HS SENIOR WANTING TO KNOW HOW TO PLAN OUT EACH YEAR

hi i am a highschool senior and i want to breka into investment baniing, if you could do it agian how would you plan it out, year by year? ive had an internship with a fintech startup but i still feel like im falling behind. what should i do all my eyars of college to secure a 6 figure return offer by senior year? and if i end up going to cc for one year how would i plan that out? 

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Year 0 (You rn as a high schooler): touch some grass and lose virginity are TOP priorities (key to success later)

Year 1: get shit faced every weekend to develop a personality and hopefully get laid

Year 1 Summer: okay time to be serious, start getting shit faced on the week days too

Year 2 fall: start having calls to learn from fellow neurotic people about our awful terrible industry and study technicals whenever you remember to (less important and easy to learn) 

Year 2 spring: secure offer bc you have a personality and have learned the  techs (again very easy this job is not technically difficult)

Year 3-4: See year 1 (and if you are daring see year 1 summer)

Good luck buddy i believe in you :D 

 

Nothing like drinking a bottle of wine at dinner with some sorority girl, then pregaming with the boys, drinking a fifth of bourbon, heading to the bars, hammering tequila shots...on a Monday night no less (this was what I did yesterday). Going to miss it.

 

If you want to do banking first step is fix to grammar, spelling, and capitalize letters.

 
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With all due respect, you're way too late buddy.  It's over, there's no way back for you. I know people who networked with MDs when they were in elementary school. This one guy I know at an MF even created a 3 statement model for an ice cream business when he was 8 years old. MD gave him an SA on the spot for his freshman year at college. 

 

not trying to be mean, but work on spelling and typing. very important for cold emails/networking/resumes/applications to have accurate spelling and grammar. having small mistakes like those get your application dinged. 

 

Judging by your previous posts, breaking into a top IB job from Cal Poly SLO will be extremely difficult because it's a complete nontarget school on the west coast. 

A lot of recruiting is based on prestige, or more accurately who vouches for you. Only target schools get on campus recruiting opportunities, company networking dinners/events, and a huge alumni network to talk to people and get interviews. The alumni network is the key thing here. For most investment banking jobs, you have to talk to people at the firm who are working the job you want to do to even be considered for an interview. Many targets even have a number of allocated interview spots for their schools to give to students. Oftentimes, these people have to vouch for you. This is especially true if you go to a nontarget, because you need references or else your resume is getting instantly thrown out.

Additionally, recruiting from the west coast to east coast shops is pretty tough due to the lack of alumni in those shops. I recommend you go to any of the firms you want to work at's linkedin and see how many people from your university are investment bankers there compared to other schools. That should give you a good sense about what your odds are.

If I was you, I'd focus on trying to transfer to a better university, not just because it will help you with recruiting, but it will open more doors for you later in life if you want to jump into other career paths. Of course, the transfer process, especially to a T25, is extremely difficult so don't be discouraged if you don't get in. If the worst case happens, I would aim to maintain a 4.0 GPA, find relevant finance internships your freshman year, and begin mass networking super early to maximize your odds of breaking into IB. That advice may seem really daunting, but going to Cal Poly doesn't give you much wiggle room to slack off if you want that IB job. I have friends at top targets who did everything I mentioned and still didn't land anything, so you really need to lock in. Ultimately, you have to answer the question, "Why the fuck should they hire you" out of so many other qualified candidates with better credentials. Once you can do that, you should be in good shape.

TLDR; Transfer to a T25 for a better chance at IB recruiting and pursuing other career prospects. If that doesn't work out, maintain a 4.0 GPA, find relevant finance internships your freshman year, and begin mass networking super early (freshman summer). You're in a massive hole because you're at a non target on the west coast, so lock in and grind if you really want this job.

Also, network with people from Cal Poly SLO at the jobs you want and ask them how they got there. When you search up their LinkedIns, make sure their job title is for Investment Banking (not something like Risk, Derivatives, etc.)

 

Nah diversity still makes it difficult to break in if you didn’t go to the right school. However, diversity programs (assuming they still exist when you recruit) do give you a substantial leg up if you can get in since many give you an auto first round/superday. That being said, based on my experience, I’d say 50-60% of diversity program spots go to diversity candidates from target schools and the rest go to semi and mid targets, so take that as you will. 

 

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