Kid Doesn't Make it to IB BB; Refuses to Walk at Graduation
Saw this on my Facebook feed a few days ago from an international student with an extreme case of poor me syndrome. Probably the most entitled thing I've ever read.
Oh, and for context, this school is a semi-target at best. All references to the school's name have been replaced with "the College."
No Graduation for MeToday is the graduation ceremony for my college, a prestigious liberal arts college. Every senior who has finished the requirements of the majors and minors are expected to be on the stage to pick up their proof of success, the graduation diploma, from the College. Though finished with everything and qualified to obtain the diploma, I will choose not to go on the stage but to stand among the crowd with my beloved professors.
The reason why I am not joining my fellow successful classmates is that I do not believe I deserve to be deemed as successful. A successful student, in my opinion, should be the one who has already had a job after junior summer, which would pay a handsome $100k to $200k salary on their first year after graduation as an investment banker or an associate in private equity firms such as KKR. Under these standards, without doubt I am not a successful student here. The reason for me not achieving those standards are totally voluntarily. I did badly in some of my classes and did not network as hard as some to secure a job. I totally blame myself for those and am deeply disappointed at myself. My friends are graduating with summa and magma cum laudes, and I am graduating with astronomical and unforgivable regrets.
But should I have such regrets and disappointments for myself? Throughout my years in the College, I have researched intensively about various topics such as Brexit, Chinese stock link and housing market and have a publication under my name that got into Top 10 lists on the research databases for frequent downloads. I have a research scholarship, which eventually got canceled due to unclear reasons, which may be due to my stomach issues last semester that caused me to miss a lot of classes. I also have interned in investment banking, equity research, sales and trade and commodity exchange in firms in China and am currently interning in a SF venture capital firm for their branches in China. For Master in Finance programs, I have offered scholarships from University of Rochester and Stevens Institute of Technology only days after I submitted my applications. It is the freedom of you, the reader, to judge whether I am successful or not.
For me, I still feel deeply disappointed at myself. I did not fulfill the path that the College constructed for me since freshman year. As a student in the College's economics department and members in the students organizations such as the Student Investment Fund and Consulting Club, I was given very generous resources to utilize, very successful examples to follow, and very clear path to achieve: an research in freshman summer, an internship in smaller institutions in sophomore summer, an internship in bigger institutions in junior summer and a successful future career in the United Stated right afterwards. I was on this direct express earlier, but eventually failed off due to my own performance in some classes, which were totally my own faults.
The matter is not about myself nor whether my situation is pitiful; it is about the extremely singular career goals desired by the College culture. No matter what backgrounds and personalities the students have, they are presented with glorious but singular career paths that promise a clear way for anyone to reach supposed class of social elite. In the College, the incoming students are all well-established high school students who come to aim high, and the plans for career paths given to us plan everyone with even higher and rosier expected returns. For my years in the College, I did not succeed in achieving the path, got lost and, fortunately found my true self through many sufferings and agonies.
I heard and agreed with a theory: the purpose of education is not about artificially improving students' abilities but about screening those who naturally have superior abilities. It is not a problem to be screened out of the 0.1% of population, at least for me. I understand my background may not support me to reach that high. The real issue is about how to view and treat the students who unfortunately get screened out. The College should have proposed more effective ways to help those students, which I understand is practically very difficult to achieve.
Here, I want to express my sincere appreciations for my professors and friends. I apologize for my past actions that may disappoint you all. With many name needed to be mention, I want to express extra appreciations to [Econ professor] who allowed me to research with him for three years, to [Econ professor] who always encouraged me that it is not too late to put a effort in her office where probably only I dared to go to, and to [Econ professor] who solved many issued after I got disappointed and encouraged me with his signature attitude "S**t happens". Besides professors, I need and must thank all my friends, which is impossible for me to list everyone out in this paragraph, for being with me and encouraging me when those sufferings and agonies blocked my mind. I have solved my issues and am currently aiming to achieve my true self.
My words are intended not to show any deficiencies about the College nor to gain any sympathy for myself, as everyone by God needs to suffer in order to improve and evolve. It is for those who feel they are in adversity that need to clear their mind to live on and thrive. Agreeing with Mr. Bloomberg, I believe there is no place in the society for people to completely ignore any dilemma and disappointments and only enjoy happiness. People need to adjust their attitude to adopt changing environment. And the most significant things we, as civilized citizens under globalization, are able to do are to understand people's frustrations, to care their feelings and to encourage them to stand back on their feet through their own self-motivation.
This guy is going to become the Investment Banking version of Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite.
Agreed, only difference is I'd actually hang out with Uncle Rico
How much you wanna make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains?
This is what we call special snowflake syndrome. This person probably has terrible character flaws.
Uhh... don't think anyone has ever gotten a KKR associate position straight outta UG.
its happened, i know a guy
No kidding. What was his background?
Associate position.
You're exactly right. This kid is fucking clueless.
To answer some replies to this comment, no, they do not take associates out of undergrad. There's literally ONE kid from the school that got KKR PE about 3 years ago, but he was hired as an Analyst (the Analyst program has since been discontinued).
Figured as much. They can have their pick of the litter of the top BB/EB analysts...why the hell would KKR grab some kid who's never worked in the industry and throw them into the associate class? Makes no sense.
There is a kid who got into KKR as an analyst in 2017 from a west coast semi-target. But no way is anyone getting a associate gig.
This sounds like the kid that tried to fight me because I went to give my buddy a high five at the front of the line for the men's room in a bar. Some guys just really need to go...
Since when did only socially inept, entitled snowflake tryhards become 75%+ of the student population gunning for investment banking?
My thoughts exactly. Seems like it's time to jump ship.
The kid is misguided. Graduation is usually geared more for the family of the student than it is for the graduate. I walked for the benefit of my parents (and other family who invested heavily in my future) and not for my own personal pleasure.
graduation was fucking awful.. we were all hungover as shit listening to some random guy speak, gwon over my suit in 80 degree weather.. followed by posing for hundreds of photos..
Did he crawl at graduation?
Also, he ought to be shoved down a volcano. Then he'll know what "magma cum laude" feels like.
Been laughing out loud for about 5 minutes at magma cum laude.
LOL, SB'd ya bro!
I don't think entitlement is completely to blame here, especially given his background and likely upbringing. In Asian cultures, you are constantly being pressured to reach for the top, and settling for anything less is unacceptable. Its a ticking time bomb mentality that leads to the development of a number of side effects such as depression, anxiety, self-hate etc.
I'll actually put it this way. The kid could not accomplish what his parents had expected him to, so he posted that massive lecture on facebook to feign regret and get feelz. From what I can tell, he must be silently relieved of being attached to college grades, etc. It's a common Asian kid tactic against moderately concerned parents.
Not really sure if "Asian culture" is to blame. Seems that this guy is an international student, which created pressure that probably made it harder.
I've seen tons of Americanized/native born Asians who do just fine in IBD without any kind of immense pressure.
"Americanized" is the opposite of what I define as "Asian Culture". Especially for international students, the opportunity cost of not getting a high paying job(financially speaking) adds even more stress to the individual.
It’s really annoyed to see this kind of shit shows put on by some Asians, but what annoy me more is those ppl start to represent ALL we Asians. Only in China there r over 1.4 billion monkeys. By statistics, you sensible monkeys shouldn’t feel overwhelmed if you see another drama king/queen.
Agreed on this point. Many International Asian students feel they deserve the best jobs and expect phenomenal success because their parents were handed the best jobs/assets by the "Communist" Chinese government.
Well I am not sure I agree with your observation. I don't think these students feel they deserve the best jobs. They rather feel as though they need to live up to high expectation standards set by their parents. If these students feel they need to shoot for those jobs and won't settle for anything other than those jobs, it's because of pressure from their parents, peers, and the society. In Asian countries, they are very conscious about how other people think of you. Parents of course feel as though it's important to save face by sending their kids to great schools and have them work at a great company. Otherwise, other parents won't think highly of you and you lose face. I know that in America, your society is much more humane... Remember that in Asian society, many people judge you by school you went and what your profession is.
I am sure kids have some problems themselves but they surely don't feel they deserve best jobs. Its parents and society that pressure them to reach for tougher hard to reach goals.
Should've just reenacted Cersei's walk from Game of Thrones during the graduation ceremony...... shame! shame! shame!
In seriousness this is one of the sadder things I've ever read. Then again this kid would probably keel over and die the first time his MD shouted at him, so maybe it's for the better that he got weeded out now
Definitely sounds like a typical entitled, LAC leftist college student. Having graduated from a LAC myself, I have just enough sympathy to comment, which is rather generous as 99% of people living on planet earth won't even give this kid the time of day. The sooner he realizes he needs to make his own path and tee up an alternative way to get where he believes he "deserves" to be, the better.
How magnanimous of you. I'm certain that he's going to read your comment any minute now.
It doesn't change the truth of what I said. In my (albeit) limited career, I've been rejected a ton of times as I'm sure have many others - fun fact no one cares. This kid needs to put down the sob story and get to work on getting to where he feels that belongs. It's called hustle.
Next steps:
1) create linkedin profile with title of Entrepreneur/Thought Leader 2) Post "3 steps to crushing it as an Entrepreneur" on Linkedin feed 3) Add new finance related skills and follow KKR/BX/Apollo on Linkedin to show prestige by association
If you don't follow Blackstone and Wharton do you even bank?
literally dying right now! i remember doing this like a year ago
this guy seems wise beyond his years. if the diploma is a symbol of success, and you don't make it to BB, then something isn't adding up
Shit like this is why I sometimes wish the world wasn't as aware of what IB was (pre-financial crisis and maybe even before then). Only those who were near the IB hot spots cared enough to try and compete for those roles and everyone else worked for some F500 making decent pay and perhaps getting an MBA and returning to said F500 or consulting.
Now with the prevalence of information regarding IB and the wealth of online courses, books, and just sheer interest in the career you end up with people like the guy who wrote the long rant.
A swift kick in the ass and having to deal with real tragedies would quickly humble the dumb ass and make him realize he needs to quit his bitching and find another path or pursue something else.
It looks like this kid has spent too much time on WSO and thinks its Target>BB IBD>Pre-MBA PE>M7>KKR or bust.
If he spent too much time on WSO he would consider anything but GS-->KKR-->HBS-->KKR a bust.
If he were a true WSO addict, he would think Harvard/Yale/Stanford ---> GS TMT ---> BX ---> PE MF Founder at 28 is the only way to go.
This makes my blood boil. F this kid
In my opinion, it reads as if this kid is actually just looking for people to tell him what a success he is to validate his superiority complex. He talks about how defeated he is, and then proceeds to list his accomplishments (I have a publication on a research database, I have scholarship offers from MSF programs, etc...)
Exactly, guy spents the whole text bragging and looking for validation
I like the line where he says that he doesn't feel bad to get filtered out of the 0,1% of america. I think people who don't make it should make this themselves clear more often. You're not the scum of the world once you don't make it into IB and actually no one says so except for yourself
The only job he'll have on the street is sweeping it.
Sorry to say, but what a complete douche. The only idea of a successful student in his mind is one who HAS to be an investment banker with six figure salary HA.
Sounds like he forget his tampon this morning.
This doesn't seem like a "special snowflake" / entitlement issue, it just sounds like he's judging himself unworthy of success based on his own utterly bizarre standards. He probably has self esteem issues or, at the very least, looks for external success as a way to validate himself.
EDIT: I just re-read it more closely; he descends into humblebragging about his "accomplishments." I don't know what to make of this kid beyond hoping that he grows up.
Based on the humble bragging, I think this is more a plea for attention than anything else. Maybe he has some underlying self-esteem issues, but I have a feeling he's mostly trying to get a rise out of people and attract attention to himself with a ridiculous sob story.
Yeah he sounded like he was upset he didn't graduate as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway because he's sooo goot
I guarantee this kid is on here.
Very likely.
This is probably a troll who posted this. Don't know how other people can't see this and get so worked up. But carry on.
I don't agree with many of you. His speech was decent. He's set high (unrealistic) standards for himself, and he's admonishing himself for not attaining it. What's wrong with that?
Yes... not walking for graduation is silly. But he's just conveying how much it means to him.
Why do I get the feeling you are somehow related to this topic?
Herro. Cheer up, have some dumprings
This kid srsly needs to get his shit together and grow the f up. im not sure which one is more scary: the entitled attitude or the scarily narrow vision of success.
IB BB does not equate the word "successful" in so many ways.
People get tunnel vision with their goals and success.
If/when they achieve their goals they often experience a metric fuck ton of, "What now?" Syndrome.
The homie Matt Damon gave a great speech about how winning his Oscar at 22 made him realize that chasing that shit his whole life would have been a colossal waste of time.
Strive to be great, achieve your goals, but be flexible, and realize that a top group in IB/PE is still just another notch on the belt of life.
Is this an Asian thing where it's more honorable to commit suicide than accept your failures?
You know what they say: "Bic boiiii, if you do not make eeet to Park Avenue, you must commit sudoku."
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