Is it worth it for me to keep pursuing IB at this point in my life?

Will not try to make this a rant post, and will try not to anger anyone. I am currently a Junior in Highschool and I have come to the conclusion that I have fucked up the chances of me doing IB. My grades and test scores are not bad, but honestly, I am as average as you can possibly get when it comes to those. I am not going to get in any targets, and will not get in any semi. Hell, I don't even think I'll get in my state school (Uconn).

I am fully aware of the many stories that people have shared on this website about their "zero-to-hero" tales of getting a prestigious job in wall street from a nontarget through a near 4.0 GPA and a ridiculous amount of networking. I respect those individuals a lot, I really do. However, at the end of the day, you can call those miracle stories.

I am not the smartest guy in the world, so a near-perfect GPA in college I know for a fact will not happen no matter how hard I try. My social skills are not even that great, which means that networking and interviews will probably not go well for me, neither would networking.

I would not mind NOT landing a Wallstreet 100k a year job right out of high school, so maybe there is an upside for me in that regard.

I didn't write this to get words of encouragement nor am I fishing for any sort of compliments or sympathy. I just want to know from you guys, in the most honest manner humanly possible. Is IB something that is now out of my reach?

Before I submit this, I just want to apologize for the countless people I pissed off. My attitude is shit, getting avg scores is not the end of the world, and it is still way too early to tell anything for me. I get that. I simply wanna hear the honest truth from people who have been through all of this bs.

5 Comments
 
Most Helpful

It depends how much effort you are willing to put in over the next five years. There are certainly things you can do to give yourself a very good shot at getting in. Will it require hard work? Yes of course, but that won't be the key. The x factor will be strategic planning from now on. You can start building up your resume, networking with the right people, learning about the industry, doing research online and reading books. Being at a better school will certainly help, but there's a lot of ways into the industry. For example let me share a scenario I see very often... someone goes to school and majors in accounting, then does the big 4 for 4-5 years and then does an MBA and gets an IB associate job around age 29 or so. That happens a lot. You are probably 17? So think about that, you could potentially have 12 years until you get into the industry and still be on a great track for a long term career in IB. Getting in as an analyst will most likely require you to become above average after high school which I understand is easier said than done but you can do it

Money can purchase freedom, if you have the guts to buy it
 

Appreciate the words of encouragement. I really gotta start working harder. Guess I just gotta find it within myself to push through. I always thought that the most common way of breaking into banking was top grades at a target school. Could you enlighten me on this regard? Apart from the zero-to-hero stories, is it in any way frequent to find some sort of job in the industry without excelling at a top school?

 

Appreciate the harsh criticism. You are one hundred percent correct. My attitude is complete shit, that is something that I too have realized in the last couple of weeks. Perhaps you are right and this isn't for me. I could go ahead and study to take yet another sat and act and here I am bitching about my hs failures on the internet.

 

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