Life Advice for a College Student

Any ideas?

Stop concerning yourself with "enormous profits" which could hypothetically happen in 14 years. Have fun but keep in mind that your grades do matter if you want to work in certain industries or get accepted into certain programs.

bro, you put your thread up at 330am eastern and then bumped it less than 5 hours later, have some patience. but you sound desperate so I'll do my best to help. so here's my quickly thrown together guide to a successful college experience.

1. get good grades

regardless of what you major in, do well at it. if this means mixing linear algebra with a cupcake class like philosophy and religion, so be it. get at least a 3.5 one of your first two semesters, if not higher, it's harder to bring it up later on

2. pick something useful and interesting to major in

I appreciate your desire to pick the best career field for the next X years, but a major won't do that, a job will, so you need to focus on the skillset and what interests you. where are you strong academically? if math, consider engineering. if people skills, maybe consider marketing. what interests you? biology? writing? arguing? economics? I'm not going to recommend you major in english or philosophy (unless it's PPE), but I think you should minor in something you're passionate about. I think engineering is a good foundation, because beyond the technical knowledge and the plentiful opportunities to work as an engineer, it teaches you how to problem solve via critical thinking along with trial & error, work in groups, and so on. if you're set on finance, econ, accounting, and finance are all good options.

3. do extracurriculars

exercise, play intramurals, get in a club, maybe join a frat. do SOMETHING. anything that gets you exposed to people outside of your major and with different backgrounds than you, it will help make you more well rounded and you'll make some good friends too. and do it REGULARLY. plus, as much boozing and all nighters you may be doing/having, you need to take care of your body, so exercise is important too. and don't you dare say you don't "have time" for those things. make time for it, because if you don't, you'll wake up as a 25 year old one day with no college friends, a good paycheck, a flabby stomach, t rex arms, chicken legs, and deep depression. the difference between a 3.7 and 3.9 won't mean anything in 7 years, yet it will take a lot of social sacrifice to get there. trade sleep, you're young, you can handle it.

4. party

should be self explanatory, but in case it's not, EXPERIMENT. I'm not saying go on a heroin binge, but do something that your parents definitely wouldn't like and that you wouldn't have done in high school. do some shrooms with your buddies and wander around a nature preserve, go around from party to party and hustle people at beer pong, whatever. don't go so far as to get arrested (although if it gets dropped, it makes for a great story), or overdose (can't overdose on pot btw), but get out of your comfort zone.

this also leads to the most important point: hook up. same sex, opposite sex, whatever your preference is, get out there and feed your trouser snake. you don't have to objectify women (or men, if that's possible), but trust me when I say if you can close ass, you can close deals, it's a skill that will follow you forever. plus, those days are numbered once you're in a serious relationship, so take advantage early and often. SSits wrote a guide on this a while back, look it up. go out to bars, stay out obscenely late and try to get some. unless you're drugging girls or a total douche/creep, the negative ramifications are small. remember, even the best baseball players only get on base 1/3 times, so don't let a few strikeouts knock your confidence.

5. travel

this is something I rarely did in college (outside of a few surf trips) because I went to school at the beach, but I wish I would've take out a few more thousand dollars in loans to study abroad. my sense is that this has a positive benefit for you socially and professionally, but since I didn't do it, I don't have much more to say on the subject. you should definitely do it though.

6. personal finances

here's my main question: how much money do you have? because if you're talking about managing your income from lifeguarding one summer, sure you could play the stock market, but if I were you, I'd spend have on a S&P index fund and blow the other half at the bar, your results will be better anyway. if you are truly loaded, save as much as will allow you to do the other activities unencumbered. but if you're pinching pennies because you want to beef up your resume by trading the market, I'd do that to a much smaller degree.

the way I managed my personal finances was worked enough hours at odd jobs to meet my needs on the other activities. I didn't really budget, I didn't really save, but I'm still okay today. I had a ton of fun in college, and I wouldn't trade a few thousand bucks I earned back then for the memories I have today, no chance. If I had money from my parents, I absolutely would've invested, I'm just saying that if it's either/or choosing between investing and having fun, choose fun.

as for real estate, I have known people who bought the house they lived in throughout college and then rented it to younger friends after, but I can't imagine flipping houses is a popular activity for undergrads. if I were you, I'd spend my time on #'s 1, 3 & 4 rather than seeking the next big real estate opportunity.

hope this helps, feel free to follow up with questions.

Recent college grad here.

thebrofessor offers some good advice. I have a few additional thoughts.

Make your decision based on what you want to do down the road (PE, HF, Corp. Strategy, impact investing, whatever you want). Take that goal/dream and work backwards to see how to get into that field. If you only look at your first job

For example, if you want to start your own PE fund then you'll need to be in IB coming out of school. You then have to make sure you have great grades, strong EC's, etc so you have a high likelihood of getting an internship with a bank that places for PE. Then you have to do well in said internship and get a return offer. Go work there for two years and network/interview with whatever PE firms you want to join. Join the firm, work two years. Then go get an MBA, if necessary to keep progressing, then go to whatever firm and start making the climb while strengthening your track record and building your book. Once you've earned investors' trust and are ready, you can go start your fund. Theoretically you could break off earlier if you've got what it takes but this is the typical path.

If there is something in a potential career path that you don't think you can do, like working for a bank for 80+ hours a week for two to three years, then you likely need to revise your career path or figure out a workaround. The reason that people take these paths is because they are well-worn and proven to work. By no means will it mean that you will succeed even by following the same path, but you at least put yourself in a position to have all kinds of opportunities.

All of that said, it's more than okay to change the path and go do something else. If you choose to switch paths, then always do your best to put yourself in a position to succeed in whatever you do. Good grades, good friends, good EC's, good work experience all do this, whether you are trying to work on Wall Street or Pennsylvania Avenue.

Few more things.

Don't lie, whether it's work experience, GPA, who your friends are. Just don't do it, by virtue of you being here, you obviously have some interest in finance. Wall Street has got into a lot of trouble by lying/fraud and lying on a resume or in a conversation with someone you are trying to impress is a slippery slope.

Don't worry about work-life balance starting out. Unless you are married or have a child or something like that, work hard. The more time you put in when you're in your 20's, the more opportunity you'll have down the road to either advance in your career or to pull back on the reins and have a much more manageable lifestyle.

Don't try and make a quick buck. If it was so easy to make money doing something (flipping houses, for instance), then everyone would do it. It's not easy and many times it turns out to be a disaster. This is true for any get rich quick scheme.

Don't chase money, you will burn out so fast. Money will not buy you happiness.

I'll echo what people have said above me. This is just stream of consciousness off the top of my head so apologies for the ordering:

1. Get good grades in College (3.5ish or so) but maintain a balance, sprinkle in some easy classes if that's what you need.

2. Have a good time in college, make friends, do lots of extracurricular, go party etc. You have your whole life to work, you'll never go to undergrad again.

3. Take mostly serious classes, but also make sure to take some that are for fun

4. Learn some Compsci, maybe even major/minor if you like it. Seriously, knowing how to code a little bit will set you apart from others. Plus tech is here to stay and if you're looking for lucrative jobs that give you good work life balance, working in tech checks all those boxes. Engineering related majors are also good bets.

5. Study abroad if you can. You'll become way more worldly and studying/living in a country for a few months is way different then just taking a vacation. I've had so many friends not study abroad, despite having the opportunity and they 1. Regret it 2. Try to explain that spending 2 weeks in Europe post undergrad will pretty much give them the same experience. As someone who studied abroad in Europe, I can tell you that it's not even close to the same.

6. Exercise regularly if you don't already. When it come down to it, if you're not physically heathy you can't do anything, which means that working in Finance or traveling or anything else you want to do becomes impossible.

7. Be Interesting, undergrad gives you the chance to try tons of stuff for free. You know the dos equis commercials with the most interesting man in the world? That can be you if you try new things and develop yourself.

8. Don't be afraid to fail or make mistakes. That what life is about. Be bold and take chances

9. Sleep as much as you can. I know some nights you'll be up all night partying and whatnot and I think that's great, but aside from that try to hit 7ish hours a night it will serve you well.

10. Don't waste too much time on garbage activities, this includes drugs, alcohol, TV, videogames. Again, not to say you can't have some bum days/nights. But keep netflix binges/ benders to a minimum.

11. This ties in with 6,9, but eat healthy and generally take care of yourself. You have have one body and if you fuck it up, you'll live with the consequences forever.

Lastly

12. Treat everyone you meet with kindness and respect. Be outgoing, personable and the type of guy that everyone loves to say hi to on campus. Take care of family ie go home for the holidays and don't ignore your parents/siblings, you're a man now and its your responsibility to care for them as well. Also, treat the women in your life with respect. Even if the relationships don't work out you'll learn a lot from each one.

Any more insights