It's a pretty harsh realization discovering WSO and coming to terms with if you haven't been playing college admissions game since you were in 7th grade, you're pretty far behind if you want to play "The Path". Attending a non-target puts you at a distinct disadvantage from those who attend target schools. Pile on-top of that if you're not going to be the benefactor of nepotism, kiss away the idea of finding kushy internships your freshman / sophomore year to subsidize your imperfect CV.
How competitive finance was going to be:
Good looking people, good at networking, pristine CV's and that was just at my school. High-Finance is really "sexy" as a profession and attracts not only the cream of the crop from the declared "pre-business" (largest declared major on most campuses), but also cherry picks some of the most talented STEM majors for a very limited number of truly open positions. If you missed the chance to craft the perfect CV during college, you're going to have to play the hustle game starting with hundreds of cold emails to maybe land a bottom-barrel position making 60K in a non-hub city. In an ecosystem enamored with prestige, I didn't see that path getting much easier after "breaking in".
Carving out your own path:
When you look over the hedges at technical majors + working in technology, an alternative emerges. At first, studying a technical discipline (e.g. engineering, computer science) is not "sexy" as the stigma carries with it neck-bearded virgins that participate in hackathons for fun, but you don't have to subscribe to nerd culture outside of the classroom / work. Technical disciplines are academically more challenging but there is plenty of time for partying and extra-curriculars with discipline and time management. Finally, every job in technology doesn't necessitate you being a code monkey. Product Management, Enterprise Architecture, Project Management, IT Consulting & IT Sales are all disciplines that requires equal parts technology / business. All of these professions pay very well.
Look deeper than social stigma and you may find competitive edge. In an industry of introverts that aren't as strong on soft-skills, it's easier to standout with interpersonal or networking as a personable extrovert. Where finance internships are all about who you know + cookie cutter CV, technology internships are about what you know + a resume that tells that story. For roles that are equal parts business / technical, firms will always hire the technical individual with the propensity to learn the business as opposed to the inverse.
Instead of assuming what the community would like to know about, I'm going to cut this short in favor of keeping an open-ended dialog. Technical College Recruiting? Choosing a technical discipline? Getting over the stigma? Keeping up with high-finance? Exit Opps? Maintaining an M7 profile? Career Trajectories?
Let me know!
Elite finance is like professional sports: you have to get on the path early and excel at every stage to break in. For the past 10-15 years, the best and the brightest that our great country has to offer, have gone into finance, not law and medicine.
I can't remember the last time I met a doctor I thought was smart. The clever ones seem to go into research, as opposed to seeing patients, so you never see them.
You go to the wrong hospital(s)
Naw....the ones who are uncomfortable dealing with patients are usually the ones going into research. It's one of the clearest examples of those who cannot do teach....or in this case research.
Yes, I somewhat agree. I have met many smart Dr.'s seeing patients but usually, they are overwhelmed and just trying to close cases & move to the next. Most really just provide the same care to the masses, from a healthy young athlete to an aging 80 something.
I met a researcher yesterday who was truly on the cutting edge of science, curing diseases. A general care practitioner would have no clue about what the researcher was talking about.
People put Dr.'s is such high regard like they are all knowing, wealthy, intelligent gods.
Can't believe someone compared Elite Finance (whatever that is supposed to be) to professional sports. Did you write that to make you feel better because you were always the last one picked in sports?
HA! Nailed it. You can picture 5'4" kosher poster dreaming himself to be Shaquille O'Neal of banking.
totally disagree - esp about medicine. The best and brightest went into finance? Ever try going to med school? Sit a practice MCAT or an o-chem exam. It'll hand you your ass.
If I could go back in time, I would choose a technical degree of some sort. One of the things that is frustrating with business and banking is that sometimes too much emphasis is placed on soft skills.
And look, I'm not an introvert myself either and I've done well in business. However, you see things in IB all the time like a hardworking person not being promoted because maybe they're not extroverted enough or don't seem like the sort of guy who clients would want to play golf with. This isn't really evident at the associate and below level, but at the VP and above it becomes a big deal.
Perhaps, its just my personal preference, but I would rather be judged and promoted by how hard I work and the quality of my ideas rather than how much people like having lunch with me. The further you get in the business world, the more and more the latter matters.
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