High school student here. Should I have fun or try to get into a target?
I'm in high school. One dilemma I am really facing is that I see a lot of guys my age just having so much fun, and I'm really not. Don't get me wrong. I love finance, I love learning about it, and I love trading. Problem is though, no matter how much I'm fascinated by finance, I kind of resent the fact on every Friday night/weekend (including today) I'm either 1) alone or 2) hanging out with people who are frankly losers I hate but hang out because I've been grouped by them. But at the same time, I also want to get into a target. And that really- nowadays at least, given the competition- means immersing myself in finance and building a niche. So here's the difference between what I'm doing now (trying really hard to get into a target) and what I kind of want to do.
What I'm doing right now (aside from school):
- Spending time trading
- Reading books on investing/finance
- Reading websites/blogs about investing/finance
- Going to competitions for my school's Investment Club and FBLA
- Doing a research internship with a finance professor
And all this, this building a spike for college, it takes up a lot of time. And while I love finance, I can't help but feel I'm missing out on having fun. I feel like if I stop trying so much, I could actually have a lot of fun in high school. See, unlike a lot of people I'm not stressed about classes since to me, they're frankly very easy. But I take on so much stress about my portfolio, about getting into a good college, etc.
So sometimes, I just want to stop caring so much and just do this (I'd still be getting good grades):
- Play sports (something I want to do but not something my parents introduced me to as a kid)
- Have fun and hang out with people
- Date girls
And I think I want to get into a target, but I also want to have fun, and I feel if I start doing the stuff on the latter list, I'll be having a lot of fun, but I won't have time to do stuff that helps me get into a target (because playing sports is a major time commitment).
Advice?
High school isn't hard enough for you to have a bad social life and not do well. My advice is take a middle difficulty schedule and get all good grades, join a few clubs and do well in those, and hold a few leadership positions. You should be able to date and everything while getting into a target.
High school friends will become obsolete; your college education will not. Get into a great school and find that balance in college.
Doesn't mean you need to be anti-social, can guarantee you have time somewhere in your week to be social.
Time is a crunch, but it's not just time that's an issue. When I look past the initial idea of just 'I'm going to be social and date", I think, 'okay, to have the kind of friends I want to have, I'll have to do something cool unrelated to finance. To get girls, I'll have to work out, dress nice, etc, etc.' So I kind of see it not just as 'I'll squeeze in a date Friday night", but with all the prep beforehand. Really wanna do it, but feel kinda like it's time consuming.
It depends on what kind of high school he goes to. Also, getting a target is much more difficult than just having good grades and test scores and having leadership positions in a few clubs. Unless OP is a legacy, it's gonna take a lot of work and dedication to get into a target.
Not saying he can't date or anything.
Yeah, that's my main concern here, that if I don't have a massive impressive spike, I'm screwed.
really disagree. Getting into a target (depending on the target ) isn't crazy hard. Sure HYPS will be difficult cuz you get pushed out by legacy, but getting into other targets is pretty straight forward and just requires effort. From the people I met in high school, the ones who got into the best univs worked smarter and not harder and did not overload on difficult classes.
So what would you recommend eliminating from my current schedule.
Suscipit aperiam dolor quisquam iste perspiciatis voluptas. Vitae quis et odit consequatur occaecati voluptas et. Velit qui cupiditate natus ut rerum asperiores. In et necessitatibus nesciunt eveniet. Et quasi et nihil laudantium delectus recusandae sed. Est earum dolorem inventore libero nam. Eligendi odio enim labore numquam corporis quis officia.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...