Looking for advice - Recent grad at the University of Toronto

I'm a recent graduate of the University of Toronto. Unfortunately, due to thinking I wanted to be a lawyer for the majority of my life and then realizing my last year I don't, I've graduated with a degree in History and Philosophy. Not only that, but my cumulative GPA isn't awful, but it isn't stellar either. I had an awful first two years due to external factors, but did well in my last two years (3.8 and 4.0 respectively). I don't fully know what I want to do career-wise, though I've been leaning heavily towards investments or finance in general (And, full honesty, money is a fairly big driving factor).

My questions are largely: How screwed am I in actually getting a good finance job, given my degree and GPA situation? What about getting in a good MBA program, be it Canadian or American? What can I do to make myself look good to employers and schools? What skills should I learn to help me catch up a bit and to make myself more appealing? Is there any specific career track I should look at that gives an easier entry to people with completely irrelevant schooling so I can eventually switch over?

Thanks, everyone!

3 Comments
 

No one with any ideas? Not surprised cause my situation isn't exactly ideal. Just feeling a bit of a crunch cause there's a complete lack of satisfaction in my current job lol

 
Best Response

The reason why you may not be getting much response is because your question is a bit too broad.

Based on what you wrote, it seems like you are no longer in school. So your goal is clear: you need to build a career that you want. Right now, you've framed your question around what you need to do to look good for others, rather than building a career based on what YOU want. And what you want shouldn't be dependent on b-school (or any grad school) - there is no panacea or magic wand that will magically transform you - if you're unsatisfied and lost now, no credential will solve that. In plain English, getting into b-school won't help you get your shit together. Only you can do that.

Stop thinking about what kind of resume will look good to others, and start building a career that you want (the resume should be a byproduct, and not the driving force for your career choices).

If you don't like your current job, start looking for another job in parallel (don't quit your current job until you've found another one). Again you don't have to have everything figured out (no one has!) - but you want to make choices based on what YOU think you want (do I like the people I'm working with? Are the senior folks the kind of people I aspire to becoming? Will I learn a set of skills that will be valuable in the longer-term? And so forth).

Alex Chu www.mbaapply.com
 

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