advice for liberal arts senior

Am a senior at Colby as a history major. Was originally pre law, decided i couldn't work 100 hours looking at a single paragraph searching for a specific detail in some statute or things like that. I need something more dynamic.

Am super competitive, and hard working. Have a 3.3 gpa. I am also very personable and good in sales.

I know that a)am a tier below in schools what BB is looking for b) about .3 GPA low as well, plus c)am a history major, not econ. Too late for me to take econ now, next term I am taking managerial accounting, but see these 3 as I have little to no chance at BB. Don't know if I can get into any other banking, if not that , what?

Definitely want to make good $, say >50k to start, and hopefully > 200k within 5-7 years.

My 2 choices: a) try to find some job and work my way up, but I am looking for advice what I can realistically get.

b)Not sure if this is possible, but I play football and hockey, so I was thinking of trying to get a bs job as an assitant coach at top school (think IVY or amherst /williams etc.) and also take 4 classes in econ next year . Micro/macro 1st semester, , 2 more spring term. I don't know if I could take classes for credit or just audit them, but I figure I could put this on my resume, give myself more education in business and also use the school I am at career center.

Looking for anyones thoughts on these 2 ideas. Thanks.

 

Internships and networking are far more important than the classes you take. If you go the IB route, then you already know all the quantitative stuff you will need because you covered it in high school. If you want to go the markets route then it's a different story.

Cold call and email as many people you can asking for coffee. Perhaps even work under the guise of doing a MSF and looking for a Summer Internship.

 
Clarkey:
Internships and networking are far more important than the classes you take. If you go the IB route, then you already know all the quantitative stuff you will need because you covered it in high school. If you want to go the markets route then it's a different story.

Cold call and email as many people you can asking for coffee. Perhaps even work under the guise of doing a MSF and looking for a Summer Internship.

Hey man, can you elaborate a bit more in regards to the markets route?

Does the CFA hold any substance to a liberal arts grad trying to break in there?

 

How do I get an internship as a senior? I was under the impression that they were for the summer between junior/senior year.

I am networking now, I have found a bunch of people in the alumni directory who have finance backgrounds. Should I be offering internship work, or actually asking for a job.

And really, I don't need econ/bus classes for IB? Had thought my history degree wouldn't stack up against econ majors.

thanks for the words.

 
Best Response

I don't think your next-best option right now is probably better than doing a finance internship, so why not frame the conversation as though you'd be willing to do internships or FT jobs? The deadlines on the Masters programs are pretty late, so what I would do is prepare your application for UVA/Duke, while networking with these people in your alumni network/anyone else you meet. If you get a job, take it. If it's an internship, consider applying to school and see what happens. If you get nothing, a master's program could get you there.

An athlete friend of mine from undergrad (which was very similar to the average NESCAC) with a similar GPA to you went to the UVA program and ended up at a BB the following year, so it's definitely possible.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of Starwood Points
 

My math for the CFA is this, 1000 Hours = 1 bullet on your resume, in my humble opinion I'd rather use that time to research the recruiting process (WSO, M&I, other bankers), study specifically what I'll be asked in interviews, and network my ass off.

"The only thing that history teaches us, is that history doesn't teach us anything" -Michael Lewis
 

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