Hey! My name is Raghu, and I'm 15!
Hey guys! My name is Raghu, I'm 15 years old, and I hail from Delhi, India. I am currently finishing up my 10th grade, under the CBSE curriculum in India.
I will take up Business subjects, in my 11th grade (in India we can choose a stream-of-sorts in our 11th grade, to pursue in 11th and 12th). I want to take up Economics in College (have to stay in India due to Financial Constraints), and my ambition is to break into IB!
I want to start building my foundations and get ahead of the curve as early as I can! I have the financial capability to fortunately go to a mid-tier college for a MBA, in the US (under $50,000). I was seeking some guidance, and advice, to begin this fruitful journey into the wide world of Finance, and specifically the channel of IB!
I hence far, am aiming for a Summer Analyst program at the Goldman Sachs in India during my UG, and hopefully land a permanent role there, before shipping of after 2-3 years of working to the US for my MBA, and hopefully re-enter IB, and work for around 10 years, or till I reach VP-level before re-aligning to a less-demanding industry such as Private Equity for example.
Thank you so much, all feedback, advice and guidance is much appreciated!
There isn't much point coming to the US for undergrad or MBA as an Indian national due to the difficulties of getting sponsored for a visa. I would also suggest rethinking the idea that private equity is less demanding than IB. Maybe marginally in hours, but PE work is very intellectually demanding. I would suggest exploring the below paths -
1. Get into the prestigious IIM undergraduate business programs, then the finance world in India is your oyster
2. Think about consulting if PE is the end goal. Placements from Mckinsey and Bain seem to better than investment banks in India ( this would again involve getting into a great undergraduate institution in India that places to these)
3. Get a CA degree then an IB job, then PE (less conventional, have seen it enough to know its possible)
Great post, I agree with this
Also you’re only 15 man. Enjoy your youth while it lasts. Life is a long journey
I'm just so paranoid nowadays, feels like walls are closing in to decide what I want to do for the rest of my life, which seems very daunting on the face of it, I researched IB a bit, but I now realise after reading through this post, that IB in India compared to the West is a huge difference.
I see it honestly, placements in consulting India-wise are much better! Thanks for the advice!
"Switch to a less demanding career (LOL) such as PE after making VP in IBD"
Stop planning your career out 15 years in advance and just focus on the here and the now, which is getting best grades that you can, and then getting into the best college/uni that you can. This advice holds for people in every country around the world, I don't need to know anything about India to say that.
I understand what you're saying, but it's just that I have to streamline my subjects and focuses in a way that will allow me to enter a certain career, for example, it would vary how I pursued my Bachelors (UG) basis of what career I want to enter. Thanks regardless!
How so!? It should be pretty clear if you want to do Commerce or Science or Arts.
It’s all downhill from here Raghu…
Hopefully not, but let's see.
Raghu, recruiting in India works quite differently. Unless you go to a SRCC, St. Stephens level college / have a CA your chances of getting into IB are minimal.
Also there is a difference between FO and BO IB. I am can’t say for sure but even if you land an internship at GS as an undergrad, the role will most likely be back office (no client interaction/ live deals - just servicing FO across the globe)
I honestly would suggest that you follow your curiosity since you are only in 10th and try to learn how businesses work and the basics of finance by reading investing books.
All the best
Thanks for the valuable insight! I'm just not sure, as to how plan out my career in an efficient way, that can allow me to set a direction to work toward, but we shall keep trying! Thank you again.
Already knew that :)
I was 25 before I knew what IB was & was 27 before discovering WSO😂. At 15, my only plan was to represent my country in the upcoming Olympiad, along with the vague thought that I might study medicine. Imagine someone having a WSO account at 15 (to be fair, Facebook & the Internet barely existed in my time & country)!
Haha! Advancement of technology at its finest. On a sidenote- representing your country in an olympiad at 15, is a very impressive feat.
Something tells me this is a very, very subtle shitpost
I'm sorry if you feel that way, I'm just trying to figure out my way, and I agree it was not the smartest idea to do it at a forum where people are miles and miles ahead of me, makes it seem "shitpost-y"
As someone who has been in your shoes and has wanted this from an early age, your only goal currently should be academics. Ultimately the university you attend isn’t the be all and end all of if you break into IB however it makes things a damn side more simple if you have the best university possible on your CV. Really getting yourself ahead at your age would be picking your subject of choice for UG and really tailoring all of your outside of school work to things that will contribute to landing the best UG uni possible.
Excluding nepotism there’s three types of people that get into IB/high finance:
1) The academically excellent person that’s only just discovered after entering uni how much money they can make with the university they’ve been able to get into
2) The non-targets who want it bad enough regardless of the uni and who hustle their way into it.
3) Finally the people who have both of the above, the rarest. It’s these people that win every time, and people at your stage who are able to figure this out are becoming increasingly more common.
My simple advice, is be the third type of person. Worry about being the first in the door for experience after you’ve landed an exceptional university, because the time you spend learning about IB too early could be the difference between getting admitted into one of these unis, which ultimately holds a higher weight than the online courses you complete at 15 years old and forget in 5 years when you’re a 20 year-old applying to GS.
Hope this helps, and good luck! Feel free to DM privately if you’d like to discuss more.
Thank you so much! It helps a lot. I understand what your saying, and I completely agree. I'm going to align my main focus to getting a top uni for econonmics! I will definitely reach out, too! Thanks again :)
Based on my experience (what I've seen on LinkedIn/Reddit/interactions with people in IB/AM ,etc.) get a STEM degree from a decent college with 8-8.5 GPA atleast (same gpa for econ major). Econ is also a good major but from among people I've seen make it into IB, a lot of them are STEM majors. Wouldn't recommend MBA unless it's from top tier in India or M7. Even a Masters in Econ with some modules in finance from a top institution is good. Also if you want to do a UG in Econ choose science in 11th. A couple of other folks in the thread have given really good advice most probably better than mine but what I've suggested is direct and based on your input. And don't forget to network efficiently. Networking sucks in India because people look at you as competition and they're extremely selfish, so it'll be difficult but there are a few gems who'll guide you well. All the best,
A 23 y/o who would've done the above if I could do it all over again.
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