Got into Ivy / Target, now what?

To get into Finance? Your question is too specific. Sorry.

...focus on making sure you actually don't have a passion for something else and living like a normal college kid. Get goos grades though, because they'll help you no matter what you end up doing.

uh...get good grades?

For frosh year just get good grades and join a club or two to make sure your interests are aligned to finance. If you decide halfway through that you really want finance then start studying up on the markets and consider taking a modeling class and eventually try and land an unpaid internship which will most likely be in PWM. As for now, enjoy your senior year. Greek life won't necessarily help you or hurt you but I myself am in a fraternity and it's definitely been a positive experience.

Graduating high school would be a good place to start

Ah sorry finance is really broad. I guess I'd look into IB

Get good grades, join a club or two or do a sport. You don't have to know what you want to do until late sophomore year.

If it's Stanford, do CS. If it's HYP, you are going to get eaten alive by kids from CMU, MIT, and Berkeley in the interviews. Actually CS majors at Princeton can still hold their own and the school has a very strong engineering program, but you're signing up to pay a $60K premium over Berkeley for a program that ranks a little lower and has less prestige in the Engineering world. So you might consider engineering at Princeton, certainly at Stanford, but I'd kinda steer you towards Econ.

(If you really want to be an engineer or programmer and are from California, turn HYP down, do Berkeley, pocket the $150K in tuition savings, and go to Google. When it comes to Engineering/CS, Berkeley is Stanford with in-state tuition.)

If you were confident about all of this and really really enjoyed math, I'd tell you to do applied math. But you're uncertain enough to ask for advice. So I am going to tell you that Econ is the conservative choice at HYP. It opens the most doors, likely has the lowest unemployment rate, and probably has the happiest students out of the three choices.

If you're agnostic on the three options you are presenting, my vote is for Econ (unless you're at Stanford- then do CS if you can handle it). Econ is the pragmatic, conservative choice that will get you a job.

Take what you want to take but try to do well. I was convinced I was going to go to STEM grad school until the summer after my sophomore year. After a few fortuitous events, a lot of research and some soul searching, I discovered S&T/reasonably quantitative finance would likely be a better fit for my interests and skills. I had no finance extra-curriculars (though a decent number of non-STEM extra-curriculars) until my junior year, and still managed to get a SA offer from a top bank. So do something that you enjoy and something that you're good at, and if you follow your interests, you'll be able to carve out a path for yourself. This is only my experience; others may disagree with this sentiment.

In terms of tech stuff, it depends on the school.

@illiniprogrammer

as a student at one of those schools (hyp), i disagree that if u do CS at hyp u will get "eaten alive by kids from [schools u mentioned]" in interviews. it seems to me like most ppl here that want good software jobs or internships get them. to get good at programming, of course, requires a legitimate time investment but that can be done anywhere.

also, at these schools OP will have the opportunity to meet a lot of first rate students in several areas (international math olympiad winners, chess prodigies, accomplished musicians, actors, writers, etc...) . OP won't get to meet as high a concentration of talented people in a state school (based on what my friends who go to good state schools have said).

of course if he is 100% SET on being a programmer or engineer it probably makes more sense to go to a solid state school, but how can one be sure? so many of my friends (including me) changed their minds during college. i can't speak for berkeley (besides some anecdotes from friends who went there) but hyp offers many great opportunities for its students to explore different areas.

That being said, it sounds like stanford is the best choice for the OP. goods grades + extracurrics will be useful for most paths

Rule #1: Never turn down Harvard. Rule #2: Silicon Valley firms will never look down on a CS Major from HYP.

Just know that if God went to college, he would've gone to Harvard.

In some fields, Harvard is not that strong of a place. CS being one of those.

So wait, you're in high school posting on this site about Wall Street? Just do something that you enjoy and will do well in. If you're really worried about finance, you'll break in just fine from a top school--regardless of what you study. Become well rounded and don't be an uninteresting human being and you'll do fine in finance.

I'm pretty sure God would have gone to Arizona State but ok

As someone who went to a target Ivy and watched a lot of my friends go through OCR:

Take easy classes - if you're interested in IB, your GPA far outweighs your major/minor.

Major in something that actually interests you - seriously, STEM degrees (I have two) aren't worth the minuscule edge they give you for recruiting. Don't major in chemical engineering unless you ACTUALLY LIKE CHEMICAL ENGINEERING.

All of these "what should I minor in?" threads are silly. Take classes you like, take easy classes, get decent grades, and enjoy yourself.

Priorities:

1. Get laid
2. Repeat above
3. Good grades
4. Network

God would have gone to Hogwartz, cause both don't exist...

Go Greek early. It's your first attempting at networking and will open doors that grades can't.

If you are at Stanford, take a look at their petro engineering program. It's a solid path to a career with longevity and very good money, any of the engineering disciplines will require sacrifice so you have to like it or you will hate life.

If that's not your thing, take a solid course load your first year and see what interests you the most, then go for it. The beauty of many super-targets is even a history degree can go into finance with proper networking.

Just beware, finance has evolved tremendously over the last 10 years and many areas are becoming less lucrative. Just look at equity research for example, the news about Credit Suisse pay the past few years (esp this round) and others have decimated the pay for that function. Banking still has many positives, but don't rule out other professions right now (like tech which you mentioned)

I TOTALLY disagree with the posters that said things like do CS. Do econ or something else easier but still somewhat related (or even just do government or whatever) and get a 3.7+... then joint a frat and learn how to be a man.

@illini

you make good points and majoring in CS in order to get into investment banking/PE is not optimal. also, i agree that econ is a very solid major at hyp (relatively easy, lots of time to get involved in other things...)

it is true that hyp are not in the business of creating developers, that is very clear to me (altho i'm not a CS major). however, idk about the types of students you were interviewing, it sounds like they had just taken one introductory cs course... (or were exaggerating credentials, which unfortunately happens. good thing there are technical interviews)

however, i dont think that a student at any school (including harvard) should necessarily decide not to major in cs just because of US news rankings. A curriculum is just a guide, a motivated student can learn almost anything (and this forum has many examples of ppl with self-initiative).

From the original post, it looks like OP is in at either Yale or Stanford. I think my advice for him in re his major selection would have to depend on which school it actually is.

If he's smart and dedicated enough, CS at Stanford would be awesome. If it's Yale, then I'd recommend DS then Econ or American Studies (something fun and interesting).

however, i dont think that a student at any school (including harvard) should necessarily decide not to major in CS just because of US news rankings. A curriculum is just a guide, a motivated student can learn almost anything (and this forum has many examples of ppl with self-initiative).

My core factor has always been "I want options" followed by "I want to create stuff and discover stuff". Econ offers the most options at HYP; comp sci may offer the most options at Stanford, especially given that Stanford is a short drive from Silicon Valley.

Don't most people from HYP that go to IB have econ backgrounds? It's the most relevant topic concerning IB or finance in general.

My advice would be to ignore any sort of rankings and what other people think you should be doing, take a broad variety of classes the first semester or two, figure out what you're really good at and/or find really interesting, and just run with it full throttle. Trust me, you'll thank me later.

Also probably spend like 50% of your time socializing and trying to hook up with chicks, and the other 50% of your time crushing schoolwork, heavy focus on one or two extracurriculars that you actually enjoy, and working out.

Computer Science is such a major that you don't need a great faculty or whatsoever in order to be good at it. Go Harvard, you'd be surprised how ez it is to get an A.

Get drunk, get mad pussy yo. #YOLO #SWAG #DRUNK #WHATHASMYLIFECOMETO

Start studying for the CFA immediately...also, become highly skilled at valuation, building financial models, Excel shortcuts, data analytics/data mining, PowerPoint presentations and coding plus take Algorithms I and II. With four years to accomplish these tasks, your skill set will be pretty robust.

One last thing: volunteer for some kind of organization that helps poor people you can also donate on-line to certain charities which will become a permanent internet record.

^^^ Because it's money wasted. If you go to Berkeley or UT Austin, you'll get roughly the same outcome as a CS major, but save $50K or $150K in tuition depending on which state you live in.

Harvard and Yale have a lot of brilliant CS majors. They might even be smarter (not necessarily more successful) than Berkeley and UIUC CS majors. If you know anything about my posting patterns, you don't find me saying this often. But their success comes in spite of the school, and their success can be found elsewhere for much cheaper.

Studying CS at Harvard is like going to the Pink Elephant or 1OAK and ordering a Rolling Rocks or Natty Light for 50 cents less than a $10 PBR. It's like paying for a first class ticket, claiming your seat is too uncomfortable, and asking the fight attendant to reseat you in Economy Plus. It's like buying a Ferrari, installing a trailer hitch, and using it to haul around lumber. It makes no sense and completely ignores the school's strengths.

Someone who can make it to Google or Facebook from Harvard can make it to Google or Facebook from any flagship state school; there is no need to pay a $150K tuition premium over in-state.

Harvard and Yale CS majors are as smart as anyone else, but someone who says they want to go into banking and studies CS is making a mistake, IMO. There might be reasons to study CS at Harvard, but there aren't reasons to study CS at Harvard or Yale if you want to be a banker.

Do what you want and are interested in. It's difficult to force yourself to be in a program or take subjects that only look good in the eyes of those around you. Take a bunch of different elective courses during your first few years and figure out what you're actually excited about learning. HYPS students are lucky since you guys don't have to declare a major right away - so what's the hurry? You may develop other interests and not want to go into Finance altogether. And in my experience, yeah college is supposed to be a fun time but if you find yourself skipping a certain class for absolutely no good reason, then that's a sign that you're heading in the wrong direction. And for goodness sake, you're already the cream of the crop by getting admission into an Ivy league school - you'll be getting a top-notch education regardless of what degree you end up doing.

It actually kind of bugs me how many undergrads say "I want to do finance". The term is so broad its annoying. If you are interested in finance you should do some research what your school's strengths are. If they have a solid Econ department take econ. At my school the commerce students don't have the theoretical skills they need. Don't take Comp Sci unless you're interested and if your really interested take a math minor. It really boils down to taking what you're interested in though and learning more about the industry. IB is ok but its not for everyone. Look into commercial banking or corporate banking.

Become friends with the kids at the finals clubs/frats/eating clubs etc. They're the ones who are gonna get u onto the Street and have mad alumni there. (They'll also help u get some vaj too) Try for Skull and Bones or Scroll and Key. Dead serious.

Your major at those schools isn't terribly important. Liberal arts majors from Ivy/Little 3/S/D/JHU get hired before finance majors at Fairfield/Villanova/Lehigh. But finance/econ majors at the schools you're going to get hired first overall. Personally, were I in your position, I'd double major in computer science, and minor in Chinese, Russian, or Hindi. Then you'll have a second language that's useful AND you'll be interesting.

Try to walk onto a varsity sports team. Even if not lacrosse, any will suffice. Blue horseshoe loves NCAA athletes more than Anacott Steel. Also have an interesting minor or double major. Also, join extracurric clubs. It will show you are balanced. Plus you'll meet mad chicks.

Network with every recruiter you see. You're lucky: your schools have OCR, most don't. Meet them as a frosh. Hit the ground running for internships.

And last but not least, remember the words of Sam Wizner Adams: be on your grind puffing L's of some of that collie.

I would legit do anything to be in your shoes. You're going to an Ivy.....just get belligerently drunk every night and do a bunch of stupid shit - you'll still pretty much get a job handed to you if don't fuck up too badly. Shit I feel kinda old now.

Thanks for all of the replies so far guys :D

cold email boutique investment banks for a soph summer internship. idk why i didn't do this, it wouldve made junior recruiting so much smoother

just to follow up with illini, his first comments on CS major from SUNY. I'm somewhat surprised to learn from multiple sources, that Stony Brook CS grades are highly desirable to those big techs of west coast, unbelievable job placement, an school is practically free.

The amount of shit on this thread is astounding. Here are my two cents, for what it's worth:

1) It's clear most people on this thread don't go to HYPS. Let's get one thing clear: if you're a CS major at any of these schools, getting a job with Facebook/Google et al is definitely achievable. And no, you won't be losing out to Berkeley grads or SUNY grads (can't even believe I have to write out the latter part of that sentence).

2) OP, you asked what you should do if (I'm assuming) you want to get into finance. Here's my advice: major in something you're going to get good grades in and (optional) you're interested in. It literally does not matter if you're a Gender Studies major at one of these schools, as long as you have a GPA north of 3.8 - banking/consulting firms are going to recruit you all the same. If your sole focus is getting into IB/consulting, the only thing that matters for the first round is your GPA and some vaguely related internship. After that, it's all about how well you interview.

3) Enjoy college - go out, join a frat/team/club, spend hours talking about the randomest topics with your friends. I think most people would agree with this advice.

As a sidenote - at these schools, econ is not necessarily an "easy" major. Academic econ is way, way harder than any accounting/finance major at another school, and a lot of (really smart) kids at HYPS struggle to get good grades in it. I'd caution you against jumping into econ expecting an easy major - a real easy major at one of these schools would be Political Science/Sociology/Anthropology etc.

Major in Econ. Maintain above a 3.7. Party every weekend and hit on every hot girl you see. Join a fraternity/Ivy club (or whatever the fuck those are called).

Enjoy your freshman year. It's going to be a great year of your life if you put effort into experiencing all there is that you can experience. It's great to gain some knowledge that WSO provides at such an early age, but don't let it take over your life. You're not going to make friends and slay mad bitches if all you do is talk about DCF valuation and P/E multiples.

boobie, isn't that funny HYP "won't be losing out to Berkeley grads or SUNY grads", when conventional wisdom had these lesser schools beaten handily. You should checkout placement rate though before making the statement, these are "target schools" in tech sense, which would make you wonder where is their reputation coming from. I am also aware another east-coast engineering school (you would never guess it), for which GOOG/FB/TWTR/MSFT are fighting over hand over fist. I agree with illini rationale, for CS there are better choices than HYP.

To OP, in CURRENT state (not 4 yrs when your graduate), working for google opens more doors, keeps more options open.

1) It's clear most people on this thread don't go to HYPS. Let's get one thing clear: if you're a CS major at any of these schools, getting a job with Facebook/Google et al is definitely achievable. And no, you won't be losing out to Berkeley grads or SUNY grads (can't even believe I have to write out the latter part of that sentence).

The private schools are great too, but I've met a lot of Harvard and Yale computer science majors who come into the interview not knowing some really basic stuff about algorithms or data structures. If I ask 10 juniors from a school to sort 600 million nine digit numbers and only one or two of them come up with something better than O(n log n), something is wrong with this school's data structures or algorithms curriculum. This has to be one of the oldest programming interview questions in the book, and I have no idea why so many bright individuals from these schools miss it. The one or two often have a lot of projects or did something to learn Comp Sci outside of school. I'm not sure how the other 8 or 9 are going to land at Twitter or Google. In quant analytics, we're actually a bit more lenient than the tech firms on the coding since we also need people to have really strong math backgrounds.

Studying Econ at Harvard or Yale just gives you so many more opportunities than studying Computer Science. And while Princeton is a very good school for C.S. and Engineering, there are many schools with less elite sounding names that turn out programmers who are just as good, perhaps even better. So why not study what the school is good at? Why not study Econ? If you want a good compromise that gives you a decent coding background while focusing on the school's strengths, give ORFE or Applied Math/Econ some thought too.

As a sidenote - at these schools, econ is not necessarily an "easy" major. Academic econ is way, way harder than any accounting/finance major at another school, and a lot of (really smart) kids at HYPS struggle to get good grades in it. I'd caution you against jumping into econ expecting an easy major - a real easy major at one of these schools would be Political Science/Sociology/Anthropology etc.

So if you don't like your GPA, there is no need to come up with excuses or complain. OK, maybe if you're studying engineering at MIT, but MIT students don't complain anywhere near as much about grading as students at HYP, particularly Princeton (perhaps due to the 35% rule on As.)

http://dailyprincetonian.com/opinion/2013/11/cartoon-grades-at-colleges/attachment/grades-at-colleges/

@illini

hmm perhaps ur right, the best CS ppl i know here are very good but maybe the average is not very good (i think in part because there are too many distractions). i'm a crap programmer myself so I can't tell (i'm only good at the algorithms stuff).

i interned on a bb trading desk and the tech ppl from state schools were very helpful and competent.

i think mit grades tend to be more bimodal. the ppl i kno who came in prepared from hs tend to get near perfect gpas because an a- is counted as a 5.0 . the ppl who come in unprepared, although not necessarily less smart, have a very tough time in the first few years. they see the ppl who get the physics questions instantly as geniuses when most of them, although very smart, simply have more experience with that sort of thinking.

@others

it's not true that "getting a 3.7+ and fucking around for 4 yrs" is gonna lead to a good ib job at hyps. A lot of the ppl who do that were already well connected. Well if u can get the connections then it'll work out i guess, but it can still be competitive.

whether a major is easy or not depends on the person and his interests. i'm naturally inclined towards math so I found graduate courses in algebra and analysis bearable (but dry enough to make me reconsider academia in math...)

the level of abstraction in engineering/econ is much lower but the difficulty there lies in other aspects. (engineering: making things work), (econ: coming up with intuition and models that actually describe reality...)

Here's a question barely related to my original post, but I don't want to start a new thread (please no monkey shit, I'm just curious): In your opinion, what do I have the best chance of happening? 1. Successfully managing my own money and leading a small HF 2. Successfully founding a business (not Facebook, but a couple million dollars in value) 3. Working in IB (is this still lucrative given what the future environment regulations may create?) 4. Working for a successful startup (again, is this promising given the fact that people think we're in a bubble?)