On the M&A case study we had to apply both mathematical and analytical skills as well as presentation skills which are all key for my degree choice which involves both mathematics and essay writing. Furthermore, since I study economies, havign the session on how t read the FT healped significantly.

It was structured quite well. I really liked that fact that we were given talks on the majority of divisions within IB and risk as well as the oppirtunity to network with employees at all levels. And the fact that we were given frequent snakc breaks was great too! However, I wish we were given more practical work.

It was such a friendly atmosphere. The people workign in HR were so kind and the majority of the other students on the Spring Week were lovely. Even most of the senior emloyees were very nice and open to questions and willing to help despite their busy schedule. Furthermore, the racial diversity made me feel extremely comfortable during the week.

We were given practical work and talks on each of the subdivisions within our division and this helped me learn so much about the various parts of an investmenr bank. Furthermore, the networking and questioning opportunities helped me expand my knowledge and ultimately add value to myself in terms of personal training and development.

I would say it helped me understand what it would be like to have a full time role within the company to a moderate extent. Having the opportunity to do practical work on an M&A transaction helped - but they removed a lot of the technical side so it wasn't too challenging (which can be seen as both a good and a bad thing.) A lot more could have been done, however it is understandable given the fact that the Spring Week is only 5 days long.

It really helped me understand the company culture. Before my spring week, I thought that J.P. Morgan wouldn't have a very friendly culture considering the fact that it is one of the best banks. However, I was definitely proved wrong. It is conservative, however, the majortiy of the people who work there are so nice.

It wasn't actually that valuable in terms of helping my decide my career path. I chose IB & Risk as a division becasue I wanted to explore wore within the Investment banking division. People often know about M&A, but not much else. However, the Spring Week definitely had a focus on M&A and the only practical we really did was M&A. It certainly confirmed that I enjoyed M&A, but it didn't expand my knowledge on other areas that much to the same extend to which it did with M&A.

The Spring Week wasn't paid, however, J.P Morgan do pay for your transport and accomodation if you need them to. They paid for us to stay in a nearby hotel that is only around 15 minutes away from the firm which is great. They also provided travelcards for us to use the DLR as we go to and from the office.

We were able to network every single day of the Spring Week. And this was fantastic because it wasn't just networking with juniour analysts but we were also given the oportunity to network with associates, EDs, VPs, MDs and members of HR and recruitment. As a result, we were able to gain further insight from several perspectives of the firm.

They were all quite good. I did, however, have a strange expierience as an MD was quite rude to me - but other than that everyone else was so friendly so I wouldn't say that this rare negative expierience would have a great impact on my overall opinion on this.

Yes I did. This wasn't explicitly presented to us but after questioning during networking events and presentations I was able to discover many opportunities available within the workplace. Maybe it would have been nice to have had a whole presentation for maybe like an hour in order to make us more informed about this.

I would say that J.P. Morgan's Spring Week (in the Banking and Risk division) is great if you want to gain some practical expierience in M&A. However, it isn't very balanced in terms of learning about the sub divisions within Investment Banking and Risk. Overall, the programme was fantastic and I believe that the networking opportunities could defintely lead to future opportunities.