Freshman at A&M. How to grind
I'm a freshman and finance major at Texas A&M in mays. My focus is keeping my GPA high and finishing off the lower level business classes asap so i can start taking upper level finance classes sophmore year.I joined the aggie investment club for what its worth and will try to join its better finance programs later on, like aggies on wall street, horizons, titans, etc since I cannot as a freshman.I recognize that A&M is a non target if i want to break into those prestigious finance jobs later on. So I'm willing to put in extra effort to maximize my chances. But what should i do do to get there? How do i build connections, get internships, and the like. I just wanna know important things that I should be doing so I don't waste these 4 years and the free time i have. How do i grind basically, I want to make the most of what I have.TLDR: What should i start doing to make it later.
Heres an update now that the semester is over: I got invloved in AIC and applied to horizons and got rejected (like all other freshman) I also kinda got my foot in the door by reaching out to the director of AOWS, Mr. Hercot and Reveille Fund, Mr Adams, who was kind enough to let me sit in on a class as well. Went to career fairs, the employers liked seeing a freshman which was nice. Had a few interviews for summer internships, most recent being for a private equity firm that focuses on M&A. The interview went great so i think i prolly got it. Its unpaid (unless they close a deal from your help) and remote, but better than nothing. I'm also switching majors to applied math with a concentration in computational science to keep my options open to tech and quant finance and make myself stand out with a qualitative background.
I don't go to A&M so can't help there. You are absolutely correct about the difficulty of getting jobs that pay that much. They are hard to break into and long hours. If you don't break into such a job you will be in that exact situation, your friend in CS will be making more and working less.
It's a risk. Take it or leave it, it is up to you. I personally would not have pursued finance if I was not at a target but I am a risk-averse bitch and also good at math.
i agree tbh hence the change of major
I was at A&M last year but transferred to UT. If you want to stay at A&M, get as involved with AIC this year as you can. Try to get in contact with Phillipe Ercot (Aggies on Wall Street director) and Brent Adams (Reveille Fund professor, also huge stud). Meet upperclassmen and get their advice on what to do to prepare for AOWS and Horizons.
Unfortunately, A&M is a non target, and its NY placement backs this up (but it is strongly improving, 10+ last two years). I know of very few people who got NY offers who weren’t diversity. Majority of kids go to Houston or Dallas. A&M is a semi target/target for Houston O&G banking.
Leverage the Aggie network as much as you can for internships. The more experience you have, the easier recruiting for better internships will be.
Also, a 4.0 is a must. It’s really easy to do freshman year, just stay on top of your studies. If it dips later, that’s fine, but get a 4.0 for now
Edits: provided numbers
Phillipes last name is Hercot lol not Ercot. True Texas kid.
Lmao I can’t believe I fucked that up. My Texan really coming out
Agree generally with this, but NYC placement has improved significantly in the last year or two. A&M is now sending 30+ kids into IB each year, about half in NYC (other half Houston). A decade ago 0-1 would be going to NYC IB each year.
NYC is definitely in reach now compared to a decade ago. Houston is still pretty hard if you want to go to a top shop just because they don’t take a ton of interns to begin with.
It has improved significantly, but once again, a lot of this placement is diversity. It is getting better though, and rightfully so. I'm glad I left, but I thought it was criminally underrated.
This is relatively good advice - but 4.0 isn't essential, but would suggest at least >3.8. I'm a bit older than some of these folks, but pretty sure Horizons is still the golden ticket to getting into banking (especially in Houston). I would say the Houston banks recruit pretty hard at A&M and should have a decent shot at most/all of them with good grades and Horizon prep.
What is there in Dallas?
Jefferies PCA for one.
Focus on achieving a 4.0 GPA and worry about other stuff as time goes on. Don’t forget to work out and socialize, don’t want to be a non-target hardo who only cares about finance with no balance in their life
You can easily make 6 figures if you study computer science and work in tech. In fact there’s tons of comp sci jobs that will pay you what you can expect to make as a first year IB analyst ($160k-$190k+). Your pops is giving you some serious advice. On what basis are you more passionate about finance than comp sci? Have you taken several courses in both / worked in both? I didn’t even begin enjoying computer science until I took algorithms, although I now work in finance.
You have to realize that job and lifestyle is as important, if not more important, than passion for the field. My friend and I had the same technical major, he went to tech and I went into IB. Neither of us at the top of either field, but both at respectable firms. He’s incredibly happy and I’m content.
My friend made around $125k all in his first year working <40 hours a week fully remote, had 100% free weekends, took lots of vacations, worked out and hiked regularly, completely leveled up his fitness game and found several new hobbies, found a new girlfriend he’s serious about, lives where we grew up around all his friends and family. I made around $180k all in but worked 80 hours a week on several live m&a and financing deals, regularly worked on sundays, barely took a vacation and was hard to relax, took a drop off in my fitness and social life and hobbies, have not progressed in non-professional areas of my life. Most of this is probably MY OWN fault, but I personally am not able to be the best version of myself when most of my waking hours are spent working.
I don’t regret my decision. I love my industry coverage group (energy & power), plan to stay in it for the long haul, and am excited about my long term career and compensation prospects whether I stay in banking or go to private equity or corp dev. For the most part I am comfortable working very, very hard for the time being and building other areas of my life later. But I think you should give your dad’s advice some serious thought, because you can study comp sci and make $100k+ starting without much effort and actually have a full life without working too hard. That’s what the people who love you would want for you, and I don’t even know you, but that’s what I want for you.
Took your advice. see adit above
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Graduated a few years back and went through AOWS and was in Horizons, getting into those will pretty much guarantee you a banking job if you put in the effort, had no issues getting interviews->Superdays in Houston (had no interest in NYC so only recruited Houston banks) and graduated with a sub 3.7. So no, you do not need a 4.0 to get a job, but yes you will still have to grind, my sophomore year I had many fridays waking up at 6am to drive down to Houston for 15 min. coffee chats, paid off - in PE now (non O&G FWIW - everyone who says you get pigeonholed into O&G has absolutely no idea what they are talking about) I would focus all of my efforts on getting as high of a GPA as possible freshman year since all the classes are easy af, then try to get any sort of finance/business related internship for this summer, really doesn't matter what it is but will be a really strong leg up for AOWS interviews with the King Philippe.
How did you set up a lot of those coffee chats? Networking is something I want to get better at
I would suggest gawking easy classes all of freshman year and first semester sophomore to maximize gpa. Don’t worry too much about learning financial modeling as a sophomore in college. Most of the intro finance classes aren’t gonna teach you modeling skills. Anyway you’ll learn how to do all of that fun stuff in your training, or so I’ve been told, as I start my SA stint this summer and have minimal knowledge or skill in financial modeling.
By the way I’m a couple years ahead of you at UT, so I was in a similar boat a few years ago. Your best odds are definitely Houston. Good luck
I always wonder about kids like you.
You seem focused and not afraid to work hard as a young freshman.
So wtf happened in high school? How did you end up at such a crappy college?
There are so many reasons that go beyond academics that could lead a kid to choose a college. Family, medical stuff, work, affordability, etc.
Yes, but my point was he seems so motivated and has a clear direction of what he wants.
Sure, Harvard may be a stretch, but at least a top 20 school should be reachable.
Not some rando state school.
Ive actually been told this a few times. Apart fromthe sat, i could've sweat harder like taking all thehardest classes etc. but i didn't since i had nogenuine interest in what they were teaching so i just focused on the classes and clubs that i felt were relevant to what i wanted to do and started reading finance books. Also, College admissions is a crapshoot.
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