Cold-emailing alumni from rival schools?

Would it be hard to garner a positive response if a Duke student emailed a UNC alum?

UCLA emailed USC?

Where do rivalries stand in networking?

12 Comments
 

I'd help a kid out from a rival school before I'd help a kid from Random Fucking State School, but still agree with the others. You're just another random at that point.

 
BlackHatI'd help a kid out from a rival school before I'd help a kid from Random Fucking State School, but still agree with the others. You're just another random at that point.

Oh really BH, is that how you really feel.

The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee WSO is not your personal search function.
 

Just do it no matter what, even to alums won't turn out that good. Phrase your emails a little differently though.

"I already know I'm going to Hell. So, at this point it's go big or go home"
 

I plan on only helping out my school only (super super non target). If some kid from a regional target or overall semi target already exhausted his alumni and is reaching out to me he's clearly doing something wrong/is incompetent

 
Best Response

I email everybody no matter what their school is. I've probably had a 30-40% response rate but I haven't started applying to jobs yet.

I am looking towards real estate investment though and networking is even more important/pedigree less important than it is in IB. Plus with the sheer volume of RE firms out there a lot of these guys likely haven't had college kids network with them before.

If you're going to go for non-alums in IB you should probably network with people who you could guess get less e-mails. If a guy broke in from a tiny LAC that is known more for drama than finance, for example, then he would probably be a decent person to contact. Whereas a guy from Wharton probably gets hit all the time by e-mails from Wharton kids, so he probably wouldn't be willing to help a kid from east bumfuck state u. Regardless though, some people are a lot more willing to help than others, so it's just a matter of talking to enough people until you get some luck.

 

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