What advice would you give to your 20 year old self?

UTDFinanceGuy:

Honestly I would've just took the plug and get on AAS (anabolic steroids) earlier. Nothing changed my life like getting aesthetic as fuck.

And who said Investment bankers were insecure, alpha-and-self-obsessed, cheaters?

Obviously they need to spend more time on WSO to get to know the "real us"

BTW, do you know where I can get some tren?

Lemme get a hookup

Shit's worse than drugs... leading contributor by far to lost opportunities while I was in HS/undergrad...

I feel you man. I feel you.

capratecompression:

2. Do try to get on 'path.' It's not the end of the world if you don't, keep plugging away to get to where you want to be. Life is not rigid, neither is your career.

This is probably the hardest of all the things you note. There will be plenty of days you want to be on "path" even when you're not.

Keep trudging away through those days. (and I fully realize this is MUCH easier said than done).

Everything else can boil down to work ethic and relationships. Find some of each.

+1SB

capratecompression:

Closed a deal last night. Woke up this morning feeling good about the world. Here ya go.

1. Try harder early on, it pays dividends in the long run
2. Do try to get on 'path.' It's not the end of the world if you don't, keep plugging away to get to where you want to be. Life is not rigid, neither is your career.
3. Educate yourself to capitalize on opportunities
4. Always network. Even if it's with a person who works at Starbucks - their uncle could be Howard Schultz
5. A meaningful favor is the best networking and relationship building tool there is. Help people, it will come back around. I've got 10+ people I can call on for favors (business introductions, investor introductions, recs, etc.) because I've helped them in the past and have asked for nothing in return. Keep the favors in your back pocket for a rainy day or when they can provide meaningful results - use them wisely.
6. Keep life simple
7. Have fun

People underestimate #5 when they're young, and regret not having done it earlier when they're older.

Business is people. Kindness isn't weakness. Grind it out and pay it back. It most always comes back around.

Think I read this when it was originally posted, but never bookmarked. Thanks!

I would say become passionate and really knowledgeable / good at something early on. Who cares what it is, maybe it is building / taking apart engines or becoming a chess champion. This will make you unique in your conversations / interviews down the line.

Make real friendships

I'd have Red Forman step in for me now and call 20-year-old me a dumbass.

"Study harder. You'll still get to the same place, but it'll be a hell of a lot easier."

1. party more, you'll miss it later and the hangovers will suck more, sleep is overrated
2. network NOW, do not wait a second longer
3. change your major, the world is competitive
4. study abroad
5. don't worry about the future of the frat so much, you won't care 2 years after graduation, just build relationships

The 4 things I've found to have any lasting significance or use after college? Good grades, relationships, quality internships/skills training, and unique experiences (travel, volunteer, organize, compete).

Parties, drinking, laying about, pseudo-intellectual discussions, sporting events, school politics, relationship dramas, skirt-chasing, etc. all fun in small doses but diminishing returns set in really quickly.

1. Apply to jobs more broadly. Just because you have an interview lead somewhere or something brewing at a couple places don't overestimate your chances or get too attached to the idea of working at any given company. Continue to keep the pedal down all the way when it comes to networking alongside it. In other words, stay aggressive non-stop until you actually get an offer from someplace.
2. If you can, develop a passive income stream as soon as possible.
3. Would have also focused more heavily on career-related stuff in college to get ahead sooner rather than extracurriculars and social bullshit, which honestly had little to no lasting value. The road is easier the sooner you start focusing on the stuff that matters, assuming your career or getting a good job out of college is your top priority in life.

2 chicks at the same time

Dial back the drinking slightly and hit the books a bit more. There's the sweet spot.

stand up for your self and your own self dignity when you get passed up for that bonus, promotion or raise. No employer 'wants' to pay you more. Negotiate everything but work your ass off too. If you need to change companies, do it.

IlliniProgrammer I'd appreciate your answer to this thread, for those of us who are quants/techs.

Instead of living your life in an attempt to persuade people that you're living a good life, just live a good life. It's an incredible thing

Listen to the people on WSO

do more drugs

Stop spending so much money on barely-attractive women.

For those of you in the financial industry, what are some words of advice for someone who wants to make the most out of college in the city?

-- Schools in NYC give students access to Broadway plays, museums, and other things (maybe even the subway?) for a very cheap price, or sometimes even for free (e.g., a dorm giving out tickets to a concert or going as a group, student discounts to museums, etc). TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS and go to the events that sound interesting, even if by yourself. You sure do miss these perks as an adult!

-- Take advantage of going into the city to get a breather from school/exams/friends. Sometimes, living in the university bubble gets to be too much, especially around exam time. Use this energy to go and explore diverse corners of the city. Read E. B. White's Here is New York to get started, look up a trail that interests you (e.g., best beers in NYC and hit up the bars) or just randomly walk around and go to a new place and check out the scene. There's so much pleasure to be had simply from walking around and soaking in the city on your own time.

-- Intern during the school year, if you can swing it with schoolwork and still do well. Even if it's unpaid, take advantage of the decreased competition and try to get an off-cycle internship at a great place.

-- As an added bonus, go see speakers that come to your university. I went to a liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere and getting people to come to campus was like puling teeth; this isn't the case in NYC. If no one is interesting, look up societies in the broader city that align with your interests, e.g. Asia Society, or even check out the speaker list at the NY Public Library.

What might you have done differently if given the chance to go back to your sophomore year of college

-- I would have joined more clubs freshman year, instead of dedicating myself intensely to the 2-3 I chose right off the bat, simply to have met more people and had a more diverse friend group. This doesn't mean that you have to stick with the clubs you don't like, but freshman and sophomore year, everyone is wanting to make friends, so this is a good avenue to do so.

-- I also would have worked in the career center or the research and fellowship office (the people who help you prepare for Rhodes and Fulbright interviews), to better balance my schedule against all the free time I had. Plus, you'd sometimes get paid to do homework and study!

-- I'd have been better about balancing difficult classes in a single semester and would have taken more humanities courses to balance out my quant and science coursework (I was a STEM major), as I tended to overload on overly analytical classes more than I should have.

Also, what are some admirable qualities in someone looking for a job?... Any and all comments are appreciated!

-- I always respect people for having a high GPA. That said, not all majors are created equal -- at my school, the poli sci major was a joke, so I'd be less impressed with someone who had a 3.65 GPA in that major relative to someone who had a 3.50 in math. Something to consider, especially when you're sending alumni your resume.

-- I'm impressed by applicants who are articulate and speak well. I've seen kids interview who use "um" as an actual word in their sentence as opposed to a placeholder and who shake their legs so hard that I can feel the floor vibrate in an interview (N.B., this makes your interviewer nauseous, which doesn't bode well for you). Don't be this person; watch social skills videos on YouTube if you have to. Same goes for phone interviews; controlling the quality of your voice can go a long way.

-- Finally, punctuality and efficiency go a long way. If the call is going to start at 1, give me a call at 1. Not 1:02, not 1:15, but 1:00. If you say that you'll get something my way by EOB and get it in within that time frame, that goes a long way. This isn't limited to students; clients and co-workers can be careless, too, but people notice these things. If you're on the ball about little things as a student, that's brownie points in your favor. :)

Start working out and eat healthier. It does wonders beyond the gym like improving life balance. Drink less.

1. "Go to the gym more. You've got so much free time that it's just irresponsible not to go at least, 4 times a week."
2. "Don't be afraid of the maths. You sucked because you slacked off in high school but you had the aptitude to build a much greater quantitative base then you did."
3. "You know what you're doing, keep going."

I would tell myself, "lose your virginity already, you chode".

Gotta do it for the reference experience, you know?

1. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. It's likely what you want in the future is not what you want right now. 1b. What you think you want might not be what you really want. Especially when you're younger and more impressionable, you might get swept up when everyone around you wants XYZ and think that's for you as well.
2. If you have the cards, play them. Basically, don't shy away from decisions because you're tired, losing motivation, etc. If you just landed from your second superday this week and another company wants to fly you right back out to NYC, say yes. Speaking from experience.
3. Perceptions are more important than reality.
4. There are many ways up the mountain, everyone wants to take the paved trail but that will get clogged up real fast. There's almost 300 ways to make change from a dollar. They all add up to a dollar.
5. The people you hang around with influence your life more than you think.
6. Doing the same thing and expecting different results is idiotic. If you want to move up the ladder/learn how to code/run a faster mile, you can't just do what everyone else does and expect something to come your way.
7. Fitness is important. Drinking and sitting all day will destroy you, along with take out and door-to-door Ubers. And don't just be a meathead who benches all day. Be able to do some damn pull-ups and run a mile or two.
8. Proximity to the office >>> proximity to the bars/"where things are at". You make 10+ trips to your office a week. You (hopefully) only go back and forth to the bars ~6x max in that week. 8b. Fuck public transit. Your sanity is not worth the cash you're saving. With that, fuck the Chicago Red line, and NYC's L and 6 train.
9. Stop trying to appear cool to other people. That's the most uncool thing to do. Writing "incoming summer analyst" or taking snapchat after snapchat of you at an NYC bar is stupid when thousands of other people in the same city are doing the SAME thing.
10. Biggest rule: don't be an asshole. I don't care if you're stupid, fat, lazy, and broke. Being a dick is worse than all of those combined. Treat strangers with respect, don't intentionally try to hurt someone else, and stop thinking you're superior to someone just because you have XYZ and they don't. Newsflash: all chess pieces go back to the same box.

Surprised no one else said to have more sex.

Have more sex.

-Find some more hobbies outside of school and greek life / partying. Take up an instrument, become an artist, start boxing, read more books, learn how to code, meditate or whatever else opens your mind. -Study what interests you. I was in the business school because it was easy. I wish I studied math because I love reading about math but I rather be at the bar. -Being at the bar instead of the library is fine. You have plenty of time for both. Just dont fuck around when doing either. -Study abroad. Travel during your time off when your not interning.

1. Go to the gym 4-5 times a week and eat clean. You will look better, feel better, get more ass, have more discipline in other facets of life, and it pays dividends later in life. Capital gains man.
2. If you wanna be a bookworm or finance/markets addict that's fine, but still know how to interact with people in a social setting, talk to girls, and have conversation about topics other than the market/economy. Interpersonal skills are everything, and this coupled with intelligence and looking healthy from working out/eating clean make for a persuasive, hard to turn down kind of guy who will thrive in any setting (with gym rats, finance geeks, frat guys, girls, adults, professors, etc.)
3. This is a pivotal time to build your future, don't get sucked in by the complacency that will engulf some of your peers. If you want to pursue activities to expand your knowledge, boost your resume, bolster your network, or to enhance your credibility, then by all means go for it, and don't give a shit what anybody thinks. If they don't respect/support you then fuck them.
4. Lock down a dime who will support your grind, and make sure she's on her grind as well.
5. Be selective with whom you devote your time to, hang around people who have a solid head on their shoulders and who have some type of goals/ambitions/dreams that they want to pursue, irrespective of what they are. These are the type of people who will galvanize your own progress and growth.
6. Reach out to alumni, professors, family, friends, etc. who are doing something/involved in/worked in a field that you want to learn more about. Don't be afraid to talk to anyone and don't prepare questions for these conversations. Be yourself and be genuinely interested in the other individual.
7. Read everything you can and stay informed, I can't tell you how many times staying up to speed with what's going on in the world has helped me in conversational settings. Reading will boost your intellect, writing skills, and conversational savvy.
8. If you're going to do drugs/drink regularly, DO NOT let this interfere with any other aspect of your life. Periodically conduct self-assessments of your habits/vices and their impact on your well-being.
9. Be open to learning about EVERYTHING.

Hope this was helpful!

great thread

no girlfriends

Get a personal trainer instead of just doing random routines off the internet and wondering why you're not jacked Lose the ego Stop caring what people think Turn off your computer, go outside and talk to people If I could say it to my 18 self, do ROTC. To my 20 self, do OCS (I'm 29 and applying for it now. Would rather have done it back then but better late than never) Read more 20 year old self, yes you are smart. Yes you got into a good school. Guess what, so did the rest of your competition. Potential is nothing. Execute. Delete negative people from your life off of Facebook, block their number, and never talk to them again. They're not your friends anyway; you'll be fine.