Sophomore at Non-Target With Questions About WM

Hi,

I'm a sophomore at a very non-target school on the west coast and I have a few questions about wealth management:

  1. How much will going to a non-target affect me in terms of breaking into the field? My school is decent (all of the Big 4/Large Multinationals, and I think Merrill Lynch recruit/recruited here), but it's not Harvard, so how much will the fact that I go to a non-target hurt me even if I get really good grades and take challenging classes? I've heard WM is a bit less competitive than i-banking, but is it something that is attainable by a non-target?

  2. I am thinking about getting a CFA, so would that help? Also, would majoring in accounting or doing a finance/econ double major be better? I'll try and take more quant-heavy classes if possible, but yeah.

  3. This is the most important question, but if you don't like selling things, is WM a bad field to get into? I've heard that WM is all about selling securities and making money from commissions, but since I'm really bad at sales, this wouldn't be a good fit for me. I was hoping it was more about advising people how to manage their assets, which securities to buy, etc., so if that's not it, what am I thinking about? Based on this, what are some other jobs I can aspire to get into that don't require me to go to a super target?

thanks and sorry for the long question, but I appreciate your help.

 
  1. It's doable but you will be at a huge disadvantage vs. target schools
  2. Any of econ/accounting/finance are fine. CFA is a huge boost and looks great.
  3. It's a people business but it is very advisory (much more now than it used to be) than commission-based. This varies by firm. People are now looking for long-term service and relationships beyond the broker/short-term trade advice/commission model.
 
Best Response
supermonkey:
1. It's doable but you will be at a huge disadvantage vs. target schools 2. Any of econ/accounting/finance are fine. CFA is a huge boost and looks great. 3. It's a people business but it is very advisory (much more now than it used to be) than commission-based. This varies by firm. People are now looking for long-term service and relationships beyond the broker/short-term trade advice/commission model.

Thanks for the reply!

What should I start doing from now on to put myself in a position to secure a decent job? Another problem is that I've transferred twice! I can explain both (I had to transfer once because it was too expensive, the second time because I couldn't stand it there and didn't do anything), but will that hurt a lot, or will I be fine as long as I answer it sincerely? I'm really worried about this for some reason. Would getting a masters degree in finance help at all, especially for the CFA? EDIT: Also, I'm not necessarily looking at just an NYC office, and I'd actually like to stay on the west coast, so will that help me out at all?

Also, I know that I'll have to work with people, and I'm fine with that, it's just that I don't want it to be purely about commission. I'm not an aggressive guy, so I know that I would be horrible at a job that required me to push things on people against their will.

Pretty women make us BUY beer. Ugly women make us DRINK beer.
 

I keep getting the feeling that the school you are describing is, in fact, USC, which is very strong with Big 4, large multinationals, and Merrill (once took something like 30 interns). But weak with investment banks and other elite concerns (that's frankly a major USC issue, being basically sort of ultra-strong and dominant with "normal" businesses on the West Coast, but weak in elite businesses).

By the way, if you are gonna get a masters in finance, go to London Business School or something similar and get one there; it is very, very strong with London investment banking and my impression is that you don't have to have work experience to qualify.

If you are smart, you would just take a masters in finance, do banking in Europe for a few years, and then go wherever. It's gonna be a lot harder if you try to break out in your current condition.

 

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