Why is this sub Against Minorities?
Title says it ALL. After receiving hateful, bigoted replies on the "Has the pendulum swung too far" post earlier this week, I am DISGUSTED by the viciously negative attitude towards giving minorities a well earned chance at finally breaking into IB.
I actually felt extremely uncomfortable working with my non-minority coworkers this week because I know some of them browse WSO and now I can't tell if they actually see me as a human being or as some invader there to steal their people's jobs.
Is this what the world has come to?... Can't a minority ever catch a break in IB or just finance in general??
I'm a minority, but tbh I understand it. Imagine being an Asian male from a lower/middle income household, doing incredibly well in class and on standardized tests, then failing to get into an elite institution. Then from there, imagine trying to break into IBD and knowing that you will have a harder time just because your racial background doesn't boost firm diversity.
My closest friend at school is Chinese-American with amazing med school stats--scored 100 %ile on the MCAT and has a 3.95 GPA (we go to a top 5 undergrad). Premed advisors at school told him to not expect to get into any top 10 medical schools and to apply widely. This set him on a bit of a mental tailspin. While I don't believe this justifies the mocking of URMs and outright racist posting you occasionally see on WSO, it is probably the reason people feel this way.
I totally get that Asian kids get shafted in both directions. Getting shit on for being ORM in college and workplace and also getting shit on by racists for being Asian. Honestly Asian people have been really nice to me in college and at work. It's mostly just white guys who I never had anything against, but always seemed to be hostile. Like when I was at a networking dinner and me and two other white kids were talking to a few white (male) MDs, the MD guys didn't even make eye contact with me and barely answered my questions. But they were all smiles with the two white kids. And no hate to those white kids, they were absolute bros to me during training, so not generalizing here. It just baffles me how me and other minorities ive talked to have to deal with all this shit, not just at work, but in life, yet a bunch of these non-minority people start pointing fingers at diversity programs like Satan just emerged from the depths of hell to destroy their families or some shit.
Under the veil of anonymity on wso people are going to talk a lot of shit and reveal beliefs they normally wouldn’t. It sucks, I’m with you. It’s all about entitlement, people attribute every diversity placement to diversify because of the generalization that the bar is far lower and that they must have been more qualified.
even if the bar is lower (which in some cases it undeniably is) is that bad? These initiatives were made to level the playing field and that’s what they do
The issue is that that firms are doing diversity bs to meet a quota and not actually caring to make a difference.
You can be black, Hispanic, woman. If you have parents who went to college and are financially successful you have a huge advantage when it comes to college and recruiting for job. there's prob some Emily and Juan who get hired through the diversity program but are extremely privileged and have houses in the hamptons, for example, i know most if not all women who got hired from women's programs in my school are rich....
On the other hand, you have asain, white, Arab, black, Hispanic, women who come low income/first-gen background yet the banks aren't focusing on that. that's where the real diversity is. Hr should fucking have an income cutoff and people should include proof of income of parents. I wonder how many diverse kids that got hired come from a rich backround vs the other.
This.
I go to a H/Y/P and just finished at an Top EB. I didn’t make it through to the analyst program which I’m bummed out for but it’s all good. For context, I’m the Asian that has been through generational poverty, and ethnically oppressed now in China ( haha guess which ethnicity I am).
I’m happy I can break that barrier and provide my mom and dad some cushion money, and a better life.
I recently saw a HS classmate, who was not a good student at all and ended up at a top party schools with a 85+ acceptance rate get accepted to a MFPE analyst program. She was the type to drive a Range Rover to school every single day and boast about her family earning/ belittle broke boys like me lol. When I saw the LinkedIn announcement, I was distraught. I’ve worked so hard for so long to get to Harvard and then a EB. Albeit she had solid grades at her school, but I just felt like the motto my parents instilled in me “ work harder than everybody and you will rise to the top.” Was false. I thought the United States is a meritocratic country. Turns out that is completely false.
Diversity is very important, but when everyone is equally as rich and have similar backgrounds, it just feels like you’re talking to the same people but in different skin colors and different gender orientations.
Corporate America needs to change something about D&I. Just look at the diversity threads, it’s just all filled with hatred towards the diversity kids. It’s going to continue to get worse if things don’t change. But in America I realize things only chance when something radical occurs.
Going to put this crudely because this is the internet and I am anonymous.
I remember seeing some demographic stats a while back. Basically, like 40% or 50% of the people on this forum (including me) are Asian. Asians are a minority, who just like any other minority (blacks, hispanics, native americans), got taken advantage of, exploited, and abused by European colonial caucasian powers in pretty much every way possible. If you took a U.S. history class in HS, you'll know that this was not only prevalent in Asia, but in America as well. And so, here we are in the 21st century. There are poor east asians and south asians in America, and their poverty can be traced back to the economic exploitation done to them by white people, just like we can trace African American, Hispanic, and Native American poverty back to the economic exploitation by white people. And yet, these white people, grandchildren of the colonizers who fucked us over in the first place, have the balls, the fucking nerve, to think that they can arbitrarily decide who deserves recompense from this fucking over, and give African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans opportunities that they have decided you don't deserve because a fraction of your demographic was able to work hard and overcome them fucking you over. They have the fucking nerve to do to you today what they did to the Jews a century ago with Affirmative Action. They have the guts to tell grandsons of Chinese indentured-slave railroad builders and southeast asian refugees of conflict driven by colonial imperialism and Indians escaping the soviet system that because there are some people in their demographic who have managed to succeed, they don't deserve an opportunity to catch up, like the hispanics, blacks, and native americans, to the people who fucked them over in the first place?
Yes, this would make me feel bad, and I feel like I have every right to be.
As a side note, rising senior at a target going to a MF. This really doesn't impact me anymore, and I think a lot of people stop caring because it doesn't affect them personally, which sucks because it likely limits our ability to create change. But I haven't, because I just don't think its right.
Edit: No, I don't hate white people. I feel for poor white people too. I don't think any opportunities should be given on general characteristics like race at all, but rather on specifics like income. I am just trying to illustrate Asian frustration with these programs, which I did by exaggerating a bit. I also think reparations or remunerations are likely not really viable, because in the end everyone will keep owing something to someone else as new historical atrocities and shit gets discovered or receives public attention. People are happy to talk about a few thousand dollars reparations for black people but what about giving native americans all their land back, etc.
I didn't hate on you in that thread or be racist lol. You're just soft bro and super entitled. And not gonna give some lengthy response but people have covered it pretty well in the above. As a brownie male in a middle class family going to a non-target, the odds are already stacked against me. It's even more stacked when I bust my ass to get the super at a good bank and then get told 50-60% of the class got filled from some dumbass diversity symposiums. When you say minorities, you're only thinking of blacks and hispanics. You never think of the chinese and indian males that get butt fucked in recruiting and have to be virtually the top 1% of candidates to even have a chance. I will never support diversity programs and can never agree with punishing groups for sins they never committed. Basing decisions on immutable characteristics is just not right to me. It wasn't 60-100 years ago and it's not now. And yes fuck nepotism too. That being said there's always going to be jackasses and racist people. Who fucking cares just do your job well and keep moving on. Stop looking for everybody to actively accept you and be nice to you. The world is a tough place
I hear you OP, it sucks but the true "diversity recruits" are the private school kids that have connections in the industry and went to private schools. But go figure for some reason people find it easier to give these mostly white ppl a pass and hate on the underrepresented people of color / hispanic heritage instead... For example I went to HYP and it was ludicrous how certain private schools sent around 20 people per class per year... to put into perspective that's more than the entire continent of LatAm + Africa COMBINED for 1 high school (and more than many entire US states as well). Do you think these kids were particularly brighter? Lol in general they had lower SATs than the average student and let me tell you they weren't particularly the insightful bunch at seminars but you'd definitely find them running the frats and skeet & trap teams.. Admission counselors had to accommodate for these "relationship" students / schools only for then having some of them on WSO hating about minorities having it easier lol. You probably won't find a single thread on WSO complaining about "where's the pendulum" for these kids unless it's in jest and you'll have dozens complaining about minorities... I dont think I need to spell it out for you what's going on here but whatever it is what it is.. at the end of the day most people who think like these users do are a dying breed so who cares... you just keep your head up and keep killing it dont let these goons throw you down for a second