When you messed up your life

You're in one of the top 2 business schools in the country right now and you think your future is doomed? I cannot understand your defeatist mindset. Maybe you're in a country with either zero or one decent business schools? Even then....your future is doomed? Makes no sense.

Been through that too. Just stop thinking and start acting - clock's ticking and CGPA becomes harder to save with each class / semester you waste. This time there's no magic shortcut like high school's final exam. I'd recommend to start breaking down your goal into small milestones to achieve in any walks of life (GPA / ECA / networking / even personal goals). Helped me a lot when since the small achievements allow you to feel the progress - one step at a time.

Good luck and don't waste your time.

Use the time you have left to make a change and grind as hard as you can. Sure, it's tough but you can always go for 5 years if you need the extra boost to your GPA. Thing is, the more credits you have, the harder it is to affect your cumulative GPA- positively or negatively. Once you finish though, your cumulative GPA is set in stone. I advise you to gather up all the strength you can and putting it into getting your grades up. Also, I understand the despair but buck up. Not everyone who gets into IB/PE/VC has the same path, and there's no reason to panic. You have your entire life ahead of you. Lastly, I would reach out to people in those cities and apply to jobs and internships there anyway irregardless of how unqualified you believe you are. Let them tell you no and get feedback that you can use to improve your resume.

Already did, but my story was different. I let my parents decide my future for me and never fought back. As a result, I ended up spending my college years in misery and came out with a 2.1 GPA in a bio major, something that will haunt me for life. I hated that major with every inch of my life and it is rough to do well on the sciences if you hate them.

Deep down, I always wanted to go into finance but I never had the balls to stand up to my overbearing and tell them to fuck off. Now, I am 25 and trying to find my way into finance but it is looking extremely hopeless as my work experience includes jobs as a lab tech.

Maybe get off of internet forums and go study?

Could you try to explain why you want to work in finance?

At least you're at a target. Just get your shit together and do your best from here on - it's never too late.

Bro, you have not even finished undergrad yet - how can you have failed already? Your entire self worth is not measured by your GPA. In other words, 6 years down the road nobody will give a fuck about your GPA. There are tons of resources on this website to help people break into finance with subpar grades and non target backgrounds and you are fortunate enough to be from a target school.

Focus on your finals, do as good as you can and after that start grinding it out. Also, stop feeling sorry for yourself. You sound like a heartbroken emo teenager, man the fuck up.

Realign your expectations. You're feeling miserable honestly because your expectations are far above your reality. Furthermore, you place too much self-value in your expectations about grades and 'success'.

If you want to be happy you will decouple yourself from what your academic, and 'paper' (read:CV) performance is.

Will you make it into banking? Probably not, unless there is an exception. Can you make an exception happen, perhaps - but your history of failure reduces this liklihood. Instead I'd argue find something else that makes you happy and do that.

I graduated from top prep school in North America and graduated from a target in econ and history with gpa under 2.5. Still, I landed a full time gig at 2nd tier strategy shop. (Think ATK, Deloitte S&O, OW, etc) Its not the end of the world. You can still come back from the mistakes. Hell I had under 2.0 GPA in first and second years of Uni. Just buckle up and get ready to get shit done

First world problems

Try Adderall. You sound like a spoiled rich kid. Shouldn't be too hard to find some.

>When you messed up your life > junior year

Well, that escalated quickly. Seriously, you are just being lazy. Stop playing video games (=procrastinating) and start studying and enter your school's investment club. You have so much time.

Unreal. From somebody who came from a non-target, slummed his way through the back office, put himself through grad school and passing two levels of CFA exam, this comes off as a joke. First because you're only 13 years old and have plenty of time, and secondly because you're not even doing anything about it. What do you want? What did you expect? Someone to just hand you a job because you did well on the ACT? Do you have any idea how the world works?

Get up and do something about it. Don't even reply to anyone - just go. Life isn't easy. Go EARN it.

What is with the recent trend of people posting Failure stories on WSO? Geez man.

No one is going to help you, you need to find that internal motivation whatever it might be. We know you want to work in finance so bad, but guess what, so does everyone else. No one is going to hire a kid with poor work ethic and a lack of motivation.

Get it together or get out

Wow, tough crowd

Never Happened.

Thanks for all the comments! Both the ones trying to help and the "tough" ones.

I'm really making an effort to improve things and cutting on all the bullshit that doesn't matter. I have been establishing daily goals, finish what I planned for the day and taking notes where I'm spending time with bullshit.

Just 2 more things: 1- Far from being spoiled and honestly I don't understand how do you guys even got to that conclusion; 2 - The post might seemed a little bit to much, but that is what happens when you feel a little emotional and disappointed with the outcome of your life. I don't think that the best way to help someone who feels bad is to trash them. I really don't mind about all the crap that some of you said, but other kid in my position might, and instead of providing useful feedback and guidance, you would simply push him to a "darker place".

I wasn't trying to get sympathy from anyone. Just feedback.

Thanks, And I hope we all make it!

Getting on a path for success is hard work, no matter if you go to a target or the biggest no name school in your country. It is nerves and I repeat merver too late to change your direction in life. You are giving up before you have even started your career. Hate to break it to you but school is the easiest part. It is only going to get harder. It's hard to have sympathy given that you consciously made your choices and are aware of their implications. Own your choices and move forward.

You can write "fuck" on the Internet. Do you think you're somehow protecting our pure, virginal ears, hearts, & minds while simultenously adequately communicating the gravity of profanity by replacing the "u" with an asterisk in "fuck"?

In the way of actual potentially helpful advice, are you seeing/have you considered seeing a psychologist? Your incorrigibly defeatist mindset reeks of rumination and other negative thought patterns. Addressing a negative mental state sounds like your first step.

Everyone has to constantly hustle to get to where they want to be. Get your crap together man, and you wasted other people's time by posting nonsense.

JT012, You are in your early 20s- it's not too late. Don't just try hard. That's the worst thing you can do. Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing something over and over without changing anything and expecting a different result. Try hard, for sure, but try hard smarter. Diagnose why you are not doing well in school. Is it laziness? Are you going out too much? Are the classes not interesting to you? Have you not spent enough time to study for tests/exams? Be specific, categorize your problems, and follow-up with self-observation.

For example, when I was in college, I confused "reading texts" with "prepping for exams." I felt like I always had to start from the foundation, so it took me forever to catch up with the mid-term level materials. Might be good for learning, but terrible for your grade. [NOT STRATEGIC!] I also didn't ask enough questions - I was self-aware and was afraid of being judged. [PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIER] I wish I was different back then, but there's no use in wishful thinking. It's hard to change, and it's even harder to face your weaknesses and swallow your pride, but if you do, you will become better. Don't rely on motivation. Apply scientific experiment to yourself and develop a system to enhance your grade. Good luck.