Professional Athlete -> IB

I recently turned 24 years old and have no experience in finance and just began reading WSO again. I went to a non-target school and was pursing a high-finance role when, halfway through my freshman year of college, I decided to commit 100% to my dream: Being a major league baseball player.

I was recruited at young age in high school to this top Division I program where I played on multiple championship teams, performed in front of thousands of fans, set school records, and eventually was drafted by Pittsburgh as a junior. My work ethic by far is the characteristic that propelled me past my peers and into the highest level of my sport there is. I left school as a junior (graduated on time, Magna-Cum Laude, BA Finance) to pursue my dream in the cutthroat and unforgiving world of professional baseball.

Initially, I was sent to the hectic environment of the minor leagues where I truly became obsessed with the grind. I worked my way up the ranks, moved across the country to train in the offseason, and truthfully learned how to perform to the best of my abilities. Eventually, I was released by Pittsburgh and was setting up to sign with another team when COVID was at its worst which ended all current opportunities. To worsen the situation, I've been battling an injury for ~6 months. Just last week I came to the understanding that this injury will end my career. This leads me here.

If you've read this far, thank you. I feel that my life experience can carry over well into IB and hope my ability to endure long hours, work like a competitive beast, and execute under pressure find its place in the finance world. This is what I was passionate about before baseball became my entire life. The only problem is that I have no experience outside of the generic regurgitation classes I took in college and haven't truly done my own research for IB in 5 years. I am starting at 0.

I've been looking at WSO courses as a good starting point. What are some steps I could take to start building a better understanding of the high-finance world? What are the main concepts I should be learning to become an IB? Also, am I too old for an entry-level analyst position? Should I be looking at a different position because of my age? Do banks have a system to train their new/younger employees?

I'm grateful for any advice and insight from those in the field! Thank you again. 

 
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You're better off at your age going to a target MBA and recruiting for summer associate internships.  That's what a buddy of mine did after a brief stint in the NFL.  You could gun for a MSF program but would only be able to recruit for analyst positions.  Had a summer analyst go semi pro first in baseball and then went to college later and managed to land a summer analyst gig at my bank. 

You could be that 1 in a million guy who does neither with none of the academic credentials and breaks into IB after hundreds and hundreds of rejections if you're lucky enough to win that lotto.  But why make things harder than they need to be?  It's easier to grab from the top shelf when you have a step ladder rather than jump up and waste effort.  Go back to school.  

 

Bump - my older brother did something similar to what Teddy1999 said. Olympic athlete -> M7 MBA -> Banking.

 

Yeah I wouldn’t say it’s a well-worn path but multiple guys in my MBA class were former Olympians/pro athletes. They went to different jobs across the typical MBA recruiting paths, including banking. Anyway, one thing you’d have to grind on is the GMAT to prove you’ve got the firepower. You should be golden on the intangibles of teamwork, work ethic, accountability, etc but you’ll have to show you’ll be good with the academics.

 

Sorry to hear that man, that's tough. Going off what Teddy said, I would look into the Vanderbilt MSF program. They have a pretty decent placement for MM IB. Also, other MSF programs that are decent for IB is UTA, BC, Georgetown (2-year program). Princeton & MIT are great schools and programs but more for quant roles. You would probably be a bit older than the other kids in MSF programs given more come straight from undergrad but there are still some older students with a year or two of experience.

MSF is a good program for entry-level analyst positions. Not sure how the MBA track to Associate would be without prior experience but if you have any questions about MSF program PM me.

Also, Let's Go Bucs

 

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