Summer Advice for High School Senior?
Please, this isn’t a troll or a joke. I was recently accepted to a top 30 university in the South. My goal is to break into Houston Energy IB at an EB or NYC M&A at an EB. I’m not deadset on anything yet, but I’ve been reading up on the Intelligent Investor and Aswath Damodaran’s Little Book of Valuation.
My question is, how should I be productive this summer and what advice do you have to offer? Before you guys say stuff like have fun at beach week or make it memorable, I get you’re coming from a good place, but that stuff just isn’t for me. Is IB too early to be pursued at this age, should I work as a camp counselor, or any other business-related stuff out there?
Thank you for all your insight. These past few years on this site has really helped me navigate through lists of schools and in general, your comments have really helped me gain an interest in high finance
Take time to identify what clubs/programs your university offers that will give you the best chance of achieving your goals. Be aware of dates/application periods for those programs, and be prepared. I don’t really see a benefit to pursuing an internship for the summer as it will likely be not related to banking. As cliche as it sounds, focus on yourself and your hobbies. People like people who are passionate about things outside of work. Find some activities you enjoy and expand on them. Who knows, when it comes time for interviews, the interests part of your resume can make you stand out.
Reading (non-fiction) is useful if you're absolutely set on learning without the opportunity for a relevant summer internship. Read industry-related books (e.g. Rosenbaum and Pearl), biographies of people you admire, and books that will make you more educated in general (e.g. Thinking, Fast and Slow),
I agree with notsoquant. Take time to familiarize yourself with corporate finance concepts (e.g. accounting, what a DCF is, etc.). Obviously you might not understand some of the concepts right away, but at least having heard of the jargon might help you down the line. Read business news daily, begin following the markets (if you don't do so already). Doing these things will put you in a better position, for example, to have conversations with people at info sessions, coffee chats, etc. with people when you get to college.
Apart from basic things like I mentioned, definitely enjoy your summer as much as you can. The summer before leaving for college is probably the last, completely stress-free summer you'll have. Don't spend it doing a bs internship or doing things related to IB or finance that you think will set you apart from the pack. Having gone through SA recruiting this past summer, I will tell you that, truly, the number one thing that goes far in interviews is personality, and it's the biggest differentiator between candidates who receive an offer and those who don't. Use your summer to develop your personality by learning a hobby or doing something interesting, which you can continue to do in college (and also talk about in interviews and so on). It's not on your resume, but your personality is the first thing that's read when you walk into an interview.
Would be helpful to know which school you got into. If you didn't get into SMU (BBA Honors) or UT, it will be very tough to break in (assuming you got into Rice or TCU - semi targets for Houston).
If you got into the schools above, reach out to alumni expressing genuine interest and see if they know places that will offer you work as a 1st year. If you did not get into the schools mentioned above, focus on strong GPA/extra curricular and transfer ASAP.
Wake Forest University
Get the fuck off of this website
Yes, please do theaccountingmajor.
0/10. Terrible execution and absolutely zero thought put into this. This is something a kindergartner would say.
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