General Questions from a University of South Carolina Undergraduate Business student

Going to have to edit this because WSO doesn't let me delete comments. Rather inconvienent but that's life.

 

I live/grew up in Dallas, South Carolina is fairly well known but sparsely represented in DFW but there always seems to be a decent amount of kids that go to South Carolina anyways. If your interested in working in Dallas I would heavily recommend looking into the Mfin program at SMU (only if your really interested in working in DFW), SMU's network in Dallas is so deeply rooted that given the right experience and grades you have a shot at anywhere in Dallas. I have a friend who works for a 25 BIL+ HF in Dallas thats based in NY and his PM is an SMU grad

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Best Response

Now take this with a grain of salt, because it is strictly anecdotal and the results could be from a variety of reasons.

I know a lot of people in both Charlotte and Atlanta (more in Charlotte) who went to South Carolina. Granted they are not all in IB type roles, but the magnitude is there. From talking to them, I would say getting to NY would be a stretch, but can be done (as we see on here the non-target to BB stories all the time). That said, Charlotte has Wells and BAML and Atlanta has STRH, which both having a multitude of boutiques as well.

I suggest casting a wide net, talking to alums everywhere (but focused on where you most want to go), and make sure to take care of business in school (coming from SC you are going to pretty much need a finance major with a 3.7+ to be taken seriously).

 

Okay that's encouraging. So would anyone go so far as to say that U of South Carolina (a non-target) could be......a good undergraduate business school for finance opportunities in Charlotte? Again I'm just talking more of an Edward Jones type company with a CFP. I'm working hard on bringing a humble 3.3gpa this summer and next semester and I'm a rising sophomore so I've got time. I just really love this school and if I can be confident in the opportunity it will provide me i want to stay here - but if it's dicey I may change strategies and try to graduate from UVA.

I have done more than my fair share of research but it's hard to get specific and credible answers like I do on here just by looking at statistics and rankings on Forbes/US News.

 

I just want to make sure I'm getting this...You want to be a financial advisor for Edward Jones? Unless I am misunderstanding you, you should not have any apprehensions about your chances of becoming an Edward Jones financial advisor. I interviewed with them back when I was planning on leaving the military before I had decided on b-school and I came away thinking that the job was easy to get into and difficult to stay in. Like they were literally just looking for warm bodies to shotgun out to the masses. My neighbor who was an EJ FA spoke very highly of the company but it is straight door to door sales until you build your book. He had worked there for 20+ years and was sitting pretty, but only bringing in probably $140k a year. However, a FA at EJ seemed about 1000% less stressful than the Merril Lynch FA positions, where your team is actively incentivized for you to wash out.

 

Well don't get me wrong I'd certainly prefer to be working on Wall Street but that isn't exactly a likely option for myself. I know someone who works for EJ that makes 450,000 a year (but he's 45) and his experience is that the first three years are hell and then it grows slowly from there.

My plan isn't necessarily to STAY with EJ all my life, I just want to be able to find a START at a namebrand company that will allow me to break into the field

 

USC is not a target school, even for banks in Charlotte. Charlotte banks, especially the smaller ones, still love their UNC, Duke, UVA, Wake Forest, etc. guys. EJ is a relatively easy job to get, so I would not worry about that. How someone is making $450,000 working there is beyond me, though. I know several people who work for EJ, and the hardest performing ones are just breaking $150,000.

 

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