I graduated in 2006 and Vault Banking and Consulting guides were my bible and there was no real forum to exchange ideas and paths. By then, my GPA was good, but not IB good and I suffered as I didn't know what I was supposed to do on day 1 freshman year. WSO is a strong asset and there is a lot of content on here. You guys are lucky. A lot of us didn't have this.
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You're right. I'm very grateful for the resources on the internet today. M&I, BIWS guides, WSO, etc. have all been invaluable. I'd have no idea what the fuck I was doing otherwise.
Did you go to Dartmouth, or am I thinking of someone else?
I come from a large military family. 3/4 of the children went to military school for college. I went to the best military school. My bro and sis went to Annapolis, which also has its prestige.
I fucked around in HS a lot and shouldn't have gotten in anywhere, but was able to pull some strings to get admitted to college, then largely took off and got into the Honors Society and started pulling good grades and awards towards the end.
It would have been better though if I got a 3.8+ GPA and only ended up with a 3.64, but had 2 majors and a minor and studied abroad 2x with lots of accolades and ECs and elected to the Honor Court, which was a big deal. My resume is always an interesting discussion in interviews as I'm all over the board starting with my education, which was kind of like a buffet, just collecting degrees of interest over time.
were lucky to have u bb
thanks bb
I tried to give you a banana, but it doesn't go through for me anymore a lot of the time
No one is lucky. There is probably more competition now.
There is arguably less real competition now because Tech has soaked up a lot of the talent. Beforehand it was just Banking and Consulting. But in a way, since there are more widely accessible prep materials, that has made it more competitive. But also, there is less of a focus on pedigree now so it's less competitive if you're non-target. But also, there are more non-targets applying, so more competitive.
Suffice to say, not worth comparing the two eras much. But I agree with Isaiah that today's internet makes careers a million times easier to navigate.
Do you think tech pulls from the same talent pool? I feel like the personality of most (not all, of course) software engineers isn't really compatible with banking or consulting. I think in past eras, they may have leaned towards more traditional engineering careers, but I'm interested to hear if you think that's the case.
I think that we are on the same wavelength. You compete against everyone else who is trying to do the same thing as you at the same time that you are trying to do it. There is no lucky and unlucky, only winners and losers.
What job do you have now, and what's your yearly pre-tax income?
I own 4 LLCs and only get paid on one. I'm a wantrepreneur on the other three. I do art, poker, and caretaking. There's no LLC for poker. I do triathlon too, but I don't get paid so that's just a hobby.
I'm obviously not a billionaire, but I get by.
I'm doing a new large scale art piece soon. Maybe 5x7 feet $500 cost, $10,000 price. I make my own frame and canvas. I'm also looking into 1:1 fitness training on the side as well for people who want to change their life. That might make it 5 LLCs.
So basically I live the shotgun approach - I have a lot of possible things to do and when I start getting paid on one thing I go for it.
Out of college, I was in management consulting / corporate finance. I lived around the DoD for 9 years including military school (aerospace defense consulting). Spec ops training first, then military college, then DoD consulting.
If you could go back to being a freshman in college, what would you do differently?
Also, how easily can you get girls?
go for 4.0 gpa
nothing else
how much different would a 4.0 make your life?
I probably would have gotten into IB and maybe have been an even bigger condescending assohole.
Dude like every 3rd post of yours that I read I'm more and more impressed with your profile. We really are lucky to have you around here bb.
To put things into perspective, I applied to all 100 of Vault Banking/Consulting companies and think 20 more firms back in the day. Best I got was #12 in consulting (didn't get MBB).
If I had WSO from freshman year in college, I think I could have done a lot better.
I think a reason why being at a “target” school has its advantages is one could be average and just fall into the high finance track by virtue of the culture/ecosystem/peer pressure of the school.
Whereas a student who lacks that environment can seek out a community like WSO and at least get exposure. Knowing is half the battle. I think this democratization improves the talent level of the industry (if you don’t count the alternative career paths that talented people might go towards).
I read The Vault message boards back in the day.
Yeah exactly
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