Hello, need advice

Hello all,

I just completed my freshman year. I attend the University of Rochester, double majoring in Financial Economics and Mathematics, and made a 3.8 GPA. I am also applying to be a TA for linear algebra or microeconomics. My highest math course in linear algebra and intermediate microeconomics, and will take econ stats, macroeconomics and financial accounting, econometrics and introduction to algebra over my soph year next year (just some background to my education). I am new to this, but know that I want to work in a finance related field, most definitely in Wall Street. Is it stupid to think that I could work on Wall Street, with my grades + non-target school? Rochester has a great economics school but as I have read it is not a feeder school.

I have a research assistant position for this summer - mostly data-entering and sorting. What should I be looking to do this summer, other than my research assistant position, to begin my stride towards a job on Wall Street? Any advice would be appreciated - I am sure questions like mine have been asked before on this forum, so links also would be welcomed.

Thank you all in advance!

4 Comments
 

You have more than ticked the "intelligence" and GPA boxes for getting in to wall street. Focus on networking and getting interesting stories to tell in interviews. Study abroad. You need to diversify your resume. Your analytical training is already more advanced than most 1st year analysts. Unless you want to be a quant in which case you can never have enough math and comp sci. But even for quant the other parts of your application are very important and landing SA positions is a great benefit.

 

Well that's comforting to know! I am planning to study abroad. Thank you for your tips - I wish I could PM you to clarify some of the things you mentioned, but I don't have enough "points" as of yet to do so. I understand that networking is essential, but I haven't got a clue how to go about it (I am open to networking, but not if it requires joining a business frat or the like). What is a quant? I apologize for my confusion - this world is still new to me. Thank you for your tips, though, it's very much appreciated.

 

Also, I am an international with no finance experience - I lived in a country where the working conditions were unsafe and children of expatriates (I am a child of an expat family) just simply do not get any jobs or internships due to the availability of extremely cheap domestic labor, among other reasons (lack of information sector, etc). I realize this sounds like an excuse, but it's not, it's a legitimate reason.

I already have an economics-related research position for this summer, and will look to get finance internships in my sophomore and junior summers. What should I be doing this summer? I don't know how to network even after reading through the posts here - I don't know where to start. Any further advice would be really appreciated.

 

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