Thought I wanted a 2024 WM SA role, but realize now I don't - Advice
I recently finished my sophomore year from a good but non-target state school. (For reference I have an internship for this summer of 2023 as a real estate PE SA at a small firm.) I had internally transferred into the undergrad business school at the end of my first semester sophomore year. I convinced myself that I wanted to go the wealth management route because I had not taken and finance classes and was scared of IB recruitment and the intense recruitment process of many other "High Finance" roles. I didn't know how to prep for technicals that I had yet to learn in class, so I opted to play it safe and recruit for wealth management. I put a lot of time into networking throughout the year, but essentially should've been more diligent in my work. As the semester was moving along and I hadn't gotten very far in the interview process anywhere I began to realize (while in finance classes) that I both really enjoy finance and that I was good at it. As this happened, I realized I had to expand my horizons and apply to more high finance roles such as S&T and IB. Unfortunately, I was very late to the game and had little to no networking done at these roles. Since then I began applying and reaching out, but it has been difficult. Then, in the last several weeks I was given a superday and then an offer at a BB for a wealth analyst role in NYC. This was very exciting and relieving, and raised my confidence, but I looked more into the role and it looks like there will be little to no interaction with investment strategy or analysis. The job is essentially a supporting role for FA's, or in other words a junior client associate. It seems to be entirely sales based and I won't learn any technical skills that would roll over to a job in high finance.
Since getting the offer I have continued grinding, by networking, sending out applications to any more technical finance role I can find at larger firms/banks, and prepping as if I have IB interviews coming up. I know that I am too late for a lot of 2024 SA roles, but I know I can work hard and get a better offer than the WM position. I need advice for how to continue my recruitment. I'm not entirely sure where I want to work or what I want to do. Should I prep IB throughout this summer and focus in on IB, or should I focus on something else? I enjoy my work this summer working in RE PE and I'm getting good experience underwriting and modeling so should I apply to more RE positions? Or do I just accept the wealth management offer even though it doesn't interest me that much anymore and it's unlikely to help further a career outside of WM.
I'm looking for some guidance because right now because I'm all over the place. I know I have the discipline to work my ass off, but I want to ensure that I focus this energy in the correct places so I can be as efficient as possible. I also had the thought process that since I don't know what I want to do, should I plan for IB because of the potential exits? And if this is a smart plan, what should be my target for SA 2024 positions at this point in time?
Please share any advice you may have, I know this post is a bit of a mess, but any input is useful.
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