In HS, need help chosing UG and making sure my resume won't suck
I am in HS right now and recently got accepted to a unique program with a full scholarship – I spent 3 years at one of a few non-target liberal arts schools (I think Bard was the only one I recognized on the list), and then spend 2 years at either the Columbia’s or Dartmouth’s Engineering school, and receive a BA from the liberal arts school and BS from the Ivy’s engineering school. I am guaranteed admission to the Ivy provided I get higher than a 3.0 (won’t be a problem). I was wondering how this would look on a resume, and what kind of internships I should/could get in between years.
Also, I’m pretty confident that I will get into BC, and I might be able to get into Rice. However, BC is expensive as fuck with pretty bad aid packages and I’m not 100% sure I’ll get into Rice.
My ‘ultimate’ goal is to be working in VC, but obviously there will be quite a while until I reach that point.
Any advice is appreciated.
Shit, when I was your age I just wanted a chance to live on my own for a few years. I need to do more with my life.
I thnik this sounds like an awesome opportunity. Specifically to your question, Ivy engineers are definitely marketable in Finance, and you'll have the usual penultimate year to get your key finance internship. As for while you're at the liberal-arts school, you'll have to hustle but you'll have three summers to gain valuable experience in one form or another, be it internships, study abroad, etc. For VC in particular a technical background can be a big help.
More importantly, this is a chance to get a great (and unique) education FOR FREE. It makes me a little sad to see a lot of high schoolers or college freshmen on these forums who are 100% set on finance. You really can't possibly have any idea what you'll want to do in five years, and you've got an opportunity to learn two skill sets that can set you up for a huge range of fields that can take you anywhere (and make you a lot of money), but you're 100% set on being a financial services hack like every other striver on this forum. I would take this opportunity and not look back, and decide if you still want to work in finance after a year or two while keeping yourself open to other things.
VC options at BC are pretty limited, recruiting is essentially non-existent. That said, a buddy of mine networked around and interviewed at a few places in Boston/Cambridge so it's not completely out of the question. The schools sends ~20 kids to SA IB in NY each year too fyi. They're stingy as hell with fin aid, but nothing beats four years on the heights.
Agreed... I've gotten absolutely no financial aid, but it has been the best 4 years of my life. There's nothing like tailgating in the Mods on gamedays or getting school off for the marathon. There's a VC competition each year where you could do a lot of networking. As for sending SA IB kids to NYC, it's much more than 20, there were 23 alone at Barclays last summer and many more at the other BBs, MM, and boutiques (elite included). OCR is really strong and it's only going to get better by the time that you are a senior. If you have any other questions about BC let me know, I was in the same shoes as you 4 years ago... I knew I wanted to do IB and am going to be starting FT this June. Hope this helped
When I was in IBD, BC wasn't as well represented outside of MO. Might be different now.
More importantly: BC chicks are ridiculously, without fail, hot.
Why are you looking into BC and Rice? I'm just curious, because they are both very different schools, not to mention in different physical locations...
Not to knock BC and Rice, which are both great schools, but what makes you think they're the right schools for you to break into VC?
If you're looking for VC, I'd recommend you head over to schools in California near Silicon Valley, like Stanford.
A lot of VC's got their start as entrepreneurs, and Silicon Valley / Bay Area is golden for you to meet other entrepreneurs and get your feet wet in startups and whatnot.
If you're not sure, I'd aim for a dual major in Finance and Engineering from Berkeley. The admit process is a formula- they're looking for a 2200 SAT, probably a 3.5 high school GPA, Calc BC, and an essay that basically just demonstrates fluency in the English language. That's going to give you a lot of options for working at startups, working in consulting, or working in trading.
OP, try to pick up some real STEM skills in college. Some people lapse into econ because they can't hack a STEM major, but you will be better served if you at least tried. With STEM, you have the disadvantage of working harder for a good GPA but the doors are much wider for later on. If you are interested in VC, you will notice, especially among the Sand Hill Road crew, that a lot of them were ex-techies. You will have much more credibility going in there having walked the walk, technically.
If you want to do non-tech PE/VC, go ahead and do a gut major but make sure you ace your classes. Because your classes are easier though, you have no excuse for getting below a 3.5.
Thanks for the advice guys. The reason I have chosen these schools is because I am not only interested in finance, I am very interested in Computer Science / Computer Engineering. I have taken programming classes and two computer architecture classes at Northeastern during my sophomore-junior summer and spend much of my free time programming (amongst other things). UChicago, NYU, and BC are the only non-technical schools I'm considering. The reason why I have BC as an option is because it's around 10 minutes from my house, and while my parents don't care if I move far away, they asked me to apply to BC and see if I get good financial aid (which they don't understand is impossible). The benefit I see in this 3/2 program is that I can actually make 100% sure I am interested in finance by actually trying it out during internships
I've looked into all sorts of engineering, business, finance, and science careers, and VC interests me much more than many engineering careers. But obviously pretty much all of my opinions and tastes are subject to change during college, I'm just trying to learn more about what's needed to get into VC because I have plenty of people to ask about engineering, but nobody to turn to when it comes to finance.
Specifically, what sorts of internships should I be looking for while I'm at the liberal arts college if I want to go into VC?
Thanks for the advice guys. The reason I have chosen these schools is because I am not only interested in finance, I am very interested in Computer Science / Computer Engineering. I have taken programming classes and two computer architecture classes at Northeastern during my sophomore-junior summer and spend much of my free time programming (amongst other things). UChicago, NYU, and BC are the only non-technical schools I'm considering. The reason why I have BC as an option is because it's around 10 minutes from my house, and while my parents don't care if I move far away, they asked me to apply to BC and see if I get good financial aid (which they don't understand is impossible). The benefit I see in this 3/2 program is that I can actually make 100% sure I am interested in finance by actually trying it out during internships
I've looked into all sorts of engineering, business, finance, and science careers, and VC interests me much more than many engineering careers. But obviously pretty much all of my opinions and tastes are subject to change during college, I'm just trying to learn more about what's needed to get into VC because I have plenty of people to ask about engineering, but nobody to turn to when it comes to finance.
Specifically, what sorts of internships should I be looking for while I'm at the liberal arts college if I want to go into VC?
Thanks for the advice guys. The reason I have chosen these schools is because I am not only interested in finance, I am very interested in Computer Science / Computer Engineering. I have taken programming classes and two computer architecture classes at Northeastern during my sophomore-junior summer and spend much of my free time programming (amongst other things). UChicago, NYU, and BC are the only non-technical schools I'm considering. The reason why I have BC as an option is because it's around 10 minutes from my house, and while my parents don't care if I move far away, they asked me to apply to BC and see if I get good financial aid (which they don't understand is impossible). The benefit I see in this 3/2 program is that I can actually make 100% sure I am interested in finance by actually trying it out during internships
I've looked into all sorts of engineering, business, finance, and science careers, and VC interests me much more than many engineering careers. But obviously pretty much all of my opinions and tastes are subject to change during college, I'm just trying to learn more about what's needed to get into VC because I have plenty of people to ask about engineering, but nobody to turn to when it comes to finance.
Specifically, what sorts of internships should I be looking for while I'm at the liberal arts college if I want to go into VC?
NYU Stern Finance + Mathematics dual degree will serve you very very well, assuming you get a high GPA.
UChicago definitely has the prestige but do be warned that the courses at UChicago at the undergraduate level are very theoretical and less applied. Meaning if you major in computer science at UChig, most of what you'll be learning will be the theory behind the code - you can read more of this in collegeconfidential. If you can survive their liberal arts core and withstand their theory style of undergrad teaching, then UChicago would be excellent.
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