Lets talk about young people on this site
I wanted to write a post with regards to the younger people on this site- the kids in late high school and early college. On every forum when a high school senior asks for advice, or when a college freshman worries he doesn't have a finance internship lined up, I see 40 comments saying "get laid" or "you're too young to be worrying about this stuff," or "you should be chasing chicks with your buddies." To some extent I agree- HS-ers and young college students should be focusing on enjoying life before crippling 80 hour weeks, and from a career perspective, above all they should be trying to get into the best top 20 school they can.
But here's the rub: the idea that younger kids are incapable and DON'T have to worry is wrong. Go look at the top PE firms in the world, bulge brackets, the best RIAs, in every intern class you'll find at least 1/2 high schoolers and many freshman and sophomores. These kids are the standard (although they more or less all got their roles through connections). Moreover, in my experience they are adding value, and I'm not talking about getting coffee or running a copy machine. You'll see kids running cashflows and creating market summaries for potential opportunities. Young interns nowadays can recite the whole front page of Bloomberg and WSJ with fluency. I'd say nearly half of kids from top prep schools in the Northeast and California will have traded their first stock by the time they graduate high school. The idea that you can work at a ice-cream shop every summer till your junior summer and land at Goldman TMT is not true anymore unless (and Im sorry for saying this) you are a diversity candidate. Affluent kids will have internships that build upon each other every summer starting right after they graduate HS until they finally get THE internship junior year. (this is particularly true for kids with parents in finance)...
The competition is getting tighter and the process is starting earlier- so like it or not, kids are smart for getting a CFA before they start college- for being able to talk about the equity market with fluency. Go ahead and don't believe me- but you'll be a fool when you show up to your finance internship junior year and all you know about is Shakespeare, the social impact or fossil fuels, and can't tell me what a ratings agency is.
Young people- Dont let this site dissuade you from starting early. Enjoy your childhood? Absolutely, go party and make lifelong friends with some smart and promising people. But going over-prepared for even a freshman internship is a good thing so long as you are humble and not overly hardo.
Terrible advise. Recipe for burnout. Focus on cultivating relationships and building a likable personality.
I'll do my best to not be dismissive since the OP posting anonymously as an intern (or at least is still in college/just graduated), or saying that kids are getting the CFA before they start college because they can't... I generally avoid those threads because I think that there is a need for work/life balance. When you're in High School and College, you really should be trying to enjoy life and make time for actually enjoying the experience. If you go to TSUN, UVA, UNC, or any other program with a great D1 team, I would hope that you spend your Saturdays in the fall watching every home game in person (or going to see every home game for your basketball team). If you go to NYU, UPenn, MIT, Harvard, Etc., I would hope that you take in the sights and culture of the city you're in. While I get the competitiveness of finance, there is nothing that replaces having a life, the ability to socialize, and be well rounded and able to connect with people. I don't care how good your technicals are, if I can't connect with you as a person, and you're going to be in a role with client-facing implications, then why would I want to hire you? Unless the purpose is to churn you and burn you to the point of exhaustion and force you to leave banking for good, I'm going to be dealing with you for as long as you're at my firm.I want to know that I can have a conversation with you about more than just finance. That's why a lot of users stress having a life, getting laid, etc. Having a life, having hobbies, and being well rounded is just as important as being able to do the work.
Now, I'm not discounting putting the time and effort in, but there is a time and place for everything. Nor am I saying that if you have an interest in finance, don't start learning about it and teaching yourself how it works. Those are important things to do in order to be competitive, but discounting having a life for the sake of getting a job in finance is a fools errand.
If you're a a student at my Alma Matter, reach out to me for a coffee chat or a networking call, and you can't discuss college football, basketball, or hockey, don't have a thought on the current state of Greek life, or an interest in being involved in philanthropy, I don't care how good you are as a candidate. If the only thing we have in common is Alma Matter, then I'm sure some other student with an interest or opinion on these things will reach out to me and stick out more in my mind than you do. It's not a pleasent thing to hear, but it's the truth. If I'm judging two candidates who both have the same resume experience, I want to pick someone I can relate to better, not someone who can ace his technicals but has no social skills. Networking is a two way street built on having commonality and rapport. Relationships are built on commonality and rapport. Relationships open doors. Being a strong candidate can help get you through them. But you can't just be a strong candidate if you dont' have the social skills to pair with the technical skills.