<p>Hi, </p>
<p>I'm currently a high school senior, and hope to later go into investing banking as a profession. In addition to attending a top notch undergrad business school, what are other things I can do to orient myself on this track? Any suggestions and guidance is sincerely appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>practice sitting motionless in front of your computer screen for 18 hours straight</p>
<p>start following the financial news religiously.</p>
<p>lol@HRF112’s suggestion. At the end of the day, its probably the most useful one you could get.</p>
<p>haha I know the job is rigorous… but in terms of putting my self on the track and making me an attractive candidate for the industry? </p>
<p>Thanks for the help guys</p>
<p>get a life and have some fun. </p>
<p>don’t think about it until sophomore/junior year. </p>
<p>believe me, ibanking isn’t for everyone. you really have to LOVE and have real PASSION for the job in order to sit through those long ours where you do nothing except correcting grammar mistakes and typos through a 100-page pitch book that will go down the shredder in a few weeks time. Although most people I know go for ibanking for the prestige and relatively high pay (it’s actually not very high if you average it out on an hourly basis…), you really have to have a thorough understanding and passion in order to last long in the industry.</p>
<p>JIMMY, you kind of make sense. But I would actually have to say that those who go into banking as an Analyst do NOT have to have a passion for the job. Many simply weather the two years and then jump to the buyside. Yes, to do banking for an extended period of time might require a “passion” for the work, but then again you might just force yourself to endure it because of the stability (if you keep getting promoted) and high salary.</p>
<p>Frankly, if the OP has his mind straight and definitely wants to shoot for investment banking once he gets to college, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start accumulating some sort of finance, or at least business experience, now in order to begin to build his resume and climb the ladder until it becomes time to go out and get that big junior year internship. I know someone who did asset management, followed by trading in his first two summers in college, and I guarantee that those internships helped him land his banking internship offer for his junior year. The OP is only year away from a potential freshman summer internship, and it’s never too early to get started networking to find that first internship, as it will be difficult since he will only be a freshman.</p>
<p>OP, I advice you do what you can as far as networking, reaching out to people you or your family or friends know, and try to get that first bit of business/finance experience for next summer at the latest, but preferably this summer if you can/find a place willing to take you on to do some meaningful work. Now, you absolutely don’t NEED real work experience going into your junior year, I certainly did not but was still successful. It’s just the number one thing banks care about come your junior year (if you have it, which most don’t) is previous (preferably front office, but that’s tough) finance experience, because you’ll STAND OUT HUGE. It’s never too early to try to find some meaningful business/finance/really anything meaningful experience. Then, of course, you’re going to want to make sure you get good grades in college no matter what (3.5+) and join a couple solid extracurrics you can put on your resume in addition to work experience.</p>
<p>(Try to go to a target school if you haven’t already made your decision: HYPSM + W. Contrary to what your post implied, HYPSM trump most, if not all, the top undergrad B-schools)</p>