There are a lot of intensely academic students who go into IB because it's high paying. Whether they were top liberal arts or Harvard Maths students, banking takes in a lot of smarts who are also grouped with less academically rigorous students (eg. students who did undergrad business). Do academic students feel they are wasting their brain in an IB analyst job (as they mostly do grunt work that may not be as intellectually stimulating as their princeton thesis)? Do they ever feel like they should be working somewhere that better applies their intellectual capacity (maybe Sillicon Valley jobs or Quantitative Positions)?
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I think what you're describing is in line with a general trend of banks hiring more students who are set on finance and banking rather than Ivy students because they make better analysts. The less academically rigorous students work hard and really want to do the job, while the smart kids get burnt out.
I'm obviously generalizing and assuming a lot, let me know if you agree at all.
Hm, I thought the trend was opposite (in that banks are hiring more non-business undergrad students), isn't it? I hear a lot of bank expanding their emphasis on students from diverse academic backgrounds.
I think it's not necessarily something that can be generalized for all students from particular schools. However, there are a few things that struck me - the skills that make someone successful in college don't always overlap with those that make someone a good analyst, and someone's priorities can change dramatically when transitioning from college to the workforce.
For the skills required for banking - I would say ability to push through long hours consistently (with no break in sight), the ability to gather information and synthesize it, the ability to proofread perfectly, managing expectations and the ability to display information in a compelling way graphically. Most undergraduates don't really do much graphic work (it tends to be mostly text and equations, with very occasional graphs). A chemistry major at the top of the class may be getting 70% on exams, and in that instance, attention to detail isn't critical to succeed academically. Likewise, a humanities major used to producing major papers at the end of a semester may be used to cramming their work, and constantly grinding away in banking may be a new experience.
Often people go into banking saying "oh, I worked until 1am everyday in college, so I know I can do it." Things can change when you move to a new city, make new friends, and look at what your old friends are doing. Big life changes shift our values.
Great answer! you talked about priorities changing; do you mean that grads realize that they should focus on a money-making career instead of intellectual fulfillment? On another note, I'm a pretty academically driven student. I worry that I may not find IB intellectual fulfilling - I used to think Finance would be an intellectual challenging field but it seems that it's all about pushing through long hours (which I don't mind). Does exit opportunities or senior banking positions offer more "intellectual stimulation"?
I'm not in IB, but for me the real world has been very disappointing. I loved to learn and was very smart growing up so it's strange when that's no longer rewarded when all you heard was that smarts and doing well in school are the key to success. I personally feel like I have to almost "give up" intellectual stimulation to make money :(
Do you ever feel that you should or should have went into another profession that's more intellectual challenging?
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