Why Wall Street?

WSO,

When I first started college, I didn't know what I wanted to be. Then someone in junior year yelled "Investment Banking" and I my eyes lit up when I saw the $$$.

Till I graduated, I networked, schmoozed, went to NY every month, did whatever the fuck I could to land a job at a BB. I was coming from non-target and had no experience, average GPA 3.3, econ major. For me it was either BB or GTFO. It was a helleva journey and I made some nice contacts and 2 very solid contacts in the industry who I can call friends.

But along the way, I found IB was not my real passion. My passion was really starting my own biz and macro speculation.

WSO my question is, how many are you here only for IB? Some of you must be here for FI, ER,AM,S&T, Corp Fin, Consulting, Big4 etc. But are you here just for the mulah or are you here because of the love of the game? Share your real motivation with the community.

btw i stuck @ WSO because i love u guys no homo

 

Money is definitely part of it, I want the security that comes with having a high paying job. I'm not here for IB, really, though what I want to do seems to change every 3 months. Right now I'm aiming at Corp Strat (for the companies that hire fresh undergrads), then F500 FP&A, then probably consulting. ER and VC interest me, too, but I'm focusing on corporate jobs right now.

I guess the reason I still hang around here is Patrick's pheromones keep me hot n bothered. And you guys can be interesting sometimes. ;)

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 
D M:
Money is definitely part of it, I want the security that comes with having a high paying job. I'm not here for IB, really, though what I want to do seems to change every 3 months. Right now I'm aiming at Corp Strat (for the companies that hire fresh undergrads), then F500 FP&A, then probably consulting. ER and VC interest me, too, but I'm focusing on corporate jobs right now.

I guess the reason I still hang around here is Patrick's pheromones keep me hot n bothered. And you guys can be interesting sometimes. ;)

D M - Didn't realize you could break into Corp Strat straight from undergrad, would you mind sharing what companies you are looking at?

As for myself, investment banking was my initial interest when I first started reading WSO but since then my interests broadened quite a bit. Compensation is a common theme across most finance careers here on WSO and is obviously a factor in considering a career.

The main motivation for me though, is finding something that I really enjoy doing. While my current role is not bad (I'm in a BO/MO analyst program), often the day-to-day work is far from my interests and the role itself isn't particularly challenging.

I'd like to end up in a role where I can contribute to bringing in business/revenue and also have the opportunity to research and work with other businesses and their management teams. Transitioning to a more challenging and fulfilling role is my motivation.

 
Value_added:
D M:
Money is definitely part of it, I want the security that comes with having a high paying job. I'm not here for IB, really, though what I want to do seems to change every 3 months. Right now I'm aiming at Corp Strat (for the companies that hire fresh undergrads), then F500 FP&A, then probably consulting. ER and VC interest me, too, but I'm focusing on corporate jobs right now.

I guess the reason I still hang around here is Patrick's pheromones keep me hot n bothered. And you guys can be interesting sometimes. ;)

D M - Didn't realize you could break into Corp Strat straight from undergrad, would you mind sharing what companies you are looking at?

As for myself, investment banking was my initial interest when I first started reading WSO but since then my interests broadened quite a bit. Compensation is a common theme across most finance careers here on WSO and is obviously a factor in considering a career.

The main motivation for me though, is finding something that I really enjoy doing. While my current role is not bad (I'm in a BO/MO analyst program), often the day-to-day work is far from my interests and the role itself isn't particularly challenging.

I'd like to end up in a role where I can contribute to bringing in business/revenue and also have the opportunity to research and work with other businesses and their management teams. Transitioning to a more challenging and fulfilling role is my motivation.

When I graduated I managed to get interviews with some F500 companies.. mainly Siemens and GE. I know Siemens has been hiring pretty aggressively as of late. These names look great if you're trying to go for your MBA.

My intuition tells me you went to a non-target if you are in a BO/MO analyst program (although I could be wrong).

Trust me, I've been there/I am there.. the work is mind numbing. The only way to get thru the days and weeks to is to make contacts with higher ups and FO people.. go out for happy hours, plan to do weekends out with these people and you'll find that when opportunities come up, you'll be ahead of the other rats in BO/MO who are just doing the typical 9-5, not making an effort to lateral over to FO.

 
Value_added:
D M - Didn't realize you could break into Corp Strat straight from undergrad, would you mind sharing what companies you are looking at?

There are a few places. I think, depending on what it is, they look for smart as shit HYPS kids. I know CapOne has their Strategy & Planning group and Liberty Mutual has Corporate Strategy and Research, to name a couple where you don't have to be at the top of you class from Harvard to get in.

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 

Most people like the idea of working in investment banking more than they actually like the job itself. That said, many stay in IBD because they really have no idea what profession they are passionate about, and it just so happens that IBD pays more than many other jobs. So, if you don't know what you enjoy doing, you might as well make good money in the process of figuring it out. That is, until you realize that the job isn't as great as you thought it was and you go back to b-school to do something that you think you'll actually enjoy.

 
Flake:
I'm here cause I ball so hard motha fuckas wanna fine me.

What she order?

The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee WSO is not your personal search function.
 
blackfinancier:
Flake:
I'm here cause I ball so hard motha fuckas wanna fine me.

What she order?

Fish filet.

Under my tutelage, you will grow from boys to men. From men into gladiators. And from gladiators into SWANSONS.
 
Flake:
I'm here cause I ball so hard motha fuckas wanna fine me.

What's 50 grand to a motha fucka like you, can you please remind me?

Pretty women make us BUY beer. Ugly women make us DRINK beer.
 
Al Bundy:
Flake:
I'm here cause I ball so hard motha fuckas wanna fine me.

What's 50 grand to a motha fucka like you, can you please remind me?

Had to do an ops remix in that progressive commercial girl thread.

Under my tutelage, you will grow from boys to men. From men into gladiators. And from gladiators into SWANSONS.
 

I'm here because it's the most ambitious thing I could think of at the time. When something more ambitous / profitable comes along, I'll jump on that bandwagon.

I also just like NYC :D

The goal for me is to move to research if I can: interesting work, decent pay, semi-decent hours, and decent exit ops if I want to change it up.

Get busy living
 

right now my goal is to get into VC/PE and consulting (although the "tougher" route) was the only viable way for me to get started towards that goal coming from a non target school with a low gpa and prior work experience in a completely different field (military).

Did you fly over my helmet?
 

I would want to work at a AM/HF as a stratgist because I'm interested in financial markets and strategies. IB just seems a path where you have the highest change of getting into a HF.

But like a poster already mentioned, my career goals seem to change over time and revert back. So it could be something different in a couple of months, consulting/trading etc..

 

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