Tech or High Finance? Just dropped medical school, confused about what the best opportunity for me would be? Pls help!!
Hi everyone, I need some advice from smart people and in a setting where I can be brutally honest. One thing about me: I'm a fuckin grinder and perpetual underdog (much of my doing), but when I commit to something I do very well. I like to think I'm really resourceful and smart, but have struggled with discipline in the past which has gotten me here.
I'm 24 years old going on 25, graduated college in December 2018 with a B.S. in Biology and a 2.97 gpa (yea...), but still got accepted to medical school because I murdered the MCAT and ECs and great LORs, etc. Med school blows when you're not actually as passionate about helping people as you are making money. So I left this past January one semester in. My personality just doesn't fit being a physician and its a shame I took so long to realize it. Anyways, I'm trying to find a new career and I'm having a tough time deciding what that is.
My ultimate goal is to make as much money as possible. I am interested in technology and financial institutions (lol seriously though). Biology degree combined with only like 7 months of clinical research experience makes it pretty much impossible to get any good job that I could work at for 3-4 years and get into a good MBA program. So basically I need to do some sort of schooling again. Which of the following paths do you think could work out the best for me and yield the most fruit ($)?
A) 1 Master's in Finance starting this August -> Job in best financial role I could get (Maybe boutique/MM IB, more likely CorpFin) for 3-4 years --> T20 MBA --> BB IB/Management consulting all the way to the bank. Pros: My passion is money, so finance seems appropriate. Cons: Job after MSF probably not as good as job after MS CS.
B) Computer Science. Either 2nd bachelors starting August or Master's in CS from NYU starting January after completing their Bridge program. 2 years, would be 27 and get a job as a software engineer. Return for MBA at 30-31--> BB IBD or Tech Management. Pros of this route is learning a tangible skill (CS) I could use in everything from entrepreneurship to Quant finance, etc. Cons is while I like tech and am good at math, true passion for CS may be lacking.
What other questions should I be asking myself to answer this for me?
Also just FYI I'm a recovering addict. Only record is a DUI.
Seems like you need more than just career advice, and since I'm drinking some really good whiskey and have few min to spare, i'll give it to you son.
You dropped out of medical school which means you probably have a lot of debt. Does this mean you have no interest in science at all? I think someone with your background would stand a great chance at getting an investment banking/equity research role in finance that covers healthcare/chemicals, etc. Do the research, find out which financial institutions cover those groups and reach out to them about your interest in covering the sciences from a different standpoint. This will be the most financially economical way of breaking in, without having to do a masters in finance and incurring even more debt.
You say you like math but not cs, but from my understanding the cs curriculum in schools has you study a lot of things that you won't be using in the real world. From my experience, even if you don't like something, if you do something enough times, and you start to get better at it and see an opportunity to make progress in your career and financially, you will start to love it. So don't let that deter you from doing CS.
If you're really good at math, I think the best route is to do the following: major in cs > while you're doing that and before, mass apply and reach out to people in equity research/ib that are doing science > sign up for cfa level 1 this december. This route will create flexibility and allow you to do both routes. CFA is a signal that you're learning finance on your own, and if you pass level 1 it'll show employers that you understand the fundamentals and are serious about the field. By doing the CS route, you're giving yourself the flexibility that if you don't break into finance, you'll always have cs. Another benefit of redoing undergrad is that finance firms love CS, and you'll have a shot at summer internships again.
You can find finance interview guides on google. Start reading them, and also look up Aswath Damadowaran, an NYU finance professor that's one of the best lecturers in the world and uploads all of his lectures and research for free online. These should help you become knowledgable about finance in the event you end up getting an interview in finance.
At the end of the day, you need to decide what you like most. Finance also has a ton of grunt work, and is not as glamorous as portrayed by media and people (imagine staring at an Excel spreadsheet at 3am). Personally, if I had the math skills, I would probably do tech because the pay is great, there's worklife balance, and flexibility to wfh in most tech firms on top of the other benefits like food pantries, and other things tech firms spend on.
With your STEM background, I think a transition to financial engineering might be within reach, particularly at Columbia.
https://ieor.columbia.edu/masters/financial-engineering
You don’t need to do NYU’s bridge program. It’s super interesting, but a lot of money when you can just go to community college and go to Georgia Tech for roughly 10% of the price of NYU (seriously, it’s insane how cheap it is) and much higher ranked program. NYU ranks ~30th, Georgia Tech is top 10 (probably a bit higher). With tech there’s no hard and fast US news or Poets and Quants, but more ballpark ranges.
I looked quite extensively into NYU myself.
Also if you want to switch to tech, you have an interesting background. But if your sole goal is money, I doubt you’ll enjoy debugging code for hours just for a paycheck. Web development/ mobile development is also your path of least resistance for switching.
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