So I was a bit inspired by Compbankers telling of his story so I was gonna post mine and see if other people want to OPEN UP and share their love ;)
I originally went into school with a healthy dose of AP credits and pre-college credits from taking summer classes and went in as a pharmacy major originally. I was taking my econ pre-req for pharmacy and finally decided that I hated chem since I had an awesome adjunct professor who was a retired corporate lawyer who was rather... eccentric.. and I was always curious about the stock market but didnt know shit about it. I got my first internship at a local bank being the investment advisor's bitch (the rite of fire for all of us finance guys, I think) and was asking lots of questions about the funds and how they were put together -- he was an asshole and I hated cold calling but it got my resume stamped. I never had any BB or MM experience at a bank -- my junior year i did economic development work -- and i also had a sub-3 (medium high 2) cum gpa although I had a 3.4 finance/biz/econ that I marketed as my concentration GPA. I was on my own since I was 17 and neither of my parents graduated from HS since they had me so young so I kinda had no fucking clue about certain things when I went to college other than I had to workworkwork to survive and make money so my GPA was epic as a result :P. However, through out college I performed very well in state-wide and department wide trading competitions and had a good feeling for the market so I was able to get a job at a relatively solid prop trading desk by elling my passion for the markets and my experiences. My first day on the trading floor I was asked which Ivy I went to -- ha. I got off to a rocky start as anyone will tell you prop desks arent all cake and butter (yes i know that makes no sense lol) but eventually was able to turn it around and make dollardollars and win rookie of the year for my entering class. I then had the fabulousness of entering a trading hole for 1.5 years due to one massive screwjob trade (on my part being uber aggressive in something or just some REALLY dumb occurencesthat was PURE arbitrage.. which if you wanna know what it was might be able to PM it lol) which was demoralizing and craptastic but thankfully I cleared an assload of cash for a year out of school and was able to survive-- plus it was 09 and '10 and i had no other options jobwise ;) I turned things around but had thought of going off and doing stuff in Brazil and doing energy finance last year but I decided to stick with equities and transfer the product knowledge a bit easier so am now aiming for CBS/Tuck/Booth/Sloan as the Asset Management schools...
mmm, wall of text. any questions or desires for advice feel free to hammer me with them ;p
What is YOUR story?
It was cold winter night in village 10 kilometers from Moscow. Father laid mother down for sex. Nine months passed, I was born. Twenty three years later I was working back office job in New York City, living in cardboard box on Broad Street. Am now 1st year associate in equity research.
PM me for questions on success.
good topic! some time in early 1988 a man in toronto screwed a woman he'd been seeing for 5 years and had just married. In december a boy was born. That man took that boy and instilled the burning entrepreneurial fire that lived in him. over the next 22 and a half years that boy became a man himself and rose through adversity to become an analyst for the provincial government. That boy knew that great things were in store for him and he has made it his personal mission to conquer the notorious MBB!
Came out of a prestigious (I assume) high school in Indiana with excellent grades and a 1570/1600 SAT. Had no idea what I wanted to do, but I was fairly certain it wasn't engineering. Parents were pushing engineering because I have no people skills. Ended up at Purdue in Honors Engineering against my will, and acted as you might expect of a 17 year old. Finished my freshman year with a 2.1.
Switched to accounting on a total whim and have been happy with it. Have held a 3.8 since the start of my sophomore year, but my cumulative is still only a 3.4, which sucks. I had aspirations of doing something cool in finance until I discovered this site, and people here put me in my place.
Currently praying for Big 4 work, applying to MAS/MPA/MAccs everywhere. I've kissed enough ass to get good reccs, am more than confident in my GMAT ability, and my transcript tells a pretty good story if you look past my plain GPA. I think I have a good shot at a top Master's, but that's only phase 1 for me. I'm shit in interviews and have no leadership ability/experience, which I think may be my downfall even with the degree.
I'm sure you all care very much and will PM me with uplifting encouragement and probing questions.
Shit dude, 1570/1600 and you went to Purdue? It sounds like it wasn't your decision, but you could have ended up at a top 10/15 with those stats for sure (at least the lower ivies). I'm at a top 15 with a 1450.
Saga? Ongoing...
went to a public high school, 2390 out of 2400, went to a local state school on scholarship. dropped out and traveled for a year. now i'm an analyst at a large investment bank, a career path that is completely at odds with all that i am.
Was a crappy high school student until I started caring about grades and moved up from top 18% to top 5% of my class. Was waitlisted at a top undergrad b-school, but was able to get in by sending them lots of mail (at least I think that's why they eventually accepted me). Became a crappy student again as classes sucked and college started to bore me. Didn't know how much hustle was required to get a job so I took a treasury internship back home for junior summer.
Now I'm trying to break into consulting as a senior because I love everything I've heard about it. Unfortunately, I've got to make up for 3 years of crappy grades and lack of brand name work experience in one of the worst recruiting seasons ever. I think at this point, I've got to spin the fact I've got the potential and the work ethic (not from my GPA, but from my life outside school) to be a great employee. I don't think this is going to happen overnight, so I'm thinking I still won't have a job offer by 2012...
Went to private school, served two years in the military and completing one year worth of college in that time. Graduated with an okay GPA and a ton of part time jobs (I was promoted while being part time) in the industry. Networked myself into a trading job and lived the good life ever since.
I went to school. I stopped going to school. I started going to school again. Feel free to PM with questions about how I succeeded in going to school, stopping going to school, or starting to go to school after stopping going to school.
spent 10 years of my life studying the physics of coherent light-matter interactions and now i sit at a desk all day thinking about how much i like boobies
Born, Grade School, High School, Army, College, Work, Tits.
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