Insecure about my upcoming 10th year MBA reunion
I'm going to get tons of crap for this post but whatever. Here we go.
I graduated from a top 3 MBA program in 2013. My 10th year reunion is coming up shortly. For various reasons, I'm not at the earning potential that I had thought I would be on when I finished b-school. Based on the classmates I know, my estimate is that 10-15% of my classmates are now making 7 figures (e.g. partners at MBB consulting, bulge bracket & top boutique banks, PMs at large hedge funds, megafund PE, CFO of a very well known company). Obviously the median is far lower, but apparently, the 10th year reunion will be a dick measuring contest in many ways. So I'm definitely insecure about showing up and how I would feel when I measure myself to my classmates.
Yes, unhealthy I know, and it's one reason I left NYC, so I won't feel like crap.
Anyone else who graduated from a top undergrad or grad school, have similar feelings when comparing yourself to more successful classmates?
Are you happier than them in life? Aggregate happiness and contentment is all that matters.
Yeah man that's a tough feeling. Especially when you're from an environment of people where it's the norm to make a boatload of money. But you should know that so many people are probably in the same boat as you. I just graduated from a top undergrad, and all my friends in finance/tech make much more than me, while I've been struggling to stay afloat in my consulting firm (long story, won't get into that now). The key is you gotta turn off the social media for a bit and just stay close with the people who you are actually friends with, because all these random hedge fund PMs really don't give a crap about what you do/where you are in life. I guarantee you if you find another group of friends, you'll be quite the admired man... "WOW, he went to Wharton and makes $250k doing strategy at a F500!" People like us tend to compare ourselves to our bubble of M7-FAANG-MBB-BB-EB-MF-VC guys, while most of the world doesn't give a hoot about this stuff.
What do you do for a living?
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Don’t worry about comparing. Focus on the people. If there are people you remember from class or projects, it’s worth catching up. I’m sure they’ll be glad to talk with someone doing something different from partner track in consulting, advisory, or investing. You paid for the MBA for the network. You can still tap into it and maybe one of these classmates has helpful insight or a good contact in mind. People generally want to be helpful within their communities. You can provide value, too.
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