Ep. 51 - How a Hotel School Student Landed a Wells Fargo Banking Offer

Ep. 51 - How a Hotel School Student Landed a Wells Fargo Banking Offer

In this episode of The Coffee Chat Podcast, Ben sits down with Darren Shum, a junior at Cornell's Hotel School who just accepted a summer investment banking internship at Wells Fargo and turned down an offer from Nomura to get there. Darren explains how his unconventional major actually became a differentiator, particularly for real estate IB, and how Cornell's massive alumni network is both a huge asset and a serious challenge. He walks through the mid-August outreach strategy that earned him 20-30% response rates when everyone else was getting single digits, the four-touch follow-up system he used to build real relationships over time, and the Adventis shared experience that turned a Nomura Super Day into an offer. We also get into the right and wrong ways to use AI in recruiting, including why you should never use AI as your current events answer. Sign up for the Adventis Financial Modeling Certification (FMC) program at https://adventiscg.com --- Edited by Jamie Regan - @CreatedByRegan Hosted by Ben Dowell Guest: Darren Shum --- 0:00 — Introduction & Darren's Background 0:52 — Why Cornell's Hotel School Is a Hidden Edge in Banking Recruiting 3:19 — Hotels, Real Estate & Why the Hotel School Feeds Directly into REIB 5:11 — Cornell Hotel Alumni in Banking: The Shared Experience Advantage 7:00 — The Restaurant Management Class: Running a Real Restaurant on Campus 9:48 — The Dark Side of a Target School: 400+ People Competing for the Same Roles 10:39 — What Happens When 500 Students Swarm One Banker at a Campus Event 11:56 — 1,000 Cornell Banking Alumni & Overflowing Inboxes 13:16 — When to Start Emailing: The Mid-August Sweet Spot 14:03 — Why Emailing Too Early Can Actually Hurt You 15:18 — Response Rates: 20-30% in August vs. Single Digits in December 16:55 — The Four-Touch Follow-Up System That Kept Connections Warm 18:49 — The Final Holiday Email: Turning a Relationship Into a Referral Call 19:56 — The Adventis Shared Experience That Turned a Nomura Super Day Into an Offer 21:22 — Why a Certification Is More Than a Piece of Paper in the Interview Room 23:15 — What "Creating an Advocate in the Room" Actually Means 24:19 — Using AI for Mock Interviews: What Works and What Doesn't 25:44 — Why AI Fails at Scraping LinkedIn for Networking Lists 27:02 — The Right Way to Use AI: The 400 Questions Mock Interview Trick 28:41 — Mastering Technical Tools as a Junior Hire 30:11 — Pro Tip: Don't Talk About AI as Your Current Events Answer 31:43 — Final Advice: Start Early, Customize Every Email & Don't Blast the Same Group 33:49 — Closing Remarks & Congrats to Darren

Ep. 50 - Should You Choose Wealth Management Over Investment Banking?

In this episode of The Coffee Chat Podcast, Ben sits down with Yash Bansal, a sophomore at the University of Illinois who just landed a junior year analyst internship at JP Morgan's Private Bank. In this episode, Yash shares how early stock market interest led him to finance and how a single cold email to a Merrill Lynch advisor helped him narrow his focus to wealth management over investment banking or asset management. We cover his recruiting timeline, how he tackled HireVue as part of his application, what got him straight to a Super Day, and how the Adventis program helped him visualize financial statements under interview pressure. Ben and Yash also get into practical networking techniques, including how to turn a list of questions into an actual conversation, the email syntax trick for cold outreach, and the litmus test for a truly unique "why this firm" answer. Sign up for the Adventis Financial Modeling Certification (FMC) program at https://adventiscg.com

Ep. 49 - How Being a Pre-Med Student Helped Him Land a Top IB Internship

In this episode of The Coffee Chat Podcast, Ben sits down with Magnus Gadowsky, a sophomore at Amherst College who started college on a pre-med track and just accepted a junior year investment banking internship at Triple Tree in New York. In this episode, Magnus shares how shadowing an orthopedic surgeon and an unexpected internship at Magnetar Capital sent him down a completely different path. We cover how he used his healthcare background as a genuine differentiator across 60+ networking calls, how Adventis helped him understand what investment banking actually was, and how a connection through an Amherst friend led him to Triple Tree. Magnus also shares one of the best interview tips we've heard on the show, going deep enough on firm culture to uncover something truly unique, not just the generic talking points. Sign up for the Adventis Financial Modeling Certification (FMC) program at https://adventiscg.com --- Edited by Jamie Regan - ⁨@CreatedByRegan⁩ Hosted by Ben Dowell Guest: Magnus Gadowsky --- 0:00 — Introduction & Magnus's Background 1:19 — Starting Pre-Med: Shadowing an Orthopedic Surgeon 4:27 — The Surgery Sales Rep Conversation That Changed Everything 5:49 — How a Hedge Fund Internship at Magnetar Capital Happened 7:22 — Being Opportunistic: Taking Internships Off Your Planned Track 9:22 — What Magnus Actually Did at Magnetar Capital 10:06 — Falling in Love with Excel & Financial Modeling 11:50 — Coming Out of Magnetar: Still Not Sure About IB 12:35 — How Adventis Clarified the Path to Investment Banking 13:25 — Starting to Network: Reaching Out to Recent Alums 14:08 — 60+ Networking Calls: How the Story Snowballed 15:18 — Why a Unique, Authentic Story Opens More Doors 17:14 — Casting a Wide Net While Staying True to Healthcare 18:07 — How Magnus Found Triple Tree & Connected with the Right People 19:23 — Why Industry Experience Matters in Healthcare Banking 21:17 — Sophomore Summer Plans & Looking Ahead 22:16 — Following Your Genuine Interest Through Networking 23:24 — How Triple Tree Came Up & Working Through Amherst Connections 24:29 — Preparing for the Internship: Adventis, Newsletters & Staying Sharp 29:19 — Unique Interview Advice: Going Deep on Firm Culture 30:25 — The Pond Hockey Story: What Real Culture Research Looks Like 33:04 — Making It Easy for Interviewers to Picture You There 34:10 — Don't Get Blinders On: Let Networking Tell You Where to Go 35:35 — Closing Remarks & Congrats to Magnus

Ep. 48 - The Recruiting Mindset That Earned Her a Junior Year Banking Offer

In this episode of The Coffee Chat, Ben sits down with Hadley Siena, a sophomore at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who just accepted a junior year investment banking internship at BMO in Chicago. Hadley shares how an international upbringing, including a formative experience in the Philippines through CISV, sparked her interest in business and ultimately led her to investment banking. We dig into her preparation timeline, from the Prime M&A Case Competition freshman year to grinding the 400 questions guide and earning her Adventis certification. Hadley also walks through her networking strategy, the value of in-person coffee chats, how she used AI tools like ChatGPT for mock interview practice, and what she learned from recruiting in both New York and Chicago.

Ep. 46 - How Persistent Networking Landed Him an Investment Banking Career

In this episode of The Coffee Chat, Ben sits down with Eric Ren, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign graduate who built his way into investment banking at Deutsche Bank. Eric shares how he navigated recruiting during COVID, cold-emailed hundreds of bankers, flew to New York to network in person, and developed the technical skills that helped him stand out once he landed on the desk. If you're interested in investment banking recruiting, networking strategy, and breaking into Wall Street from a non-traditional path, this episode provides a practical playbook. Sign up for the Adventis Financial Modeling Certification (FMC) program at https://adventiscg.com Edited by Jamie Regan -  ⁨@CreatedByRegan⁩  [https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCNjATFQukFHulZf8LQKjQvw] Hosted by Ben Dowell Guest: Isaac (Ike) Cymerman