7 Comments
 

At your age, I'd say your best prospects are cold emailing nearby funds to shadow them, or working at a country club to find the HF type and make friends with them, or asking your parents if they know anyone in HFs. Once you get admitted to University, it'll be easier to find people to talk to, due to alumni databases and what-not. Of course, if you aren't near any funds, it'll be difficult to shadow them since they wouldn't be scrambling to pay an 18 year old kid so he can live nearby.

 

Thank you, my problem is that I messed up my GPA this year by focusing on learning how to trade and doing a lot of out of school research. I've been trading everyday in school and doing nightly stock research. Is that a bad thing? I've been working extremely hard

 
Best Response

Well, that's tricky, and I'm no expert on HFs. Are you trading during class? That might show a little bit of disrespect for your teachers, which won't reflect well on letters of recommendation for college. Also, how far have your grades sunk? If your GPA, ACTs, and SATs are still high, then having a portfolio of your trades and a clear passion for finance might be a nice talking point for target school interviews. If your grades have dropped significantly, I'd personally cut out the trading during school and consider writing some ER articles on Seeking Alpha or something (once you've lurked on the site long enough + are confident enough in your analysis) to demonstrate your interest in finance.

I doubt you'd be doing this much if you disliked HFs, but I hope you're enjoying the things you're doing. Don't squander away your senior year stressing too much about HFs, when even the best and brightest generally don't break in until their mid-20s.

 

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