Starting to freak out about starting FT
I was hanging out at my buddy's place last night and we were talking about vacation plans for after graduation. He talked about how I should be enjoying the last few months of school and go somewhere baller after graduation since I'm gonna get crushed once I start work. I never really thought about it before, but hearing it from him and looking at the calendar freaked me out. 'm still thinking about it a day later and it's making me pretty anxious...
After graduation, I'm starting at a boutique that's supposedly a sweatshop (Moelis/Lazard). Looked at a bunch of WSO threads today and getting pretty scared of both the hours and the work. I'm a liberal arts student who's never taken a finance class. No lie; everything I know is from the WSO technical guide. Also have never had an IBD internship either. I summered in Capital Markets and all I got from that was how to make a fuckton of market update slides which isn't exactly the same as M&A. I know nothing and I'm afraid that I won't catch up and I'll have even longer hours than everyone else because I would have to keep looking everything up and suck balls at the work.
I'm also kinda regretting signing with this particular firm. At the time, I was really amped about exits/pay/prestige but I don't even know if I want to do PE anymore. I thought about it and don't think I have any sort of interest in investing. Had a bunch of other offers with BB coverage groups with a lot better hours at the time I signed and I can't help but think I should have considered those more seriously. I guess I just didn't really think things through and made an impulsive decision based on statistics.
Anyway mostly a rant to make myself feel better but would also like to ask a few questions. Do kids with no experience catch up relatively quickly? Is there anything I can do in the next few months to maybe learn more about finance and put myself in a better place?
my advice to you: learn how to build M&A/lbo models NOW and party your ass off during training. in banking, if your training is anything like mine (i suspect it will) it will be a lot of theoretical bull shit like allocating balance sheet items (goodwill, pp&e stepup/down etc). you do not need to know the "in theory" you just need to know how to do it mechanically. using the goodwill example above, no one in banking or PE will have any clue how to value it so a 3rd party valuation firm will be sent in post acquisition to do this type of work. you will be surprised how much is outsourced.
your mentality and attitude will either make you a rock star top bucket analyst or it will sink you after a year. keep your head up. first 8 months will be the hardest you probably will have ever worked but guess what, at least no one is shooting at you in a desert.
good luck!!
Dude, relax. EB's and even top MM firms have training programs that last around a month give or take a couple of weeks. Use your training to pay attention and learn instead of the excuse to drink and party on the firms dime like most do and you'll be way ahead of your analyst class. Right now use your time to travel and read any books you want to because there will be zero time for that once you start. Trust me, the difference between what you know and any new business/finance/accounting majors you might be working with is almost unobservable to most associates and VP's, Hopefully you get an associate who isn't some post MBA career switcher, someone that has actual deal experience and isn't a prick that you can learn from. If not, maybe a 3rd year analyst or even a VP. Find someone like that who has the mentality of a teacher and if you have a teachable spirit they will be an immense help to you.
Most importantly, RELAX until you start work.