Ranking the Douchiest People You Will Meet On Wall Street by Where They Went To Undergrad

Update: See the Non-Target Edition here.

The HPY Kiss Ass:

Imagine this: The entire analyst class has to sit through an hour long information session with the Compliance team. There is really no need for this, other than the fact that every other important group at your firm got to present to the analysts, so now it's Compliance's turn to feel important. You're hungover, have to shit and the lecture finally winds down, exactly one hour in. You're thanking Christ that it's all over so you can go back to browsing Twitter on the stool - when suddenly the black-frame glasses wearing Analyst, who has been intently writing notes in his notebook the entire meeting, raises his hand and asks a stupid round of questions that ends up making the entire waste-of-time take an additional thirty minutes, just so everyone knows that he was paying attention and is intellectually engaged.

Congratulations, you've encountered your first HPY Kiss-Ass.

The HPY Kiss-Ass is the first person to raise his hand to introduce himself to the rest of the analyst class, and typically mentions every investment club he was apart of in undergrad, along with the fact that he day-trades in his freetime and is currently up 43% on the year due to a new international arbitrage strategy he programmed. The HPY Kiss-Ass will make menial changes to your work during group projects, just so he can feel in control of the project. He will talk over you in every meeting when presenting your work, and will take charge of any stupid philanthropy or other non-essential project that is lobbed to the Analyst class throughout the course of your tenure. The key is to allow the HPY Kiss-Ass to fall on his sword. Chances are, he'll end up doing 70% of your work for you and will take 100% of the blame when something goes wrong.

The UVA Guy:

The UVA Guy is something of an anomaly. He's generally the only guy in the room that went to a public college, except for the other UVA Guys sitting around the table, yet he seems the least nervous. He's the least hard worker, yet the most well liked by the Senior Analysts. The first Friday of your SA stint he showed up looking hungover and red-eyed, yet to the dismay of the HPY Kiss-Asses, he's already developed a series of inside jokes with the FT Analysts.

The UVA Guy will be the only one to not show up to the SA happy hour after work, because he has better plans to go hang out with his fraternity brothers from undergrad. Monday morning, while you're updating spreadsheets and checking market activity, you can hear the UVA Guy yelling about sports to your boss, and you wonder why he's the only one who never seems to have enough work to do.

The Sheltered Kid From Dartmouth/Columbia/Williams/Amherst:

The Sheltered Kid seems shy, but deep down he is really just dripping with contempt for your shallow finance education and bourgeois tendencies. The Sheltered Kid rejects the UVA Guy's attempt to engage in conversations about sports or alcohol. In fact, sports, alcohol and fun are among the most loathsome activities the Sheltered Kid can think of. He prefers drinking glasses of red wine that the UVA Guy cannot pronounce, while at candle-lit French restaurants with his other liberal arts friends.

Nobody knows about the Sheltered Kid's background, other than that he lives by himself because he cannot stand the way the presence of others clouds his intellectual energy. He allegedly also can play the clarinet really well, although the one time he mentioned it, the UVA Guy snickered to his other UVA Guy friend, so he went back to quietly mulling over how un-intellectual everyone else in the room is.

The Group of Asians From MIT and Carnegie Mellon:

This group of 3 or 4 Asians prefer to stick amongst each other and speak in Mandarin. They eat lunch together, sit next to each other at meetings and develop selective mutism when their counterparts are not around them. They are great to be stuck with in elevators because unlike the HPY Kiss-Asses, they wont try to impress you by talking about recent market activity, nor will they ask you if you saw the UVA basketball game last night.

The Golden Child From UPenn:

The Golden Child is somewhere between the UVA Guy and the HPY Kiss-Ass. Hailing from Wharton, he has clearly been taught by his undergraduate career services advisors how to act in business gatherings. He takes notes every so often during information sessions, but he wont actually go back and read them like the HPY Kiss-Ass. He can talk sports with the UVA Guy, but he rolls his eyes when the conversation strays into the UVA Guy's recount of how blacked out he was last night.

Moreover, the UPenn Golden Child seems to be the only living creature with a non-liberal arts degree that the Sheltered Kid doesn't display contempt for. "You know, you and I are the only ones in this Analyst class that aren't total fucking brainlets" the Sheltered Kid may mention to him, without making eye contact. The Golden Child is the best partner to work with on a project. He's a reluctant leader that will take charge when he has to, but prefers letting the HPY Kiss-Ass wear himself out by doing it anyway. The UPenn guy is the only guy who can genuinely go out on a Thursday night and drink one or two beers while still making it home by midnight.

 

The Notre Dame Cult

Concisely, these guys are overly obsessed with their alma mater and the only thing they can talk about when together is ND football. Lot of them are douchebags. Have similar tendencies as those from UVA, Georgetown, Duke. It's a cult in South Bend.

 
TippyTop11:
Kids from ND will tell you within the first couple of minutes of conversion that they went to ND without you even asking. Absolute cult.

They really do. My grandfather played quarterback for ND. They get starry eyes every time I tell them that. Especially the older guys. If we are near a computer they will rush to google his name and reminisce about how football used to be and the development of the sport in general and at ND. So sometimes I hold my tongue as that is usually the most boring 30 minutes of your life, unless you're into that stuff.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

BC Eagles right up there as well. If they're a self-proclaimed "Double Eagle" (BC High -> BC UG), or worse yet, a "Triple Eagle" (BC High -> BC UG -> BC MBA/BC Grad School), begin constructing an implementing your escape from the situation before being dragged to the outskirts of your sanity by unending rambling on how "great Doug Flutie was," that they're "always shocked to find out when people didn't know their Men's Baseball Team plays the Sox at the first string training game every year," and how "they're not conceding that BU has a better Ice Hockey program, only clarify that even if they did, their other teams suck, so BC is still the better sports school on Comm Ave.". These guys love to hear themselves squawk, especially loudly in public places; beware when one Eagle sees another in the wild as they're prone to breaking out into a screeching mating call; if you ever hear these words in the presence of an eagle "Fly Eagles, Fly..." evacuate the area immediately as it is likely that you are about the be swarmed by a hoard of squawking Eagles.

"In order to be a really good investor, you need to be a little bit of a philosopher as well." -Dan Loeb  
 

Saying UPenn shows lack of sophistication. Everyone who is really in-the-know calls the school Penn. UPenn is reserved for use only in the company of unsophisticated peasants in order to prevent the dreaded confusion with PSU. When in the company of fellow ivy grads and other elitists of that sort, a Penn grad can safely say Penn. A certain amount of well-conceiled insecurity and anxiety about this whole name debacle never leaves him though.

The Harvard kiss-ass shares a lot of traits with his YP counterparts but deserves a separate mention. He appears to be either unabashedly arrogant or nauseatingly modest but even in the latter case manages to be more conceited, extra and eye-roll-inducing that anyone else.

YP kids have mastered the art of ever-so-subtly reminding the non-HYP ivy kids that they are actually plebs while masterfully concealing their own insecurity towards Harvard.

Finally, you forgot the two stepchildren of the ivy league, Brown and Cornell, which anyway proves my point. Some Brown and Cornell kids can be douchey but in general they are just very happy to be there against all odds. No easy feat making it to WS from a hybrid state school or the bastion of trustafarians, laziness, softness and leftist ideology.

Other than that I find your descriptions to be quite accurate lol.

 

The distinction is there but usually gets blown out of proportion. The best comparison would be the distinction people make between Harvard vs Yale. It is there but not huge. Still, the best way to make a Penn CAS or SEAS person hate you is probably to ask them if they went to Wharton after they have already told you they went to Penn. A bit of underlying insecurity is always there. Not too different from a Yalie's insecurity towards Harvard.

What happens with recruiting is that non-Wharton Penn is not on par with HYP+Wharton. Still, I d say it is right below. Tons of non-Wharton Penn kids get great WS jobs and they tend to know their stuff because usually they have taken tons of Wharton classes and been involved in Wharton clubs.

 

he is actually uva i think based in his other posts. and sadly no one says wharton grad anymore. It was already kinda douchey saying wharton grad instead of penn grad pre-donald but after donald it is a no-go zone. he spoiled it for all of us.

 

The Sheltered Kid From Dartmouth/Columbia/Williams/Amherst:

The Sheltered Kid rejects the UVA Guy's attempt to engage in conversations about sports or alcohol. In fact, sports, alcohol and fun are among the most loathsome activities the Sheltered Kid can think of. He prefers drinking glasses of red wine that the UVA Guy cannot pronounce, while at candle-lit French restaurants with his other liberal arts friends.

I can't imagine this description to ever apply to a Dartmouth kid.

 

The rich white kid whose parent's were able to essentially buy him a solid education despite the kid being an under performer, and thus studies at one of those mediocre, solid but not selective private school for rich kids like Hobart, Skidmore, Bucknell, Richmond, Rollins College, Sewanee, Loyola Maryland, College of Charleston, Gettysburg College, Trinity, etc. This kid dresses well, has nice hair, knows how to behave among upper management and is one of the good boys, yet knows jack shit about finance.

We're not lawyers. We're investment bankers. We didn't go to Harvard. We Went to Wharton!
 

Haha, as a Trinity student, I can say this is almost hurtfully accurate. Although I'd say it's not entirely accurate to equate HWS and Gettysburg with the rest you mentioned. * no offense or whatever *

 

When I read stuff like this it makes me sick but I have to laugh because I know it is spawned from ignorance. Education is one of the most important skills someone can acquire. Whether you acquire an associates degree from your community college or a PhD from Harvard it is an accomplishent. It shows you set long terms goals and achieve them. It is good for the economy and it is helps everyone.

Not every one like most BOMS think they are going to pass the CFA exam and manage the Magellan Fund. That is comical.

 

Yes but the reality is high performance jobs have a disproportionately large amount of the massively insecure overachievers. Let’s not forget the Goldman HR practices that target individuals who exhibit low amounts of self esteem with long track records of success. In conjunction btw.

Pedigree is a great starting point for people to get an idea of you and your potential. But it is not the be all end all. Let’s not forget Einstein’s education, or lack thereof. The college system in many ways is a modernized expensive day care. Most material is within reach at a typically inexpensive cost and most bright minds can be tapped into via biographies and or videos all over the web. But our society is lazy, and finds a formalized four year structure is the most effective. We all know this, it’s no surprise. We also know that 90% of those at top tier universities were statistically incredibly fortunate. Typically brought up in relatively nice environments, with the luck of not having horribly debilitating disabilities. However, the entitlement persists.

The sad thing though is that those who define themselves by their pedigree or current employment set their foundation on weak bedrock. The minute you lose your job, do you become nothing? Are you defined only by your past? Is it genuinely how you define yourself as a person.

Having gone to a target which I chose to exhibit massive gratitude towards the whole experience, I feel bad for those that define themselves of this as not only does it support the continuation of a shallow form of self worth but it also further perpetuates the pissing contest that lives in many corners of the Wall Street community.

Cheers though! Can’t change most minds, and judgement is a burden best left elsewhere!

 

It’s a perpetuation of the Wall Street pissing contest. Unfortunately, many forget how statistically lucky they are. Gratitude becomes dismal in the face of greed and pride. To have the opportunity, let alone the ability (the absences of disability) is an incredible blessing.

Having gone to a target I chose to not define my self worth by it because I realize the great fortunate that it was to attend it. Most kids who crush the standardized tests were prepared to do so, whether through tutors, or just overbearing parents. I try to Keep in mind some kids don’t have either.

Accomplishments or lack thereof are too often defined and measured when compared to others. “Oh you graduated from community college? Well I went to Yale!” “Oh you work on Wall Street? So what?! I just sold an app for 20 million and wake up at noon!”

There’s always a bigger or smaller fish. Defining yourself on pedigree or relative accomplishments not only perpetuates the external pissing contest that exists on Wall Street, but it creates a shallow internal bedrock of your own existence. What happens if you get fired? Is that it? Does life end? Of course not. But the same prideful thinking that makes some resent others is the same thinking that creates the most devastating falls.

Gratitude has a tough time existing in the presence of greed, pride or envy.

But try not to let it bother you. I’ve found the burden of being sad that this culture exists is one best left behind.

But these are just thoughts from me, an anonymous person on the internet.

Cheers! :)

 

Few others:

  1. The Harvard bro. For shits and gigs, convinced people he was in a secret society at school. Likely to make up tons of stuff, but shit he went to Harvard who can prove him wrong?

  2. The state school kid who looks down at his school more than the people from Ivy’s. Everyone thinks he’s smart and that it’s impressive he got a Wall Street job while still having fun at a state school, but he feels weird about it. Why are you mad?

  3. The CS kid. Smart as hell, definitely has a photographic memory. But, down plays his intelligence in social situations almost to the point where you end up believing “maybe he’s not that smart” only to realize his sociopathic tendency for your ass, as he later recites word for word a text book definition on some level of technical analysis.

  4. The addict. What the hell do you do when you get off work? Wait... I actually don’t want to know.

Wall Street is a interesting place.

 

Few others:

  1. The Harvard bro. For shits and gigs, convinced people he was in a secret society at school. Likely to make up tons of stuff, but shit he went to Harvard who can prove him wrong?

  2. The state school kid who looks down at his school more than the people from Ivy’s. Everyone thinks he’s smart and that it’s impressive he got a Wall Street job while still having fun at a state school, but he feels weird about it. Why are you mad?

  3. The CS kid. Smart as hell, definitely has a photographic memory. But, down plays his intelligence in social situations almost to the point where you end up believing “maybe he’s not that smart” only to realize his sociopathic tendency for your ass, as he later recites word for word a text book definition on some level of technical analysis.

  4. The addict. What the hell do you do when you get off work? Wait... I actually don’t want to know.

Wall Street is a interesting place.

 

The state school kids are OBSESSED with going to a t10 MBA program to push their undergrad down their resume. After acquiring an elite MBA they act like they went to undergrad there, e.g. homecomings, attend to hoops and football games, fill their closet with logo sweatshirts & 1/4 zips, root for their sports teams. The day they get into that MBA program all in-person and social media mentions of their state college disappear.

 

Can confirm. I go to an SEC School (Alabama, Mizzou, Ole Miss). Getting ** SOME ** alumni on the phone is nearly impossible because the no longer want to associate with their undergraduate degree.

Debt isn't the only thing distressed at this shop
 

To play devil's advocate here as someone who is trying to fit that mold (although undergrad GPA too low for top 10 MBA), I can kind of empathize a bit with these kids. If you look at the kind of kid from these schools who ends up at Wall Street or wants to end up there, he has a certain kind of personality that isn't always the best fit with these schools outside of your top tier state schools like a UVA or others considered a public Ivy.

Majority of the state schools like the SEC schools mentioned by Goldman's Sack are for the party animal, the privileged trust fund kid in a frat that will probably go work for Suntrust and the kids who are there more to have fun than really build a wall street resume. For a lot of these kids, it can be tough even fitting in socially with the good ol boys and the dudebro types that at times cannot even form a coherent sentence.

What a lot of these kids are going to have to look back on are lonely weekends, not being invited to that party the SAEs threw with the fancy Confederate Flags hanging on the walls of their frat houses and not really being able to relate to the majority of their classmates. A lot of this leads to wanting to dissociate from your alma mater.

Even though my alma mater was a fast rising public university (top 20 status in the US now), I don't have many good years to look back on and know I would have been happier at a different kind of school. I truly regret going there and would not want to associate with it.

 

I do that to some degree, but it's because my undergrad no longer really exists. It was merged with another school and got new administrators that have basically destroyed what made that school special.

They even tried to move that particular aspect of the school off campus and are trying to transform the place into a training grounds for progressive activism. Wish I was joking.

 

There’s a type of individual who is much worse than this. Now, this specimen you won’t find in the US, since most US-MBAs typically don’t go on exchange, but it’s the MBA candidate at the average-but-solid B-School who exchanges to a brand name school overseas. S/he then leverages the hell out of that schools alumni network and turns up to parties saying “nice to meet you...I’m class of 20XX”...no you’re not. No longer will that person be an MBA of whatever school their certificate says, but rather an MBA of whatever exchange school they went to for 3 months!

 

I work in institutional AM with a lot of Booth people. No one attended U of C for UG. So, moot point.

I can tell you, though, that Northwestern grads are the "everyman" of the Midwestern financial world. I think they're purchased in bulk and just dropped into Chicagoland cubicles.

 
Kneel Cashcarry:
I work in institutional AM with a lot of Booth people. No one attended U of C for UG. So, moot point.

I can tell you, though, that Northwestern grads are the "everyman" of the Midwestern financial world. I think they're purchased in bulk and just dropped into Chicagoland cubicles.

+1 for the username.

 

Non-Target Kid: You can find him on Linkedin or on Indeed 25% of the day. He didn't get to where he was by being complacent and even three months into his stint at an Elite Boutique, he's already networking for Private Equity. Hardest worker in the group but also takes the longest to complete a simple task and pays poor attention to detail (none of that will stop him from achieving top bucket). Will act very bro with anyone under MD but when the MD shows up he turns into the MIT / Carnegie Mellon Asian student. He is best friends with the Harvard student, because unlike the others who've achieved some level of success in college applications, the non-target didn't and has no problem constantly reminding the group how awesome it was that Marcus attended Harvard. He doesn't have any enemies but is disliked by Yale due to the fact that Yale doesn't understand how he got here in the first place. Yale also dislikes how the non-targ is only in awe with the Harvard kid and his only notion of Yale is the company that manufactures locks.

What concert costs 45 cents? 50 Cent feat. Nickelback.
 

I hate the guys and girls who go to non-targets but work at BBs / EBs but think they are the smartest people in the world. They act so arrogant. Met a guy who was a total boss at Excel and PPT. He was even teaching our Excel teacher in training how to do Excel and the teacher was shocked. However, he walks in and the second years and above start showing the analysts how to do things and he just keeps interrputing saying he knows a faster way to do things. He ends up actually knowing the faster way, but he came off as SO arrogant that the netire analyst calss thinks something is up.

Nothing against non-targets obvi but no one should come into their first job acting like they know everything (even if you do). He's top bucket material but his attitude and way he presents himself make him a bottom bucket.

Will update my computer soon and leave Incognito so I will disappear forever. How did I achieve Neanderthal by trolling? Some people are after me so need to close account for safety.
 

Sure, sounds like it. But this guy sounded so arrogant about it, which really pissed me off. As in if someone was showing him to do something, he would cut them off and say: "oh, I know a faster way to do it"

This guy acted like he was better than everyone else. There's a humble confidence that people should have but this guy is the exact opposite. I mean the first day that this first year is on the job a third year says he is the best at formatting decks and the first year says: "Really? I'm surprised anyone can do it better than me." The more I bring up these examples, the more analysts of this firm will know who I am talking about.

This guy actually had the guts and the stupidity to post on WSO about his firm after having worked there for two months, writing a whole post about how the firm's culture and deals have changed for the better. This guy had been here for TWO MONTHS! What the heck does a first year konw after being at a firm for two months? He all of a sudden has the authority to talk about this firm like he's been there for YEARS!

You can tell I'm a little jealous but at the same time, this is the most despicable type of person: who is smart but then uses that to put others down and just be arrogant beyond the craziest measure.

Will update my computer soon and leave Incognito so I will disappear forever. How did I achieve Neanderthal by trolling? Some people are after me so need to close account for safety.
 

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