First gen low income in IB
just curious how many people on this forum are first generation Americans from low income backgrounds?
So hard to relate with people who think the Bronx and Brooklyn are scary places 😂
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Too many
Haha I definitely feel you on the pretentiousness/safety mindset.
I'm from a poor rural background, not exactly a first gen immigrant altho my dad is.
Took me quite a bit longer to get here, doing M7 MBA and interning in a BB M&A group this summer
Any advice on how to get thru it? I don’t care for expensive things or going out to eat at the most expensive places.
In terms of IB specifically, I am also an intern starting a few weeks ago, albeit at the associate level.
What I've arrived at so far in my professional career pre-MBA is to just not be apologetic about where you come from. Don't have a chip on your shoulder about the many colleagues who are from privileged backgrounds, but its ok to be straight up about who you are and where you came from (within a standard of professionalism of course). No need to pretend you grew up at the country club, people will respect that you had to hustle for where you are.
Low-income first-gen here that broke in from a non-target. My greatest advice is to drop the chip on your shoulder and not overplay your hand with the disadvantaged background. People simply don't care, and they only want to see whether you'll fit in once hired. Even in school, if you become aloof to those with more "privileged" backgrounds, you'll fall out of social circles that could and would otherwise provide you opportunities in the future (things as immediate as someone's cousin looking to hire an analyst while you're still in school or as far out as unique investment opportunities 5-10+ years down the lane).
Simply saying things like it's difficult to relate to people who consider the Bronx and Brooklyn scary doesn't make you look cooler to most people that could actually help you reach your goals. Doing shit like that can sect you off among your peers where you find yourself a part of the "underprivileged" group, which can only breed more insecurity that can and will bleed into your interviews, networking interactions and everything else. Even as someone that can relate to you about what you mean, I would have a hard time wanting to push you forward in an interview process because of how you may have a hard time with the rest of the team (of course, it's all about how you say something and not what you say).
Cheap food for thought. Best of luck, homie.
This is super helpful, thanks man.
NOT OP, but some told me to put first-generation student as a accomplishment on my resume while some didn't, so I was wondering whats the right move here
Our institutions need to get rid of the first-gen thing or completely revamp its blanket meaning. Should we consider and bestow upon the benefits of being first-gen to Bill Gates's children? Mark Zuckerberg's? It should literally be just low income. The children of Harvard alumni should not receive the same treatment or label as the children of people who attended college in the midwest that you have never heard of. I know someone who attended a target school, who was "first-gen". His family owned more than 10 homes, and he had multiple siblings that recently graduated college before he even applied to college. He literally had his siblings hold his hand through the application process while being lauded for his first-gen "achievement". Contrast that to a second-gen kid who had parents go to no-name schools in the midwest, working dead-end jobs, literally own no homes whatsoever, are low-income, and know absolutely nothing about college in today's format. I guess they can't relate to you either because their parents went to "college", right? Drop the labels.
U sound hurt
Nope.
You're talking about the 0.0001%. The vast majority of first gen students are not children of the richest people in the world and are on average lower income than kids from college-educated families.
And FYI...neither Zuck or Gates' kids would first gen. Melinda has a BA and MBA from Duke. Priscilla has a BS from Harvard and MD from a UC.
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