Have to attend UTampa... am I fucked

If you’re allowing a school to hold you back in life (albeit this is not a community college so don’t ms) you’ve already fucked yourself.

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If you think you can… you can

If you think you can’t… you can’t

I know a guy who came from KU and worked in MS IB

Step 1) get an internship at Crosstree Capital (https://www.crosstreecapital.com/)

Step 2) leverage that experience to get an upgraded internship

Step 3) if you've made it this far you'll figure it out 

Reiterating what other people are saying. You are not fucked. On the contrary you’re just a kid and still have every opportunity available to you, just maybe not as linearly as you would’ve liked. The high quality above comments hit the nail on the head; you just need to immediately start using your resources to chart a path to where you want to go.

Start with the basics. 1. Pick a relevant major that you can handle and get amazing grades (3.8+ minimum). 2. Get involved in leadership roles in some finance activities and hopefully some other activities (social, athletic, etc) without overwhelming yourself. 3. Use your alumni network and resources to build experience in finance and eventually IB (maybe an in-year finance internship that you use to get an IB internship immediately next summer). 4. Seek excellence in everything you do academically, professionally, and in extracurriculars; to put it bluntly, go above and beyond what someone’s gut reaction would be when looking at a non target resume. 5. Use your track record of excellence to get closer and closer to your goals (e.g. go from no name IB internship to established full time time platform to lateral in 1 year to a brand name).

In life there’s going to be many times when you’ll be blindsided and put into a less than ideal situation. Maybe a review that rocks you, or a layoff, or a missed promotion, or a new boss that completely disagrees with you, or an amazing boss that leaves the company with 50% of your group and leaves you behind, or a long term relationship that ends, etc. In all cases the key is to look forward, chart a course to what you want, and start executing. This is true when you’re 19, this is true when you’re 25 confirmed, and my suspicion is it’s true our entire lives.

Why did you even apply to UTampa? They have zero placement for IB

do you go to Rutgers currently? Post history implies yes. 
 

surprised you got rejected from Tulane and Villanova if those are top 25. You should’ve posted here before applying - transfer app cost to Wharton or other top 10 schools was a waste of money

Raymond James is just over the bridge in St. Pete. They are a major employer. They have a preference for recruiting local kids (college) who want to stay in FL (or at least at the firm). Much better chance of getting with them from a FL school than OOS as they are very sensitive to hiring someone and losing them a few yrs later (to other banks up north). I would start there.

Also, Franklin Templeton has a major office in St. Pete if the buy side is of interest.

Just go hard. There's worse schools to be at. If you want it you will get it but you gotta be willing to work. The variance of circumstance straightens out if you're consistent for long enough

It's not the plane, it's the pilot

FL native here - UTampa is well-known in Tampa, known somewhat well across FL, and then not so much across the US. 

I'd agree with above, Raymond James is your best bet. It's in Tampa/St. Pete, they take tooooons of smart kids from USF/UCF types of schools. Probably less from UTampa given it's smaller and private, but I'd assume there are still a double-digit number of alumni who work in the St. Pete office. You're also close proximity to networking events, grabbing coffees with people in the area... not bad at all. Citi also has MO/BO roles in Tampa you can try to leverage sophomore year for a junior summer / FT role in the FO.

Work with what you can - you can always try to internally lateral to NYC if your group is supportive. 

Student athlete is a big plus. You got some options:

1. Do what everyone else said and network aggressively

2. If you strike out, apply to a Masters of Finance program to get another at-bat

3. Plan C is work in some other kind of role for a couple years, then apply to top 25 MBA and come in to banking at the associate level

Hi UT Alum here and worked at a small

Boutique IB in New York. The school does not have great resources for finding jobs. I even found a lot of alumni not to be beneficial. You have to put yourself out there and go to networking events. Speros Margetis will be your best resource. He is heavily involved in the finance community in Tampa.

Raymond James does not recruit UT kids for IB. There has only been one student who has ever been able to get into the program based on a prior internship opportunity at a VC firm.

Hey - I went to UT. Happy to have a chat with you.

PM me or add on LinkedIn (name in account name)

I live in Tampa and have a lot of friends in IB recruiting and I have personally networked with a lot of bankers/ banks in the area. I also attended USF very recently.

First off, if you can transfer to USF, do it. USF has better placement than UT by a lot from what I have seen. The only people at UT that I have seen get into banking, are people who come from wealthy families that already have a door into the industry no matter where they go. Either that or they find a really small shop. Not to say people at UT haven’t placed at good banks without having family there, but it’s very uncommon. USF also has a really strong student investment club with a lot of great connections to banks in the area. Crosstree has set up a direct pipeline from the USF student investment club for summer analyst positions and they plan to hire most of their analysts from USF from what I have been told.

If I missed something and you already clarified that you can’t transfer I apologize, I am typing this up while in a meeting. UT is still a great school and most I know there love it. I am speaking purely about banking and career opportunities when I say to transfer. 

In the case that you can’t transfer, it’s not the end of the world. There’s little to no chance you will get a BB opportunity but there are some strong up and coming banks in the area. Raymond James is obviously the giant that’s well established but most of their analysts that are from state schools are from UF, FSU, or USF. You could still definitely network into a good position there though if you try hard enough as some of the other comments mentioned. Mainly though, focus on smaller banks in the area that are on the rise. You can easily find them if you look online. The main one though that you should Focus on is Crosstree. There has been some mixed reviews on WSO about them but I can tell you for a fact they are a great bank. I personally know a couple people there, and they love it. The hours are not light like you might expect from a smaller shop. They have great deal flow and they have Wall Street level compensation (not exaggerating) in Florida so COL is not terrible and you aren’t taxed like crazy. They are healthcare/ life sciences focused and they do very well from what I have seen/ heard. The main reason I mention them though is because they seem pretty open to recruiting from the area. The main MD involved in recruiting also seems like a very nice guy from the couple times I’ve spoken with him.

Not going to go into all the recruiting stuff like cold emailing since others already have and there’s already a ton of stuff posted about that from people way better/ smarter at networking than me.

Take the same determination you would have for trying to get into a BB and apply that to the local banks. If you do that you will definitely get an offer. Your best shot with the best experience/ compensation will probably be at Crosstree. Tampa is an absolutely booming city that has seen a lot of explosive growth in the past 5 years and there will be a lot more coming. Smaller shops in the area are going to expand and some larger banks will most likely open offices in Tampa eventually. Starting your career at a smaller bank could prove to be very beneficial if you grow with them.

Hey you can always do some networking at E11even