To all college students and teenagers on WSO
Enjoy life. I keep seeing these posts from 17 y/o's and college kids who are stressed beyond belief about breaking into IB. Choosing college for IB placement is the wrong way to think about it. Your college years are some of the most formative years of your life. In my college years, I was way too fixated on IB. I sacrificed a lot, and looking back, there are things I wish I did differently.
Listen, if IB is your endgame, then so be it. But don't sacrifice the parties, the friendships, the relationships, just to be the next underwhelmed analyst who did not enjoy life to the fullest.
In my college years, I fell in love for the first time, I built out student organizations, made a point to have non finance friends, and still I look back to everything I sacrificed. In HS, my only goals were to be athletic / good at my sports and talk to girls. No regrets. Those are some really fond memories of mine.
I don't know how to describe it. Your career is without a doubt a huge part of who you are. But it's not everything. Sacrifice the night of studying to go out. Talk to the guy / girl you're interested in. Learn to cook, learn about the world, travel as much as you can, and just enjoy your youth. One day, you will be sitting in the office turning bullshit comments feeling the recycled air and LED lights pound on your skin, wishing you could go outside and throw a football with your friends.
I know what it is like to be ambitious and to want to set yourself up. There is nothing wrong with it. Just don't let it control you. Don't sacrifice these years of youth, freedom, naivete, and more. Do dumb things. Be impulsive. Just enjoy it.
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Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some key takeaways for college students and teenagers:
These points emphasize the importance of balancing career ambitions with personal enjoyment and growth during your college years.
what if I need to grind for the job so that I can have a solid foundation of security and safety after two years of working there?
To all college students: GET A 4.0 and also enjoy life.
How do people do that?
Prioritize.
Great post...
Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies just died in May of this year. He represents the precipice of a lot of finance bros dreams. Charlie Munger died last year too. How many of you guys are thinking of these people every day? All the money, sacrifices, fame, power, etc. that every finance bro dreams of after watching Wall Street or something, and they're dead and no one is really thinking of them like that anymore. Yeah they left a great impact on Wall Street, yeah they're remembered as legendary investors, yeah they're missed, but in general most people aren't thinking of them like that daily except for their close friends and family who really loved them. Your close friends and family are going to be the ones who really care about you when you're gone. A lot of people don't truly understand that until they bury their parents. Youth makes you think you have all the time in the world, but time goes by fast. I made this account like 6 years ago, some of you kids were in middle school.
It doesn't mean you shouldn't be ambitious and have goals cause we're all going to die so why bother, but keep your life in perspective with the end. Grinding your youth and health away for some perceived glory, net worth, and fame when you're older and then grinding away some more to maintain it is an illusion. OP is right, don't let your life pass you by chasing a carrot on a stick. No one really cares about your goals, glory, and dreams. At best most people are just going to want to meet you because you can do something for them if you ever reach that level. Find something you really care about. Make your short time on Earth (and it is short) have some real meaning while trying to survive and make a life for yourself and your family with the cards you've been dealt. Your career and passion may not always align, and it's not always realistic for them to align. But at least find something to care about more than money and prestige because no one really gives af about your money and prestige in the end.
I'm banging more chicks partying more and traveling more now than in college it doesn't have to end literally just get promoted
Same NYC is easy mode
This. Enjoy your younger years while prioritizing future ambitions. Life, and your career, are long; 1000% enjoy the ride, but don’t peak in school. There should be an upward trajectory.
Agree with the girls part.
Adding on to sacrifices; nothing worth having comes easy.
Should you get laid, prioritize health, build your personality and get jacked? Yes of course. On the flip side though, parties are kinda wack. There's no place I'd rather not be in than a room full of dumbass unambitious drunk losers, which is 90% of college parties. There's better ways of appealing to youth than through the degenerate hedonism of party life.
Missing the point
Memories don’t pay the bills
.
I agree with you OP, but can we stop this trend of acting like after college it goes downhill?
this attitude is precisely why I don’t hangout with any of my coworkers, they all into that same exact echo box of “I graduated college it’s weird to go out and have fun.” “Bro I’m 23 my hangovers are so bad” “I feel so weird going out at 25 I feel like an unc.” blah blah, literal cringe.
i’m 2 years into my first gig out of college (grant it, amazing WLB, not IB) and moved to a new area where I knew no one and my social life has been amazing. You have a special type of autonomy outside of college where you truly are your own person but still have a lot of vitality to take advantage of.
youre in your 20s…you can still sling heat, go out, have fun, make friends. Stop acting like it ends after college lol, plenty of people fall into this mindset and box themselves and let their 20s slip.
What type of role are you doing out of college that has good WLB?
good advice for kids with connections whose parents can get them an IB gig. for the rest of the kids, grind as hard as you can as soon as possible - if you don't have an IB internship by the time you're 19, your chances to land an IB gig will be super slim. and to land the IB gig at 19, you need to network and prepare CV and CL and prepare for interviews when you're 17-19 - it'll take quite some time.
Can we stop with these posts? Seriously. I’m fucking tired of people who need anonymous attention. It has nothing to do with the audience and everything to do with the poster wanting attention.
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