Please advise me with my future career plans/options?

Hi everyone, I was just introduced to this site. Next year I'm going to be starting my freshman year at Tufts University, majoring in International Relations and minoring in Economics. I just have a few questions to ask about finding internships, sorry if I'm worrying about this too early. Where can I find good internships to start off next year? I already have the option of a paid internship at a law firm from an alumni, but I much prefer to work at a business, bank, trading company, etc. Is there a search site or something like monsters?

 

Well if you're interested in working in finance you might as well major in finance or economics. International relations isn't going to do much for you if your interest lies in investing. I don't really understand how you're being offered a paid internship from an alumni from a school you haven't attended yet though, could you elaborate on that?

 

Sorry I guess I wasn't specific enough, he offered me the internship next summer. He was my alumni interviewer and just offered me an internship. I don't really plan on financing, I plan on working a job that requires constant travel to different countries in order to propose specific investment ideas which is why I want to major in international relations.

 

You won't be involved in any kind of investment without some kind of financial or economic education, international relations will not help you in an investment oriented job. Are you not from the states originally you seem to be struggling a bit with your english because youre coming across as pretty incoherent.

 
Best Response
y2jerichoy2j:
Sorry I guess I wasn't specific enough, he offered me the internship next summer. He was my alumni interviewer and just offered me an internship. I don't really plan on financing, I plan on working a job that requires constant travel to different countries in order to propose specific investment ideas which is why I want to major in international relations.
Not to burst your bubble, but business travel sucks. You're generally flying in, doing a bunch of meetings and then flying out. You don't have time to be a tourist. At least in any kind of travel I've done. Generally speaking, work is not glamorous and neither is travel for work.

Also, I will echo what someone above said: what you're describing isn't really a job. I guess there are guys in asset mgt/hedge funds that do on-site visits to portfolio companies overseas, but you're not just jet setting looking for investments, you're usually going with ideas in mind and are going to test your thesis.

If you really like traveling that much, maybe you should shoot for a job that has a lot of schedule flexibility so you can travel during vacation time.

 

So would international relations not count for anything? I guess I can also major in Quantitative Economics then- what would I do then in order to be able to partake in international ventures. And are you trolling? My English is great, I can't see any mistakes in grammar or spelling, I might sound a bit dumb as I'm pretty new to the whole professional world, which is why I started this thread. Please help me with advice!!

 

International ventures? I don't really know what you're talking about if you want to get into investing to travel the world I think you've been watching too many movies. The reality is you will be working in an office for most of your life, so maybe you should become a flight attendant it seems that would be more your pace.

 

Alright well I'm just letting you know that if you get involved in investing you will be spending most of your time in an office (atleast in your first decade working there). But if you think you know better good luck to you.

 

There's no need to be patronizing and caustic in your remarks, I'm just a high school kid looking for advice. Obviously you aren't experienced in what I'm interested in, so I just hope I can get advice from someone that is experienced in the field of International Business (that's the basic gist of the degree)

 

A few things: First, Do not let this website or any website dictate something as important as your major. If you want to do IR, then do IR. Down the road if you decide to do finance, you can get into finance with an IR degree. Find people with the job that you want to have and ask them their advice, and even then just go with your gut. It sounds like the travel aspect is more important to you than the finance part, so IR is perfect.

Secondly, you should enjoy college. It is good that you're thinking about this so early, but just make good grades and enjoy yourself while you can. There is no need to stress about this as a rising freshman.

As far as internships go, I'm not an expert, but I don't think the job you are describing is actually a job. It sounds like you want to do asset management maybe? Thats analyzing investments and proposing ideas. But a buddy of mine is in the asset mgmt branch at GS and they don't travel. There's no need to with technology.

Consulting is notorious for travel, so you may want to look there. As mentioned earlier, I don't know of any finance jobs that involve lots of travel, especially not international travel, unless you are like a global head somewhere.

An internship with a law firm will be phenomenal for your freshman summer. You won't find anything better. Internship opportunities are basically non-existent prior to junior year. I would even advise you to do the law thing the following summer and just have fun your first summer.

 

This site has a consulting forum. That will most likely be able to provide you with better information than I can, as I've never been interested in consulting. I would imagine that it becomes specialized as you climb the ladder, but you start as just a general consultant.

Just FYI, consulting is generally considered to be the other "elite" career path out of undergrad that is mentioned in the same breath as banking, although any banker will tell you that consulting is a joke compared to banking. Regardless, taking either path out of undergrad will allow you to do anything you want from there.

 

What job do you have? I know this sounds really trivial and dumb but I love business and numbers, but I hate the idea of rotting away in a desk for hours a day which is why traveling is an important feature in the job I want. I didn't mean to imply that the main reason I want to do this is to go sightseeing or something, I just like a change of scenery and interacting with new cultures and people- geography is a major interest of mine.

 
y2jerichoy2j:
What job do you have? I know this sounds really trivial and dumb but I love business and numbers, but I hate the idea of rotting away in a desk for hours a day which is why traveling is an important feature in the job I want. I didn't mean to imply that the main reason I want to do this is to go sightseeing or something, I just like a change of scenery and interacting with new cultures and people- geography is a major interest of mine.

This is an exact description of consulting.

 

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