"The Pulse" --#63 / Interview with FitFinance

SA 2026 interview szn is fast approaching! Don’t fall behind your competition by wasting time tracking applications.

Instead, use our Premium Database to gain access to 200+ banks/consulting/buyside firms. Venmo @ThePulsePrep $50 or pay with credit card (ThePulsePrep—Stripe.com) and shoot us an e-mail @[email protected]. Additional details of the database can be found below. Gain an edge over everyone by accessing a wealth of recruiting resources and detailed explanations of the interview processes of each firm.

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Looking for interview prep or a coach to help you navigate the process? Check the “Going Forward” section below for more details.

Last year, 85% of students coached received offers.

Recruiting Timeline:

Banking:

Where We’re At:

• SA 2025: Comerica opened its application this week. There are 119 banks recruiting for the SA 2025 season. Macquarie reopened its application. As previously mentioned, we will stop tracking this process within a month as we gear up for the SA 2026 season!

• FT 2025: Comerica Bank opened its FT apps this week. There are currently 30 firms actively recruiting for FT 2025. Interviews are happening as we speak. Please reach out if you are looking for coaching!

New SA 2025 Applications:

• Comerica Bank: Small Dallas-based bank (SA 2025)

• Macquarie: Large Australian bank (SA 2025)

New FT 2025 Applications:

• Comerica Bank: Small Dallas-based bank (SA 2025)

See below to gain access to our premium database, updated weekly, which houses the application processes for over 200+ banks/consulting/buyside firms! Gain an edge over everyone else by not having to spend countless hours tracking applications and deadlines.

Consulting:

Where We’re At:

• SA 2025: 20 SA 2025 applications have been released as well as 12 FT 2025 applications. Given economic conditions we expect recruiting to be very competitive this year. Increase your odds of landing an interview by applying early and often. Reach out if you're interested in a coaching session!

New SA 2025 apps:

• OC&C Strategy Consultants: Associate Consultant Intern (SA 2025)

New FT 2025 apps:

• Health Advances: Analyst (FT 2025)

Apply ASAP if you’re interested!

Buyside:

Where We’re At:

• SA 2025: Sagehall, Jane Street, and Harrison Street opened their SA 2025 apps this week amongst a few others. So far ~121 buyside shops have opened applications.

SA 2025 released apps:

• Sagehall: Real estate investing (SA 2025)

• Cambridge Associates: Investment intern (SA 2025)

• Lord Abbett: Investment intern (SA 2025)

• Haven Capital: REPE (SA 2025)

• Harrison Street: Investment intern (SA 2025)

• DMBRA: Fixed income investments (SA 2025)

• Jane Street: Quant trader, large hedge fund (SA 2025)

The database is updated weekly and contains 200+ Investment Banking and Consulting internships/full-time positions along with:

• Interview tips for specific companies

• Interview prep material

• Applications and deadlines linked so that you can apply with one click

• Insider information about the application process

• Professionals to network with

• Buyside deadlines, interview prep, and people to network with for the sweatiest of students

We send the updated dataset every week with the latest banking and consulting job postings. We released our 63rd update today.

Students we have been helping have already landed roles at Blackstone, Goldman, J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, Citi, and Solomon.

To get access to the database and the weekly updates, you pay a one-time fee of $50 (Venmo: ThePulsePrep / Credit Card: (ThePulsePrep—Stripe.com)) that grants you annual access to the updated database (You can enable purchase protection if concerned). If you don’t find our services helpful, we simply ask for feedback on an area we can improve upon and will refund your $50.

This is a small investment for a huge payout when you secure your dream offer!

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Market Update:

Interview with FitFinance

Before diving in, be sure to drop @Fit Finance Bro a follow on Instagram! Great page with tons of banking-focused content!

Had a great chat with FitFinance where we spoke about recruiting and the future of FitFinance. Hope you enjoy!

1. What did your interview process look like? When did you prep? How did you prep? When did you start getting interviews?

   • I was late to the recruiting game. I wasn’t aware that recruiting started so early due to the lack of resources at my school. The Pulse would have been incredibly helpful here! Essentially, I wasn’t aware of the interviews until well after they happened in spring of sophomore year. I got a lot of interviews and experience during the fall of junior year while recruiting in a more off-cycle process. I believe the interviews I got were mostly ad-hoc with me filling in the spots of where a target kid dropped out or something. 

   • I put my head down and did my best during that fall but still didn’t land anything in banking. I did land a job in PE at a family fund on the West Coast where I ultimately got a full-time return offer, but didn’t want to take it. I really wanted to do banking fresh out of undergrad.

   • Fall of senior year I looked to recruit full-time for banking. I had some good interviews and networked my way into a lot of processes. This is why I stress networking so much. My resume was great, but my school was a hindrance, and I was late to recruiting. However, networking got me a bunch of interviews my fall of senior year. I finally accepted an offer in January before graduating.

2. What interview advice would you give to a college student? What are some red flags you’ve seen in candidates that our readers should be aware of?

   • Classic resume tips need to be followed to the T. Formatting must be perfect, no deviations. A GPA below 3.5 is probably a red flag because it speaks to poorer work ethic and poorer sense of urgency. Just want to clarify here, a GPA below 3.5 does not speak to a difference in intelligence, rather it amplifies a difference in work ethic. 

   • When going into actual interviews, two main pieces of advice: i). don’t try to sound smarter than you are and ii). quickly get to the point without stumbling over your words, this is effective communication. 

   • I was able to progress because I showed I can learn quickly— even if I’m not the smartest kid. My VP told me you can teach anyone to be an analyst, but how quickly someone can become an analyst is hard to find. During interviews, I did my best to answer the questions and ask good questions to the interviewer to turn the interview into a problem-solving conversation. Some last words of advice, you’re never going to impress anyone with your technical skills as an analyst or intern.

3. What was the hardest question asked during an interview?

   • Oh man, in one of my case studies I had to do a stock pitch and explain why the company I picked had the capital structure it had as well as explain why it was valued the way it was. This wasn’t one single question, but definitely my toughest interview. Costco was my company. At the end of the day my answers were good enough to get the job done and move forward, but certainly a grind.

4.  Toughest place you interviewed at?

• Funny enough, the place I’m at now! I was the most prepared, but they asked me the toughest questions. When I interviewed in sophomore and junior year, I got interviews at large firms like Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley, but I wasn’t ready for their interviews because of how early they recruited. Looking back, those questions weren’t even that difficult and I’d crush them today. 

• Regardless, I’m much happier at my current firm. 

-Now onto some page-related questions-

5. First, what is your goal with FitFinance and how did you get started with it?

• To kick things off, I don’t take the account too seriously. What I mean by that is I like my job and haven’t explored many routes to monetize my content. That being said, I’ll walk down the path of how I got started with FitFinance. 

• I got into fitness well before finance back when the pandemic started. So, call it around 2020. At first, I wanted to start a fitness IG account. However, I was just some skinny kid with no muscle and no real training regimen–which led me to put the fitness account on pause. 

• When I hit my sophomore year, I was the only person from my non-target, state school going down the IB path. I used forums to learn about the industry and recruiting process. But my problem here was that I didn’t start recruiting until late spring of my sophomore year and ended up missing a bunch of deadlines. Finally, in January of my senior year I landed an IB job at a MM West Coast boutique.

“So, what do you want to achieve with FitFinance?”

• I want to show that you can live this work-heavy lifestyle while staying healthy. My father is a physical therapist and taught me the importance of maintaining a healthy body. So, I wanted to achieve a high-earning lifestyle in IB while maintaining my health. The “first-year 15” is notorious in banking and is more or less status-quo given the dramatic lifestyle change from walking around campus all day to being chained to a desk for 12-16 hours each day.  

• Also, I’m at a MM firm on the West Coast. I want to show that there are other IB options besides cranking away at places like MS and GS. You can still work the job while lifting and looking good while doing it. 

“Would you ever go full-time with FitFinance?”

• Going FT would be interesting. I would have to move towards coaching with either fitness or IB to monetize my platform. I definitely wouldn’t create my own course–there are too many other people doing that. 

• When considering going FT with FitFinance, it might actually be counterproductive. I don’t think I’d be as much of an example because I wouldn’t actually be working in IB anymore. I haven’t placed much thought yet into going FT with FitFinance. At the moment, I don’t monetize anything.  

“So your platform is inherently different from other accounts we have interviewed who are 100% anon like High Yield Harry and Unstructured Capital. Why did you choose to be the face of your account, but not share your name? 

• With my current style I believe I can be genuine, but also reserve my privacy. This helps me develop a strong relationship with my followers. My firm knows I have the account and it grew really quick in the first month. I took the proactive step of telling my firm, but am careful about what I show regarding name, location, and anything confidential. 

6. What brought you to the world of finance? –outside of money and prestige and what was your background getting into finance (target or non-target, internships, etc.)?

• Didn’t go for money or prestige initially. Still not focused on prestige given I sit at a MM firm on the West Coast which has great culture. I wanted to enter M&A because I got to help with the sale of my Dad’s small business–dealt with an accountant, lawyer, and the buyer. I was fascinated by the valuation of my dad’s firm. My dad was a PT and owned his own fitness center. Seeing the operations of a business and dialing that back to the valuation of the Company really interested me. 

• In HS, I didn’t have much of a drive and ended up at the furthest thing from a target you can get. Maybe one person from my school would go into IB every 4-6 years? What really peaked my interest with IB was advice provided by a family friend who was the CEO of a few public companies. At a barbeque in my freshman year, we got to chatting and he mentioned that it sounded like my interests aligned with IB. He was a good mentor and helped me shape my interests into actionable careers and also connected me with a few bankers. 

• Unfortunately, these initial connections didn’t lead anywhere so I resulted to boots on the ground networking with any relevant alumni, asking for referrals through them, etc. These connections also did not lead to a job or internship initially, but provided great insights on the industry. 

• For my sophomore summer, I was finally able to stick a local ER internship where I stayed part-time for junior year. As I touched upon previously, I was late to the recruiting game and interviewed at a lot of banks during sophomore summer and fall of my junior year but didn’t land anything. Finally, I landed a job at a PE family fund on the West Coast. This opportunity provided me with industry exposure and strategy skills, but not the modeling skills needed for banking. 

• So, starting my senior year I knew I needed to do banking for the hard skills. I networked my way into the position I sit in today—at a firm that didn’t even post a job opening. Networking put me through the first few rounds and then I had the superday. Got the offer and here I am today.  

• ^btw wouldn’t give that answer for any banking interview asking me to “tell me about myself” hahaha. Would stick to the 30sec - 1min rule.

7. What do you like about a MM bank vs. a larger / sweatier bank?

• I like the better WLB and smaller deal teams. At the junior level, I get more responsibility at a middle market boutique. The other day I went to join a pitch which was incredible experience vs. someone at a BB who is more or less just banging around in Excel and Powerpoint. The generalist aspect at my firm offers greater diversity of experience because every deal is not the same. What kind of sucks is that there is not a specific template for every scenario to plug in numbers or logos. Also, we look across industries and client sizes which presents unique challenges to learn a new industry every single deal. 

• I also really like the flexible culture my firm offers. It’s not a big ‘face-time’ culture and I don’t need to be chained to my desk if I have nothing to do or am just waiting for comments. Some other cons are that the exit opportunities aren’t as great, and compensation won’t be as high as a BB. I started a few months ago and am not getting headhunted like analysts at larger firms. But I also don’t feel the need to exit. Banking at this shop feels like a more sustainable career given the more flexible culture at my firm. 

8. Would you ever go to the buyside? Any other job? Or do you plan on staying in banking for the long haul?

• I think I’d like to try the busyide again in the future because I think the buyside and strategic acquisition can be more engaging than a sell-side process. But, as I said, I don’t really feel the need to look elsewhere at the moment.

9. What are a few things that are different about working full-time vs. the info you read online/learn in class?

• There is a lot more administrative work in real life vs. what you see online. As an analyst, you’re the lowest on the totem pole with the weakest skillset and someone has to do the administrative tasks. There is also a lot more critical thinking involved in the job than what you see on the forums where all people complain about is how stupid or easy this job is. Working full-time, you gotta think a lot deeper about what is important for a business and how it works.

• On the technical side, you actually need to think critically about your inputs vs. just rolling with any given set of assumptions. Does the WACC actually make sense? Does it really reflect the capital intensity of this company? These are questions I ask myself every day.   

• Also, everything needs to be client ready. No low-quality work product is ever allowed to slide. Much different than work done at school IMO.

-Onto Markets-

10. What current market force do you obsess over?

• The yield curve (check out our thoughts here: "The Pulse" --#58 / Longest Yield Curve Inversion Ever (beehiiv.com). Whatever the FED does will determine my deal flow and how work will be over the next year.

That concludes our interview. A huge thank you to @Fit Finance Bro for the fantastic insights and great conversation! Please be sure to follow his Instagram: @Fit Finance Bro

Let us know if you want to see more of these in the future! Let us know if there is someone specific you want us to reach!

Disclosure: Nothing written here is financial advice or should be used for investment decisions.

How to Pick Up the Phone

We spoke about networking back in: "The Pulse" --#35 (beehiiv.com).

Today, we focus purely on picking up the fuckin phone.

We get it. Networking can be frightening when you’re a sophomore in college who feels like a total idiot.

“This guy has unc status, the fuck do we talk about?” “This woman looks like she hasn’t blinked in 5 years, is she going to verbally assault me over the phone for being clueless?”

^we have asked ourselves those types of questions before.

Short answer:: you just need to start. And you need to start TODAY!

Steps:

1. Use RocketReach or LinkedIn to find professionals at various firms (our Premium Database does this for you)

2. Craft a relatively generic message to send to analysts, associates, and VPs…but don’t go crazy. Try 3-5 people at any given firm. Maximum. For every 10 messages you send, shoot 5 to analysts, 3 to associates, and 2 to VPs (or EDs / MDs)

Format: 1 sentence introducing yourself, 1 sentence stating why you want to speak with them. 1 sentence asking if you can set up a time to chat, drop 1 or 2 days/times that work for you. Thank them and say you will appreciate any help you can get.

3. When you get on the phone, just be normal. Re-introduce yourself and shoot the shit for the first 2-5 minutes (weather, current event, etc). Then dive into some questions about their interests + job. DON’T ask: “what does a day in the life look like?” You already know the answer! And if you don’t, check out what we said here: DITL IB Analyst

4. Finish the call thanking the professional for their time and ask if there is anyone else at the firm you can speak with

Maybe 1 /1,000 calls will lead to you being verbally assaulted for being clueless. That’s not your fault, that’s just a dick move by the professional on the other end of the line.

Going Forward:

We need a few interns to help us out this upcoming school year. Please follow directions specified in the poll above to be considered.

Coaching Details:

• 1 hour session = $50. (Venmo @ThePulsePrep or Credit Card: ThePulsePrep—Stripe.com

• 30-minute session = $30. Venmo @ThePulsePrep or Credit Card: ThePulsePrep—Stripe.com

• Email us with your availability and we will be happy to schedule a session @[email protected] 

Students we coached for SA 2025 have received offers at Goldman, JP Morgan, Evercore, and many other firms. Roughly 85% of those coached received offers last year!

Please reach out to us with any questions about recruiting or if you’re interested in meeting the team! ([email protected])

We are happy to chat, review resumes, or help set up a coaching session

Check us out on LinkedIn (The Pulse) and Instagram (ThePulse) too!

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The Pulse

“The Pulse” #63