Is it safe to assume I am fucked? If not, how can I pull it together (TL;DR at bottom)
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Career Resources
A few observations:
You're currently a junior applying to transfer. Make no mistake: you are behind. By the time you enroll in your new school, you will either be a second semester junior or a senior. By now, most of your competition will have already secured summer internships for next summer, and those junior summer internships are absolutely crucial to securing a full-time role upon graduation. I'm going to assume that you do not have a front office role lined up for next summer, which puts you at a huge disadvantage, especially given you're a junior at your current school (which means until you transfer, you likely won't have the opportunity to be seriously considered for a good role).
Your low GPA is a problem. I had a low GPA at a target school with very good work experience and I was barred from a lot of opportunities. Many firms do not care about your story. You will need to target the few who do, which limits your options. You mentioned that you're a good networker - that's a good thing, but it can't help you much right now.
My advice to you: take a class downgrade and start at your new school a year behind (as a second semester sophomore (ideal) or a junior). Network your ass off, get a 4.0, target MM IBD firms for summer internships next fall and spring. Great thing about transferring - you restart, so your current GPA doesn't carry over. But you better make sure you kill it at your next school, and academics should be your #1 priority. Even if it means life sucks for a while.
Yes, it's expensive. But you're trying to catch up from behind to get into one of the most competitive career paths in the world, so you'll need be willing to do whatever it takes. If you succeed, your debt won't seem like such a problem anymore.
You will need a good deal of luck to succeed. Even the greatest candidates need luck, and you'll need more than just a little. You can increase your chances by continuing to network and hustle, and trying to get any internship possible that is even remotely related to finance (during the school year would be even better, even if it's remote, part-time and unpaid).
And please know that your chances of success are low, and your path to success is going to be extremely difficult to traverse, and you will have to make sacrifices. You may need to take some other job upon graduation, and work slowly over time toward breaking into finance, even if it takes you a few years of work experience in another field and a rebrand through a top-tier MBA. But if you keep your goal constant, hard work and time will get you there.
Best of luck.
Believe me I know this. Thanks for all the advice.
you can always go into operations or IT at a BB, and then try to lateral into a front office role...
I work in IT now and hate it. I have worked alongside IT guys at AM firms and shops around me on some jobs and I know I would like to avoid that route. Operations is far more appealing. I would imagine it just takes time and good networking to make this move? How difficult is that?
depends on what you want... trading? then use IT to get into algo trading.
banking? there is no real natural segway other than an MBA (you can try networking to get into an analyst class thru a backdoor...but this is hard)
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