Worried and unmotivated by career prospects

thanks for commenting friend! I was always told to reach out to people in the industry to get a sense of what the job would actually be like but a lot of analysts/associates I talked to said to be very careful in my decision and to make sure I was passionate about IB. Secondly, I have no idea what I want do because I haven't experienced anything. I am confronted with a multitude of career options but I have no idea what I want which makes it very difficult to make a decision. I decided that I should just look to jump into whatever is available at this point and see whether I enjoy it or not. Most of the time when I network, the questions usually center around their jobs so I will definitely consider your advice and just sit and talk to them like a regular person but I would appreciate any help you can provide! 

Asking others why they’re in IB shouldn’t influence your decision? I understand wanting to go into IB for your own reasons, but don’t you think these questions can help guide you to your own conclusions?

Thanks for commenting, friend! I quit pre-med 1st year since I did not want to spend most of my early adult life in school and wasn't as passionate about it as others (basically parents wanted me to go this route). I decided that I wanted to go into finance or business and did not get accepted since I was one credit shy of the requirement due to not paying attention to my classes and trusting my advisor (appealed and failed). I decided that I still wanted a career in finance so I decided to opt into majoring in Economics which is outside of the business school. I developed quite an interest for equity markets and investment banking but realized that my chances were very slim unless I worked hard. 2nd yr I gave up on friends and opted to hit the books and forget about the social aspect of college which took me into a rough spiral which was very counterproductive and my poor grades reflected that (also was down since I didn't get into the B-School and realized I had no idea what I would do as a career if it wasn't finance/what I would tell my parents). Econ was a very math intensive major which I didn't realize when I haphazardly declared it as my major and I always struggled at math. But I was taking the necessary steps to ensure I learned (took extra tutoring/went to office hours for help etc.) Then, Covid happened and I was forced back home struggling to learn math without proper context since it was all over zoom and struggled mightily. This further perpetuated that cycle of "Oh shit I'm not going to get into banking and basically fucked for a successful career" and sent my mental health down the drain along with social isolation during the pandemic. Now, I am at a point where I realize how much I was in over my head and that I have a long career ahead of me but am struggling to figure out which avenue I want to go towards. I would love to get into investment banking since I spent most of my time reviewing guides and studying technicals (essentially the only type of interviews I prepared for) but I realize that might be a very steep uphill road to even getting somebody to answer me since I am now in my final year. I hope this serves as enough context to understand my original post but I appreciate any advice or thoughts you have on this!

Hi friend, thanks for replying! It took me up until this year (senior) to realize that I have a long career ahead of me. It becomes really hard to contextualize how much time you have left when all your friends and others are getting prestigious jobs in IB/Consulting/Tech. It makes it seem like college is the culmination as each year removed from college, the barriers to entry for these jobs become much more limited. Most alumni from my school haven't trekked an uphill battle as they followed the typical route of getting a FT offer and lateraling into jobs from there so I never heard people getting into high finance careers from nontraditional paths like yours! I appreciate your comment and hope that this thread helps others like me realize that there is much more life to go!