Should I be depressed?
Hey buddies,
I'm a 25 years old European engineering major and I recently finished my bachelors degree with a high GPA (~3.8).
The reason why it took me so long to finish school is because I'm originally from Asia and I came to Europe 12 years ago; in order to have some time to learn the new language, I repeated one grade in school. I also spent one year in the engineering industry doing internships in R&D and strategy consulting. Plus, I spent last year in the US to study abroad and to follow my interest in finance by taking finance courses - That's basically why I am so old right now.
My goal is to work in trading at a BB in London, but I have no real finance internships under my belt. So I applied to off-cycle internships and so far, I secured 3 internships for the next 9 months (3 months each):
BB quantitative risk mgmt (DB/CS/UBS)
BB quantitative trading strategies (at another BB)
Boutique M&A (Laz/RS/GHL)
My plan is to do a Masters in Finance program in the UK or US which takes another year, before entering the industry, and guess what: by the time I start working I will be 27 (!!!)
Thinking about some of my US friends who start their IB stints at 22, I honestly feel quite bad about myself, because at my age, the usual US graduate has already had five years of work experience.
What are my chances to get into BB trading in London with my profile? Should my age depress me?
Please express your purely honest opinions, since I'm not here to hear what I want to hear...
Thanks!
You know, in Europe, it is common to do a master right after the Bachelor. It is the case at least for Germany/France/Belgium/Spain/Italy. Meaning that you start working at 23 at least, usually aroud 24-25 if you do some internships.
Just rock your internships and you will be alright, for sure.
Absolutely no issue in Europe to start full time at 27 years old
please do not feel depressed i don't think it's a problem at all
To the guy above: certainly it's not a problem for you, after all it's just the OP who will have 4-5 yrs disadvantage in financial and corporate ladder terms compared to his peers.
Anyways, just do that masters at a target uni and you'll be more than fine (plenty of PhDs from what I read and guys with a Masters working in academia previously are at the quant group of banks, so the average age might be quite higher there). You can't go back in time so just play the cards you been dealt and make it rain ASAP.
Starting out a few years later is ain't that serious.
delete
Hey,
thanks for your comments... I know it sounds corny as hell but I actually feel a little bit better about myself after reading your posts haha
You're fine don't even worry about it.
If you want to feel better, compare yourself to your colleagues with sub 3.5 GPAs, no internship experiences, tons of debt, shitty degrees and no idea what they want to do. You have a winning hand, most do not.
Enjoy it!
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