An Expert's Honest Guide to Breaking into High Finance
Episode 53 | September 7, 2026
Breaking into investment banking and other high-finance careers has become increasingly competitive… and increasingly accelerated.
In Episode 53 of The Coffee Chat, Ben speaks with Mary Ellen Ryan, Senior Associate Director of Undergraduate Career Development at Bentley University, about what students should know before navigating today's recruiting process.
With nearly 12 years of experience advising undergraduate finance students (and 400 to 500 one-on-one appointments in a typical year), Mary Ellen has a front-row view of recruiting timelines, employer expectations, and the challenges students face.
Her most important message? Start earlier than you think.
"The students that I have seen have the most success breaking into banking have it on their radar pretty shortly after they walk on campus."
For first-year students, that does not mean having everything figured out immediately. Instead, Mary Ellen encourages students to explore.
Some of her recommendations include:
Attend finance and business club meetings to discover what interests you.
Aim for a strong GPA from your first semester.
Develop technical skills in Excel, PowerPoint, Bloomberg, and financial modeling.
Learn about different career paths through speaker events, online resources, and conversations with professionals.
Focus on quality over quantity when choosing extracurricular activities.
For sophomores interested in investment banking, however, the timeline becomes much more demanding. Mary Ellen describes sophomore fall as a "critical bridge to recruiting season."
“Students should begin networking, refining their personal story, preparing for interviews, and building their technical knowledge. As she explains, employers are increasingly looking beyond memorized answers.
"It's not enough anymore" to simply repeat technical concepts, Mary Ellen says. Students need to understand the mechanics behind the questions and demonstrate genuine knowledge.
Ben summarizes the challenge clearly: "If you're a sophomore, it's go time, or you're going to get left behind."
Still, Mary Ellen's advice remains balanced. Recruiting requires preparation and consistency, but students should also remain open-minded about the many career paths available across finance and business.
Her final recommendation is simple: be proactive, start early, and keep exploring.
As Mary Ellen puts it, "You can always slow down, you can always self-select out, but it's a lot easier to do that than to try and get caught up."
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