Getting an Internship at 25? Penn State?

I am a 24 year old full time luxury car salesman and college student at Penn State (online student). Ill cut to the chase. My high school grades were dogshit (mostly because I was always playing hooky). I had the advantage of being such a little shit that I got sent to court ordered military boarding school which only gives a pass or fail for grading. I graduated with full honors and a diploma from my home school and started making 6 figures selling cars. I always wanted to break into IB but didn't think I had what it takes to finish all the schooling necessary. Long story short, I make really good money and have a solid resume, and my job pays for almost all of my schooling. Penn State was the best school I figured I could get into, that was considered a target or semi-target from my research due to not having a GPA (Even then, they only let me in due to my resume. I work at a Ferrari Dealership in Sales if you were wondering). I have 6 years of sales experience, not sure if that helps.

Currently I am in my second semester of my freshman year and I am trying to build a pathway to make my case as strong as possible to get an internship next year. I have a couple of questions if anyone would be kind enough to answer.


  1. I cannot get into the Nittany Lion Fund since it is an in person class only course. I was able to get into the Intrieri Family Student Managed Fund, which I start next week for the Fall semester. Is it as recognized or respected on Wall Street like the NLF? The experience is pretty similar from what Ive been told, just with $1m instead of $15m.

  2. Ive done a ton of research, I found some 8-12 week programs on Coursera from UPenn that teaches quantitive financial modeling, along with a plethora of other IB related certificate producing courses. Are these worth anything? 

  3. I really like the culture at Penn State (Minus the alleged butt stuff in the Football locker rooms LOL) would it be worth it to apply as a transfer to a college like UChicago? (Or attempt to anyways. Im rocking a 3.6 GPA currently. If they are willing to look past my HS records and see what Penn State saw plus a half decent college GPA I might have a shot.) 

Any other advice you'd have for someone in my position? TIA

 

Think you have a compelling narrative forming, and I’m totally rooting for you, but just wanted to chime in on 2 headwinds. (1) transferring - this will be hard. A 3.6 GPA at a mid-tier state school likely won’t cut it for most of the IB target schools that would give you a leg up. Additionally, recognizable IB’s typically accept kids with 3.9+ (maybe 3.8 if diversity) from non-targets like Penn St. I would strongly recommend prioritizing your GPA (whether it be through taking easier courses or with better professors) as there’s just not that many spots for non-target kids.

(2) online school - not sure how your program works, but if you’re committed to IB, it’s worth looking into transitioning into an in-person environment. The network and constant flow of information is immeasurable and the online program candidate will certainly be looked unfavorably compared to a ‘traditional’ 18/19 y/o sophomore who’s in person and has more potential. P.S. those coursera courses don’t mean shit to people in IB, so if you want to pursue them, pursue them for the educational/technical prep, no just so you can say you “took an online course at Penn.”

 

To add onto the transferring portion, have you or anyone else in here heard much about WashU? I live in St Louis, they nicknamed it the Harvard of the Midwest (it better be, its $250k to get a BS from them) I know its very respected and prestigious in other fields like Medicine, and have a top notch Business school (Olin) would it be worth looking at them? There's not a lot of data on them for IB since st Louis isn't a financial hub. its 4 hours from Chicago, Ive read some forms where people at top firms have ran into Olin alumni, but I'm afraid that might be for an MBA. Since Im local, I could attend there in person if that would help. Or look at them after I finish my bachelors for an MBA (and be buried up to my tits in student loan debt) 

 

Everyone knows Washu, it's a top 20 school. Like UChicaxo It is extremely difficult to get accepted to, and even harder as a transfer. Average SAT is 1570, and you will need a much higher GPA than 3.6 from Penn State to have a minute chance.Think about it from these colleges' perspective - these top 20 colleges you are talking about are extremely academically rigorous. You have to show them that you would be able to keep up, and with a 3.6 from Penn State in a non STEM major, it will be very tough to show that to them.

OP if I were you, I would focus on getting your GPA up while talking to as many Penn State alumni in finance (not just IB) jobs as you can. You can apply to transfer at other universities if you want, but cast a wide net. A top MBA or masters is definitely possible after you graduate Penn State (but again, I emphasize the GPA, with your hs record and current 3.6, a boost in GPA would serve you the best).

 

As someone who got multiple BB offers from a nontarget, I'm rooting for you. But first ask yourself why you want to do IB? If you're already making six figures and 25, do you really want to start at the bottom of the totem pole, have no control over your time, and be working 80+ hours a week when you're 29-30 and graduated and might be married or have a family? Do you want to be hanging with other analysts who are 22? Would you enjoy changing ppt colors at 4am for multiple days in a row? Based on what you said (car salesman) you seem like the entrepreneurship type. That’s the opposite of IB analyst grunt work.

Second, when top IBs recruit fromnon targets, you really need to have a 3.9+. So I would focus on that and network.Also transferring to uchicago with a 3.6 from a state school is impossible. You really need to have a 3.9+ to even have like a small chance (top schools barely take transfers, and when they do, it's from other top schools or 3.8+ from non targets). Also as someone who has friends at uchicago, it’s incredibly rigorous. If you have a 3.6 from a state school do you think you can obtain an IB level GPA at uchicago, where every other person was a valedictorian/salutorian/national level extracurriculars, etc? There’s geniuses who go to uchicago and struggle to get Cs while grinding.

 

I have room to improve on my GPA. I was a bit rusty when I took my first semester since its been 6 years from my HS days.I plan on grinding a lot harder next semester to shoot for a 4.0. My main reason for wanting to make the jump, selling cars is awful. There is no base salary. Its a nonstop grind for your paycheck. Every month on the first you go from hero to zero, and there's very little exit opportunity. If you're lucky you can become a finance manager with a 120k base and bonuses/commissions that could push you into IB VP territory for yearly income (Ive met a few who've broken half a million) but there is no set path to that, and with the store I work at, no-one gets behind the desk working those kinds of deals without a lot of previous finance experience. I work 60 hours a week, no two consecutive days off, and the day is just as grinding. I enjoyed the environment for the first few years, but it really takes a toll on you. In my industry, we call senior veteran salespeople "Old car dogs". They are very well off financially if they're good at it, but I don't want to grow up to be an old car dog. Selling Ferraris and high end sports cars is fun, but its a lot harder than selling BMWs like I had for 3 years prior. 99% of my job is telling randoms not to touch the cars and pounding on the phone. 

Ive always wanted to pursue a more technical career and I genuinely enjoy crunching numbers, working under stress, and dealing in financial markets. I don't have parents to contribute to my education, so I saved up for 6 years to where I am in a financial spot that I can make the plunge and finish my degree. Im looking long term, I don't care if I take a pay-cut for the first couple of years if its something I will enjoy doing for the long run. In 20 years, I don't see car sales as being a viable career anymore. IB isn't going anywhere. 

 
Most Helpful

I understand where your coming from. But a lot of the things you say you don't like about selling cars apply to IB. You will be grinding 80+ hours, doing bitch/grunt work. You say selling cars “is a nonstop grind for your paycheck.” That’s exactly what IB is, with way more hours than 60. You say you enjoy crunching numbers and technical analysis, but as an analyst you literally don't have a mind of your own. Almost all of the time is not working on models (it's working on ppts and making 50 slides of a ppt pitch deck that a client won't even look at).You talk about IB VP and how IB isn't going anywhere. Nowadays, IB turnover is so high (because people quit since they can't handle it) you'll be lucky to make it through your 2 years as an analyst, and getting promoted to associate and then VP is incredibly difficult and rare (literally like 1-2% of your analyst class if that). You say "if it's something you enjoy in the long run"; I would say 0.5% of IB analysts actually enjoy what they're doing for the long run (and if they do, they're hardos who have no life and care about prestige and money only). I noticed you said you were married - I couldn't imagine being 29-30 and being an IB analyst. Talk to your wife first before you go down this path - will she, and any future kids, be okay with you working 7 days a week, on call, 24/7, pulling all nighters, canceling holidays/dates/social events/3/4am nights, health issues etc. For most analysts, they burn out within a few years of IB/PE because it's unsustainable (and almost all single and young, couldn't imagine that with being married or having kids). Take a look at what people do after their stint in high finance and see if that's enjoyable to you because statistically, that's what you'll be doing long term (corp dev and industry is common). Just keep your mind open - there are tons of other finance jobs that are stable, long term, and pay well with lower hours, that would make more sense for someone married in late 20s. (AM, ER, S&T, consulting, even high paying sales jobs at many companies which it seems you could be a natural at). All these jobs will still have that technical aspect you're looking for while still being stable and "not going anywhere." IMO, based on what you've said, your reason for going into IB in your situation isn't strong enough (tons of other careers that could fulfill what you say you're looking for). And when you're interviewing with these firms, everyone and their mom is going to be questioning why you're trying to do IB given your situation/circumstances. Others, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

What I would recommend is talking to people in all of these careers and then make your decision. Maybe ask straight up to senior people if they would be an IB analyst in their late 20s. If you still want to do IB after that, then go for it. Just my 2 cents.

 

As others said focus on your gpa and just grind like mad to get it up. With your experience no need to worry about internship till you done sophomore year, you have lots of experience.

People need to see the same work ethic you put to selling cars you can put to other things, unfortunately your GPA is super key in that.

Do not even worry about banking/trading etc…Lots of different fields grind to get that GPA up.

 

Go for it. I think you made up your mind that you want to do it, so do it. Take the good advice on here but also don’t let the discouraging stuff from anon people turn you away. Reach out to more and more alum who are in the job. Talk to them about their week and what it actually was like, but schedule a call like this 3x a week. Learn your shit. Find what group you actually like(pls don’t just say tech). If at the end of the day you want to, then do it. Anything is possible.

 

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