Future in IB and other securities
I'm an international freshman at the University at Buffalo. I started out as a CS major in my first semester but will soon be switching to math and economics. I've always loved working with and for money and hence, I believe wall street is the place for me. However, the word on the web is that it's extremely rare and hard for non-Ivy league students to get into invest banking(IB) and such. I screwed up my first semester due to personal reasons and only procured a gpa of 2.65. I'm on track to do 3.4-3.5 in my second semester and have almost no extra curriculars. But I do believe I'm smarter than the pack. I've read up all about the 2008 crises and different securities and have an IQ in the neighborhood of 130 (not that it's a measure of success). I have good analyzing skills and always stand out for being mentally older than I physically am. While I realize UB is a good enough school for me in terms of my grades and achievements but I feel the lack of motivation and challenge in the school. The professors aren't that great and the career fairs as quoted by a senior "are a joke". I've been looking for a summer internship at small hedge funds but have been unable to find any being a freshman. I want to compensate for my lack of academics or my education from the non-Ivy's by getting an early start. Browsing Business Insider's "best colleges wall street hires from" list, I stumbled across a strange name- Baruch. Now, I've read loads of positives and negatives about it. From a terrible administration to a good education and an almost guaranteed job/internship early in the sophomore year. Should I transfer there? Money is an issue. The reason I'm not even looking at the Columbia's and Cornell's and NYU's is because even if i do have a good enough gpa to get in, money is an issue and loans are not an option. With Baruch's dirt cheap tuition, my dislike of UB and UB's fees rising to 44k USD overall next semester, I'm left in a sticky situation. Should I try for Baruch? If not Baruch, what other colleges are my best bet and what's my best course of action? Staying at UB for 3 more years is not something I'm particularly interested in. (I'd prefer a college closer to NYC as I've just learnt that proximity is a factor in getting hired on wall street)
*After my scholarship, I'll be paying around 38k to 40k USD next year and that is the maximum I can afford.
