I have spent a lot of time reading, practicing modeling, and networking recently. It has struck me that summer is halfway done and I have not spent as much time with friends or doing things my peers in college have been doing (this is partly because of covid, but not too much changes on a regular basis).
How do most of you spend your time when in college? Is it normal to be a little anti social before actually getting into banking?
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incoming junior, non-diversity at a non-target (Penn State/UMD/GW). I have secured an offer at a mid-tier BB and I’m very relieved. Social life was below average but not non-existent before. Definitely looking forward to having a bit more of a laid back college experience for my next 2 years.
I think this summer is particularly unique due to COVID, but you should make a point to hang out with friends and enjoy your time.
If you make it into IB, you're going to miss the time you have now. Additionally, if you're going to make it further in business, relationships are going to be eternally important.
One of the biggest skills you'll learn, is that you have to make time for fun and time for serious work if you want to be happy. No one gives you work/life balance. You have to make it work.
Spend time with your friends. Go out and get wasted (if you are able), go chase some random girls on Tinder. Basically go act 21 or however old you are. These are the experiences you and others will share and remember for a long time. Even though college is actually not the best four years of your life, they are the most care-free. So take advantage of whatever you can at your age. You know what they say, "youth is wasted on the young" - don't be a walking example of that.
However, that's not to say to not focus on getting that offer or whatever goal you are currently reaching. I made the mistake of living like I was 20 through junior and senior year. And it really hit me when people were discussing what FT jobs they secured and I had yet to apply to anything. Hit even further home when I started my first FT job and hated anything and everything about it.
I was so behind every one of my peers to the point I was embarrassed. I didn't even know about IB, PE, high-finance, etc until I was 22/post grad... Sad, but I finally got my act together. Albeit later than everyone else, I was glad I did. So it really is about finding a balance with what and who you value in your life. For me, that was a career I actually cared about, and friends I truly value. Both of which I finally have now.
Thanks for the advice. I definitely do not want to waste my youth and hate my life later on because I never made an effort to have that balance
I want to add to the above, use college as a carefree time when it comes to your career, too. Don't be IB/MC-or-die; go for anything and everything under the sun that interests you, and don't base your entire existence around preftige. Being a student is a tremendous advantage when networking, IMO -- people are happy to talk to someone younger and help you out. Try as many different things as you can handle, and most of all, don't take the job search too seriously.
College is a carefree time? I beg to differ. Only privileged kids can have a carefree time in college. Kids who have parents who are not financially supportive of them during the college years generally believe that college is the least carefree time of their lives
Please go elsewhere. Honestly no one cares about your opinions. Look at your MS/SB ratio, explains itself.
Not my problem your family couldn't pay your tuition.
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gonna go out on a limb and say that if you're at a target you can afford to chill out and fuck around with some friends but if you go to a non target you better be eating, breathing and shitting finance 24/7 with a strong obsession to impress the interviewer and crush any questions he asks.
ideally you need to be a hardo but don't come across as a hardo if that makes sense
Unfortunately in this case I am a non-target lol. But I appreciate the insight, makes sense
I was the exact same as I am now. Literally 0 difference lol.
thats really tragic
Worked pretty well for me.
I appreciate all the insight. It definitely understand where exactly I stand and that I need to make more of an effort to do other things outside of prep for banking. Thanks for the input
My college social interest would look like a mirrored Nike logo. I just finished so I'll take some space to publicly introspect about my time in academia (maybe I'll get an MBA but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.) I went into college focused on preparing myself well for whatever I wanted to do after. That included two goals that I pursued pretty single-mindedly.
Get as good at analyst work as possible
Live out my dream of being a cage fighter
Each of these could be their own post, but I believe I succeeded at both by my own lights at least. I can use excel without a mouse (not perfectly but I suck less each day) and I managed to fight a little bit while getting my purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in a little under 30 months (that's worth more to me than any career success imho)
After getting an offer I took a step back and asked, "where did the time go?" It was from that point I focused on cramming four years of social life into a few short months. It was a massive success, and I got my sex, drugs, and rock & roll, but it also reaffirmed something that had gnawed at me while spending time practicing technicals which is that the hard work is its own reward. The careers we pursue are grindy and difficult, but they're compensated well and, more importantly, huge investments in ourselves (assuming you want to deploy these skills later in your career).
Even with the grind I still had meaningful friendships that I'll value for the rest of my life. Just because I prioritized fitness over litness (at least for a while), doesn't make me antisocial. Your time wasn't wasted just because you don't have rad spring break photos to show for it.
you're either a bullshitter or too bright for banking. go start some companies bro
Definitely the former. I don't think I'm too smart for banking, but once I log 1000 hours at the desk I'm sure my perspective will change slightly.
I think the real end-goal for me is to get a permanent spot on Shark Tank so I can just be funny on television while still deploying the skills I'd have spent so much time building. This is Hoop Dreams, but I wouldn't put at past myself to leave it all behind and try to be creative.
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