Why are there so few Asian dudes in IBD / PE?
I've noticed that Asian males seem to be heavily underrepresented in banking compared to White and Indian males and even Asian females. Why is that?
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Probably because they don't understand demographics. You do know Indian males are asians right?
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pedantic
You should specify East Asian males.
lol this guy
Proportionally to the US population, it’s probably consistent, contrary to your expectations. If you’re referring to why they’re not over-represented like males in general in finance, it’s prob because they aren’t pushed to the field by culture like they are to tech or medicine. I am 100% sure there are more male Asians in finance than female Asians in finance.
Indian guys have assimilated better into american culture compared to "asian" guys.
Would not say that at all lmfao. Way more asian dudes in greek life than indian guys. There's not one indian kid that even rushed my frat last spring.
at my southern school and most others its the other way around, is your frat bottom tier?
I go to an Ivy so maybe its different. I'm surprised there's even Indian kids at all in southern schools. Only Indian kids I know are CS majors who study 24/7 but maybe that's just the ivy type of Indians. And nah it's not, but ask Rakesh and Kumar what they think of your engineering frat.
SEC school here, and way more Asians assimilated than Indians
I like how you assume that Asians rushing a frat makes it bottom tier lmao. Anyway, at my ivy, WAY more East Asians rush and they are way more assimilated. Maybe like 10 East Asian kids rushed my frat this year whereas maybe 1-2 Indian kids did. That being said, unfortunately, none got bids and I continue to be the only non-white person in my frat. Oh well.
You misread what he said. I said no indian kids rushed my house and the guy asked if that's because my house is bottom tier. Clearly Rakesh Raggawangal believes indians only rush the most elite prep school frats and won't waste time with bottom houses.
Ah you're right. Still point stands that just cause no Indians rush and only Asians rush doesn't mean anything about tier.
Wow - really touched a nerve, huh
Not any more than you, since you're a VP in PE replying to undergrads lol
Man, Industrials gets some raging dickheads as interns
As fyi 1% of the us is Indian and 4-5% is asian ex Indian so 2 vs 10 makes.... sense
As an Indian guy this is 100% false. Without going into a 20 page sociological explanation regarding how skin tone and colourist ideologies subconsciously effect us, asian guys are basically white guys from a different country who enjoy eating different food. There are many asians who either change their name or are given an english name at birth in order to conform and avoid being outcasted. It makes it so much easier for someone to call someone Joe or Tyler instead of Hassan or Kumar therefore this makes their assimilation far easier into the subconscious of society which produces greater results in dating, in the general perception combine that with their academic and professional accomplishments and the skin tone this is a successful combination for conformity.
Interestingly in the UK it's different - Indians and South Asians in general have assimilated much better into society; I also get really confused at how americans tend to split races so broadly - won't an Indian/Asian raised in the US carry more american traits? Atleast that's how it is here.
Not at all true lmao
edit
I think it depends on who they interact with. They may be awkward in front of people that have different ethnicities, but be perfectly fine with other Asians.
edit
You’re clearly just racist. There are plenty of Asian Americans with social skills and amazing job prospects, just look at megafund PE associates. Go back to tending cattle on your ranch, Hoover.
I did not in any means talk about Asian Americans. Furthermore I did not draw any conclusions, I just shared my observations / opinion and did so in no apodictic way. I am open to discuss but good thing you talk around :)
Asian males are <3% of the U.S. population. If anything, they’re ‘over-represented’ (don’t like the word since they’ve earned their spots) in IB from what I’ve seen.
Do you go to a good school? You’re probably just used to seeing a lot more Asians, given they kick ass and take names academically. In a truly national sense, they’re a much smaller portion of the pool.
Jesus, the generalizations in this thread is ridiculous - plenty of social East and South Asians, and plenty of shy/nerdy ones as well, just like white people. Not all white people are Chads - plenty of pimpled neckbeards who sit at home playing video games; they're just a majority so the frat houses are filled with the "social ones".
Most Asians raised in America turn out fine, it's typically because a lot of international students study here, and they bring along whatever stereotypes they're typically linked to.
being underrepresented aint necessarily a bad thing.
Does it matter tho
.... I haven’t seen many Chinese and Indians but you definitely come across Koreans, Japanese and a few Pakistanis The least represented group is blacks
I've always wondered why this is the case. I'm half black and while it's not hard to fit in, it's interesting to not see other black people across IB/PE...
I really don’t know...but it’s a good question for HR!
I don't wanna jump in those waters since it's always goes down a slippery slope, but I think the main reason is lack of interest and knowledge.
The black people I know from school majored in comms or marketing and really weren't interested in finance or econ. Can't say the reason since I don't know but I think the reasons are what I said above. Maybe if they saw more people in industry, like yourself, then they would consider it. I don't know your experience, but I'm sure for some it would be intimidating gunning for a job where no one else may look like you
Half black as well and I can only echo your comment at least for EMEA IB/PE.
Although I have to say that I never (thankfully!) encountered any obstacles re race career-wise.
.
It's our affinity for undercooked bat that is killing us off.
Original dude should've just gone for the tried and true deep fry.
it’s cause we all in tech babyyyyyy
Might be due to social skills tbh. The well rounded skill set is not emphasized in Asian culture (4.0 or bust mentality)
you're not very popular or cool yourself. even though you think your social your friends group is very small because you work 80 hours a week while the girls are hanging out with the black guys. black guys are much more social than white guys, especially around white girls.
Light green means prospect. I don’t work 80hrs/week. And considering you are an IB VP/MD I’m not sure how hours worked is even relevant.
Mixed Indian here, and I'd say there are actually a fair of number asian dudes as a whole in the industry. Most asian kids are pushed towards STEM related careers though. Most of my family are engineers/doctors and I was pushed that way, but once they learned what I do they viewed it in a high regard.
Let's Start A Race War!
lol, username checks out.
.
Nice try
.
I am a Pakistani in high finance. Never had any problems assimilating. I have more white friends than I do Brown. I have had more luck with white women than brown, who generally find me repulsive. I think the reason why I’ve been able to integrate so well is I am not a Pakistani in the truest sense - I have a British / American accent (I have lived away from home since I was 18 and I’m now 31), I am assertive and confident in the way I speak, and I have hobbies that are reflective of a well-bred mammal (I play squash, tennis, golf, and am well-versed in the global topics)...all these things matter. At the end of the day this is a client-relationship business
Agreed with this as a guy of Indian descent in NYC. Born and bred in the US with a good upbringing, Candidly, which is why I'm posting anonymously, I'm a good looking dude with a good job and generally put together life in terms of what the outside world sees of me and I am really thankful for this. I have no issue with chicks or anything of that sort (except Asian girls but whatevs). But it wasn't always like that - got a lot of both in-your-face / subtle racism, usually phrased as "jokes", and bullying growing up throughout middle school and high school. And I grew up in a very liberal state. Seems like once I got to college a switch was flipped and people stopped having such bigoted views etc.
The reason I mentioned looks above is that I've noticed it's been a huge factor in how people treat me or others. A lot of my white friends still think its fine to make a passive racist comment about another indian dude who might not be the best looking dude to my face which is really bizarre because it leads me to believe that they either 1) forget I'm indian or 2) are retarded.
I know this is disorganized but is stuff I have noticed and been through^
I get second-hand cringe from this comment. It’s good that you love playing sports and have a comfortable time assimilating to other cultures, but using the word “well-bred” for that? Holy. I beg to differ, Mr. PE Associate. Here we have someone who thinks, or at least implies, he’s better than anyone of his social group because he does the same basic things everyone else’s doing. I’m glad you love doing these things, but acting you’re better for doing them is just pure cringe.
In terms of recent trends it’s because the Asian American women have been taking the minority quota. Go to LinkedIn and compare the Asian women vs Asian men in high finance relative to the level of candidates - I would argue it’s probably pretty tough as an Asian male or a white male without standout credentials.
Try to go to see the hedge fund demographics in Chicago. That's where they are at. They went to focus on quant and trading roles instead. I guess with IBD and PE there's an element of presenting and public speaking perhaps they are not comfortable with. Whether this will slowly change with time, perhaps as more Asian kids diversify away from taking hardcore STEM courses in university...
Here's a few Asians doing just okay...
Kewsong Lee - Co-CEO of the Carlyle Group and Chairman of Carlyle's Executive Group
Joseph Bae - Co-COO and Co-President of KKR
Michael Chu - Co-CEO of L Catterton
You know you made it when you have your own Wiki page.
Also,
Chinh Chu - Former Senior MD at Blackstone, that guy is a billionaire...
Also Michael Chae - CFO of Blackstone Plenty of Asian guys doing well quite - a lot of Koreans too it seems
Asian dudes crush it in finance. Not sure what planet you're on.
That’s because Asians/Indians are quite socially awkward and don’t integrate well. Not all of them, but the vast majority are way too cultural and are nerdy Comp Sci/engineering guys. Asians still do better than Indians because of them adopting Christian names and some of them being super chill. Can’t say that about Indians. Pakistanis/middle easterners integrate a lot better.
As others have mentioned, a lot of misconceptions in this thread, but I'll try state some observations.
East Asians do face some cultural barriers in IB/PE. "Bamboo ceilings" exist, especially in America, where you see East Asian analysts/associates but less often in VP+ roles, which require less analytical work and more sales/relationship management skills. It shows from a young age - my friends in undergrad mostly found networking challenging. Regardless how good they were at it, people generally lacked enthusiasm for assertively meeting strangers. It arguably stems from traditional East Asian cultures being more reserved; not that it's wrong, it's just less compatible with high finance culture in the Western World.
Again, other cultures may face these obstacles too, and I'm not making any claims about over/under-representation in the field. These are simply reflections from my experience with close friends, including international students, Asian Americans, and frat members, at a target undergrad. Not sure why all the cultural remarks above are getting monkey shit.
This is a Dunning–Kruger thread and most people just don't realize it.
If you are under 40 and haven't worked alongside or personally know a huge fucking cohort of super sharp, alpha Asian/Indian/White/Jewish dudes, you're just exposing yourself as not at the level. Nobody at the Analyst or Associate (or the equivalent) level in a coastal city in any of the major cosmopolitan power professions (finance, medicine, tech, law) believes that any of these demographics are underrepresented relative to broader population.
Literally nobody in NYC/SF/LA/Bos at GS, Blackstone, McKinsey, Skadden, Google, a16z, Harvard Med, GSB, or any of the other yuppie feeder programs looks around at their first day orientation and says "wow where are all the Asian guys?" If anything they often ask the opposite.
I worked at a traditionally super white shoe firm for my Analyst stint and still it was just absolutely packed with Asian dudes.
You're just not in fucking the room OP.
This has to be some butthurt asian male that wants to start up shit because he lost his internship at cantor
Source: Chinese american male working in banking
I am an Asian dude in ER and almost everyone we've got are Asian dudes. Maybe that depends on location? I am in Asia...
lol
It absolutely depends on location, culture, country, available talent pool, demographics of target schools (of each year) and more.
Saying that all high profile companies are packed with Asians might be true for one location, but entirely wrong for another.
Thank you. I like how people here automatically assume that everyone lives in the US.
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