Help choosing a life

Hello, 

I will try to be as brief as I can and I would like to have all the criticism and/or advice as possible from knowledgeable people on this forum.

Brief background:

1. latino, 25 y/o, currently based in Paris

2. Currently going to France's #10th business school for a MSc. Finance (don't ask me why, I fucked up.. I think I just took the wrong decision)

3. totally fluent in english and spanish. Intermediate level in french.

4. have ZERO work experience, and the reason is because I cracked under pressure at an boutique investment banking internship back in south america and quit after 2 months and after that just decided I wanted to emigrate somewhere. I did not know how to do advanced financial modelling (nobody had taught me before and they refused to do it at the firm) and also hours were terribly hard for me coming from being just a business student.

I would like to find a career path in finance which can ultimately and over a long term basis help me launch an investment firm, it may sound ridiculous but I loved Billions and I would sort of like to be some version of Bobby Alxelrod. I would like you to ask me what steps should I take to achieve my goal, which paths or jobs in finance can give me the necessary knowledge and money to make it more feasible. Also I would like to know how to make up according to my profile the mistakes I have made, how can I boost myself into a successful career. I am probably more interested by financial markets and investment management than by private equity/investment banking but I know the pay in the latter tends to be better. 

1 Comments
 

Quaerat explicabo laboriosam consequatur necessitatibus modi. Rerum modi eos molestiae porro in non.

Id sit incidunt quas dolor. Dolores sequi atque ut aspernatur cumque et. Voluptas praesentium facere modi fuga aut. Minima maxime quo facere expedita sequi occaecati.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (50) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”