Ep. 54 - Say Yes to Everything Freshman Year, Then Go All In

<p>Tej Shah is a junior at the University of Illinois who just wrapped up a sophomore summer private equity internship at Water Street Healthcare Partners in Chicago, and has an incoming analyst offer at JPMorgan's M&amp;A group waiting for him next summer. </p><p><br /></p><p>In this episode, Tej walks through how the IVC Scholar Program connected him to the buy side before he even started junior year recruiting, how both the Water Street internship and his Adventis certifications became instant icebreakers in every banking interview, and why sending 10–20 networking emails a day in October and November of sophomore fall was the key to his JPM offer landing in January. </p><p><br /></p><p>We also dig into a networking mistake almost every recruiter makes on early calls and the "let the banker lead" mindset shift that fixes it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sign up for the Adventis Financial Modeling Certification (FMC) program at https://adventiscg.com</p><p><br /></p><p>---</p><p>Edited by Jamie Regan - ⁨@CreatedByRegan⁩ </p><p>Hosted by Ben Dowell</p><p>Guest: Tej Shah</p><p>---</p><p>CHAPTERS:</p><p>0:00 — Introduction &amp; Tej's Background</p><p>0:54 — Growing Up in Chicagoland &amp; Choosing U of I</p><p>2:09 — Saying Yes to Everything Freshman Year: Clubs, Fraternities &amp; More</p><p>3:55 — The PE Internship: What Tej Did at Water Street Healthcare Partners</p><p>7:08 — The Six-Week Case Study: Modeling a Pharma Carve-Out from Start to Finish</p><p>8:36 — Sitting in on Live Deals: SIMs, SIPs &amp; Monday Morning Meetings</p><p>9:35 — Key Learning: Understanding the Buy Side Before Going to the Sell Side</p><p>10:44 — The IVC Scholar Program: How It Works &amp; What It Unlocks</p><p>13:17 — How Tej First Heard About the IVC Program as a Freshman</p><p>15:48 — Freshman Year Strategy: Spread Out First, Then Focus Sophomore Year</p><p>17:09 — How the IVC Application &amp; Interview Process Works</p><p>18:32 — Coming Into Winter Break With a Lead: The Fourth Quarter Principle</p><p>19:34 — How Adventis &amp; the Water Street Offer Showed Up in Every Banking Interview</p><p>20:37 — You Don't Need a PE Internship — Any Experience Builds the Lead</p><p>22:15 — Why Interviewers Love Having Something to Dig Into on Your Resume</p><p>22:36 — Water Street Required Adventis — Tej Had Already Finished It</p><p>24:15 — How Tej Described the Adventis 90-Minute Standard in Interviews</p><p>25:48 — Why the Time Pressure Simulates Real On-Desk Conditions</p><p>26:28 — How Man