My best friend (who happens to live abroad) has the opportunity to teach French as a TA for a year at Upenn, Chicago University, Cornell, or Columbia. He will be taking classes there at the same time, and pretty much will be like a normal student (minus the exchange factor, and the teaching factor).
He is leaning towards Upenn or Chicago U, and I am trying to convince him to do banking. Considering that he will have access to recruiters, and could easily access all company presentations and network his ass off.
The problem is that money does not motivate him as much as some people, and he is most likely going to become a professor. I do not want him to regret not having gone into banking, thus I want to convince him to join the most rewarding profession in the world. (He also is not too keen on doing an internship in a bank to try it out, sadly.)
S&T might be too intense for him, and you really need to love the markets to do it. So I figured M&A would be more his cup of tea.
What arguments should I use to motivate him? what books can really make him fall in love with the profession? What movies can make him want to be a banker? What small things could he not refuse doing that would get him close to the profession (ie: attending ONE company presentation, but which company would be the best to motivate him?)
leaving aside for a moment that this is a pretty bizarre thread .... my .02 is that between uchicago & upenn, he should go to uchicago. the recruitment scene there is not competitive at all - ie kids with 3.0 GPAs & no work experience were getting BB interviews last year for SA's, no joke. Secondly, UChicago is an extreme example of a heavily academic community and, coincidentally -- it is known as the campus where "fun goes to die" -- perhaps your friend will go to UChicago, realize that academia sucks and go into banking.
eh gotta disagree with you there srr, penn is a better school and UC is known for being no fun at all. why do you feel the need to convince your friend to go into banking? what is wrong with academia? if money doesnt motivate him and he is more interested in finance than academia i think you should let him be. professors still make good money, sure not million upon millions but if he can have an enjoyable career and live comfortably there is nothing wrong with that...
"the most rewarding profession in the world"?
this board has reached a new level of self-masturbation.
if i were your friend, i'd tell you to go take a hike and leave me alone.
yea, but bateman - the difference is that the kid isn't going to be a student at penn or uchicago - he'll just have access to their on campus recruitment etc. if he was going to get a degree, then i'd definitely agree that the kid should go to penn. however, if he's just sort of hanging around campus/working - i think that in terms of TAing a subject other than something Wharton-esque, that Uchicago and Penn are about equal, in fact, if anything Uchicago is more highly regarded academically. Additionally, i totally agree that Wharton is more fun than UChicago, but again, if the dude's goal is really to persuade his friend to do finance, he should go to UChicago and realize how much academia blows.
That being said,I have to say that this entire line of inquiry, Disjoint, reeks a bit of playing god. Who are you to decide that what you deem the "best career path" is the correct option for your friend? Maybe you're mentoring the kid...? In which case I would sort of understand. But anyway.
Disjoint, you're a bit weird.
If he has no interest in money than banking is surely not for him. Is there really any other reason to get into banking? I also find it bizarre that you have some vested interest in convincing him to go into banking unless you took out a life insurance policy on the guy and listed yourself as the beneficiary.
We lived in the same building for 12 years since we were born. I am not mentoring him, but as I said he is my best friend and he has helped me out throughout the year, so considering banking really is the only thing I know of, I really want him to give it a try. I agree that banking might not be for everyone, and is not the best job in the world. In his case he is just going to be a professor because his parents were professors, his grand parents were professors, and even though he doesn't have a lot of motivation for being one, he is going to do it because he is not really motivated by anything else in particular. Considering that he has a great opportunity to access banking recruiters effortlessly, I would really want him to give it a try.
So, what arguments do you guys have to convince someone to do banking apart from money?
Remember, you will always be a salesman, no matter how fancy your title is. - My ex girlfriend
Industry exposure for future economic work? He'll have a better understanding of the implementations of academic valuation techniques? That could be useful for a financial economist
To be fair I can partially understand where Disjoint is coming from.
For students who have decided to go into banking it is somewhat more comfortable to have friends who are also going into banking. At least for me, I don't really know what working an 80 hour week will be like, how miserable the lifestyle can really get, etc. and of course it would be nice to have someone with whom I can share the excitement/fear.
That being said, just as it would seem morally wrong to force someone into indentured servitude, I think it can be seen as morally wrong to coerce someone into banking.
hmm. money doesnt drive him. he wants to go into academia. and you're trying to get him to sell his soul and do nothing but work in a field he doesnt want to be in so he can make a lot of money, which disinterests him. hmm. you don't sound like a very good best friend. do you understand him at all? as a person? people have different values and its clear the two of you differ greatly on this front, why do you want him to sellout and be more like you especially when he's set on doing something quite respectable.
Maybe you'll have a nicer car but he'll be much happier
is there any other kind?
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This mas·tur·ba·tion Audio Help (mās'tər-bā'shən) Pronunciation Key
n. Excitation of one's own or another's genital organs, usually to orgasm, by manual contact or means other than sexual intercourse.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/masturbation
note "or another's"
If you do not like money, DO NOT DO THIS JOB.
I'm not saying you have to be obsessed with money to do banking, but you have to value it or need it for some other purpose. There's really no other way to stay motivated with all the crap you have to put up with.
Disjoint, I'm not sure if you're in the industry or not yet, but if you aren't, your perspective may change after working for awhile. Mine certainly has.
When you're still in school, there's that whole "who can get the best job?" competition going on and everyone ends up playing.
But after working for awhile, you start to realize that money/prestige are not the most important factors.
As you all know, I run a site dedicated to helping people get into banking, but whenever someone emails me and it sounds like they shouldn't be in the field, I ask them to re-consider and warn them. Although this may hurt me, I would rather point people in the right direction than mislead them.
Bottom line: banking is NOT for everyone. In fact, it's not even for most people. It's for 1% or less of people.
So if your friend is in the other 99%, don't force it.
Friends don't convince friends to do banking
Does anyone else find it ironic that a guy wants to convince his friend to do something when he himself doesn't know (and turns to us for help and reasons)?
As for money being the only worthwhile reason, I don't think that's the case - I enjoyed banking very much. But it isn't for everyone, that's for sure.
Disjoint, if you somehow convince your friend to go into banking when he really isn't interested, he likely won't be your friend anymore after about a month on the job.
Totally agree with nrc_chicago
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