Introduction and Quick Questions

Hey guys,

First off, thanks for reading this. I've known about WSO for a couple of months but have only started to really dig into the site in the past couple of weeks. The community here seems fantastic and very helpful for people interested in banking and other finance-related areas. I'm leaning towards IB at the moment, but I need to do a lot more research before I really know what I want to do in finance.

A little bit about me: I just finished my freshman year at a non-target public University, and I'm majoring in finance. My extracurriculars for the coming school year are: member of a business club (meant to give experience to members in business world via service events, guest speakers, networking events, etc.), finance chair of a cultural organization, and member (and secretary) of a smaller, multicultural fraternity. I actually transferred from a semi-target school on the west coast after the first semester; I did this because I knew I'd be more comfortable at my current school in terms of fit and social life (not great reasons I know - but too late now). I'm currently working this summer as a teller at a smaller bank.

Anyways, I had a few questions I was hoping you guys could answer!

1.) In your opinions, do you think transferring from a semi-target to non-target will significantly affect my chances of breaking into banking?

2.) Will my experience as a teller help me at all in my search for internships in the next couple of years? Also is there anything I should be doing at the bank right now? (like trying to network with people higher up).

3.) Should I take on a minor or two? I'm almost definitely going to add Economics as a minor, but I was wondering if I should add Computer Science as well? (Thought maybe it could differentiate me a bit, and my major at my first school was Computer Science and Business Administration).

4.) Will my extracurricular activities listed above help me at all in my internship/job search for banking?

5.) Lastly, and most importantly, could you guys give me a list of 'To-Do's' or steps I should take in the coming years to get ahead? For example, I can see that networking is very very important and that I should self-study some finance. So what all should I do to make the most of my situation? (Can be anything from what to read/study to who I should contact)

I can see that breaking into banking is immensely hard, but I plan to keep at it and work hard to get opportunities. I would really appreciate it if you guys could help me out, and I hope that someday I'll be able to help out other newbies with what I learn!

Thanks again fellow primates!
Will