How difficult is it to get to Wall Street?

I'm currently a junior in high school in the Dallas area most likely going to go SMU, UT Austin, or Kelley, but will apply for schools like Georgetown and Wharton. I've recently started doing extensive research on what path I would like to take and I was wondering if I went to a school like SMU how hard would it be to get to Wall Street? I also hope to do an mba at NYU two years after my undergrad and I plan to go into IB or PE (haven't looked into this in detail).

 

If you get into UT Austin or Kelley, both place well into IB NYC and have a very large amount of alumni on the street. For Kelley though you need to get into the IB workshop freshman year, which I heard isn't super hard to do. Both schools are fine for IB

 
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SMU, Austin, and Kelley are all really good choices. SMU has a particularly growing connection to NY-based IBs - I know quite a few people from SMU who have landed at EBs/BBs.

However, one of the aforementioned schools will primarily position you to work in O&G in Texas since that is where a majority of Texas school grads land.  

Overall, it really does not matter where you go especially out of all of the schools you mentioned. Earn a high GPA, network your butt off, join an array of extracurriculars, and you will be in a prime poll to land a great IB gig!.

 

Graduated from SMU and happy to answer specific questions. Obviously Wharton, etc. is better for placements and overall brand recognition (no one arguing this) but SMU punches significantly above its weight class and places very well via the Alternative Assets program. Placements in NYC offices of Goldman, Centerview, Evercore, PJT etc.

Requires work / networking etc. for sure but if you’re good and can stand out from the rest of the crowd, SMU is not a bad option if you want to enjoy college and stay in dallas

 
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Not mad, more annoyed since it was so long ago. Every time I meet someone who went to a sh*t school it’s like a momentary itch I need to scratch. Just such is life. I guess comparison is the thief of joy.

I’m not saying if you didn’t get into an Ivy you’re totally worthless.

But some people went to real retarded schools and you just wonder.

 
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First of all, it is a bit depressing to think  about this stuff in high school. ENJOY LIFE, DEVELOP YOUR PASSIONS, SOCIAL SKILLS, HAVE FUN. 
 

Now, how hard it is? If we’re talking about what people think about when saying wall st (eg M&A at Goldman Sachs or being a trader, which are completely different, but let’s assume you want to be an investment banker), you need to:

1) Get into one of the best universities in the country/world to have a shot at being offered interviews 

2) Within these schools, be a top performed

3) Be great at interviewing and networking so you can actually get offered a position

4) On the job, perform within a peer group composed of the most educated hardest workers people on earth (within the business field and to overgeneralise)


Now, up to being offered a job, it’s not actually that hard provided you have a decent IQ  Most people are NOT hardworkers, do NOT have high ambition and the willingness to act on it and put in the hours. Once you’re on the job, it’s mostly about your physical and mental resilience as well as interest/motivation - it’s really hard to really underperform if you’re interested and can handle the sleep schedule  

So it’s doable. However in high school you SHOULD NOT dream about Wall Street yet. You have no idea what Wall Street is yet. Come back to job prospects in 3+ years. However if you’re thinking about the future it seems like you have an edge already because you’re not engaging in heavy temporal discounting  

 

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