Getting a IB job after a few years of professional tennis?

I am a rising senior in college and am a top D-1 tennis player, I love finance and want to do Investment Banking some day but I really want to try playing professional tennis for a few years after college.. Will this hurt my chances of getting a job on wall street?

11 Comments
 

Tennis---->MBA

I know a guy who did professional tennis then went to One of HSW

I am a blogging intern at Wall Street Oasis. Feel free to follow me to see my weekly posts.
 

No i don't have any work experience; during my first summers in college I did summer school (I'm graduating with two degrees in 4 years) and last few summers have been sent playing professional tournaments.

 

Errr.. ya might want to change your user name. I was able to figure out pretty easily who you were based on this.

It's generally accepted that the easiest way to get into banking is straight from school because you have a defined recruiting timeline. That is slightly less of an issue for you because there isn't much recruiting for Wall St jobs at your school.

Still, you would need to have a way of getting interviews once you were done with the tour. ATP ->MBA is not the worst idea if you can spin in to be 'valuable work experience'. Serve as the player rep at as many tournaments as you can, find a relevant non-profit, get going on the damn campaign for better prize money for futures and challenger events, stuff like that.

 

It's not the best, but find anyone interested in tennis and suddenly your value skyrockets.

Anyway, I think most here would love to be in your shoes. Might not be the best position for applying, but sounds far more interesting.

 
Best Response

I'd go for it. At the end of your life, you don't want to think "what if?". Not many people get the chance to do what you're doing and as a fellow D1 tennis player, I can tell you that you'll find someone who likes your story if you network like crazy. I got into my bank because my MD played D1 tennis and still plays tennis. Doesn't even have to be tennis oriented. Banks and many companies like athletes so you will be fine if whenever you're done, you network like crazy.

 

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This to all my hatin' folks seeing me getting guac right now..

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