20 years old and screwed up, how can I make it into a high finance role like front end IB or should I give up?

In Fall 2021 I attended my freshman year at a community college because I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do. I wasn’t motivated in school and fell into a depression. I messed up bad and ended up failing some classes that semester and did not return my second because I felt like the time wasn’t right, especially since I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I know failing at a community college probably makes me look like an idiot but I just got lazy.

Over two years I worked at a part time job and grew a small reselling business that I scaled to low six figures. I was traveling Europe this past summer and looked a lot into finance while over there and found a huge interest in it, particularly the IB side. Once I returned to the States I went back to the college to return and study Business Administration with the plan of transferring for my Junior year to a state school since my Freshmen and Sophomore year are free because of my grades in High School.
I just finished my first semester back and I have all A’s but am held down from the previous semester in 2021. I feel like I keep taking the wrong steps but I want to do anything I need to get into an IB role.

I would say I am very good at networking with people and all my professors this semester have worked at putting me in contact with people they know. Right now I am studying for the SIE Exam to get some kind of certification behind my name but when I come back for my second semester I plan on starting a finance/investing club on my campus.

Any advice on how I can get out of this hole? Maybe transferring earlier? I would love to transfer to an Ivy League if I can pull the strings right but just doesn’t seem feasible. I know I am going to have to work extremely hard, especially given my current situation, but is there hope?

 

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