Loyola University Chicago


Interview Questions

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Interview Questions

 

It is imperative that you are well prepared to answer the following example questions before going into an interview.  Imagine the interview is your upcoming Corporate Finance Final!

 

 

100% Guaranteed Questions

 

Walk me through your resume.

Why Investment Banking / Sales & Trading / Research / M&A / Corporate Finance?

How do you value a company (particular to investment banking)?

Why did you choose Loyola University Chicago?

What were your fall term grades?  What was your GMAT score?  Why didn't you do better in ____ class?

What qualities do you think are important for this industry?  Do you possess those qualities?

Do you understand the structure of our summer program / your job requirements?

What is your greatest weakness?

Why should we hire you?

What do you do for fun?

With what other firms are you interviewing?  Are you also interviewing with consulting firms or for opportunities outside Investment Banking / Sales & Trading / PCS?

If I gave you an offer right now would you accept?

Rank the firms with whom you're interviewing in order of preference.

What questions do you have for me?

 

Personal Goals & Accomplishments

 

What made you choose your undergraduate school?  Why did you major in ___?

To what other business schools did you apply?  Which ones accepted you? Why did you not choose them?

What was your favorite class so far?

What are your 5-20 year career plans?

What is your proudest accomplishment?  Your most challenging personal experience?

Tell me about a time when you led a team or took responsibility either at school or in your prior job?

How do you work in teams?  How do you handle a non-contributing team member?  What do you add to a group when you take on a team assignment or group task?

Describe a failure.  What did you learn from it?

How do you handle stress?

Tell me a joke.

 

Financial Questions

 

Why would two companies merge?  What major factors drive mergers and acquisitions?

Why might a company choose debt over equity financing?

Where is our firm's stock trading at?

Where is the Dow Jones today? S&P? NASDAQ? 20-year or 30-year T-Bonds?

Where do you think interest rates will be 2 year from now?

Where is the market going?

Tell me three items on the front page of today's Wall Street Journal.

Do you personally invest in stocks?  Which ones?  Why?

 

Accounting Questions

 

Talk about the financial statements and how they relate to one another. If you could only choose one to look at, which one would it be and why?

What is EBITDA?

Company X's net income is ___; how do I compute their cash flow?

What is goodwill?  How does it effect net income?

Why would a company choose pooling over purchase accounting?

What is working capital?

What are deferred taxes?

 

General Questions

 

How does your past career qualify you for a position in investment banking / sales & trading / PCS?

What do you hope to accomplish this summer?

Rank the firms on Wall Street.  Where do you fit?  Who is our competition?  What differentiates our firm?  What are our strengths / weaknesses?

Describe a typical day for a full-time analyst/associate.

What is your greatest concern about Investment Banking / our firm?

 

 

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Loyola University ChicagoLoyola University Chicago
School of Business Administration
1 E. Pearson
Chicago, IL 60611-2196
Phone: 312.915.6112
Fax: 312.915.6118