<p>Graduated '12, working in finance. Feel free to ask me anything/everything you want. I'll answer as best I can.</p>
<p>Do you think your USC degree was worth any debt or student loans you may have accumulated?</p>
<p>What degree did you graduate with?</p>
<p>@cadreamin- I was a dual degree in Finance and Mandarin Chinese</p>
<p>@Coreyalexander- In my case, I can 100% say it was worth taking on debt to get the degree. </p>
<p>For the vast majority of potential students, it depends on how much debt youre taking on, what the interest rate is etc. Keep in mind that SL Debt is almost impossible to discharge in bankruptcy, and can really hurt your credit in the future (if 20% of your income goes to paying off SLD, its going to be very trickey to buy a house or car).</p>
<p>In short, taking on debt to finance an education can be a wise choice, but if you’re in the situation where you need to I would advise you to consider:</p>
<p>1) Am I prepared for the rigor of study in this field (the last thing you want is to take out debt and fail out of the major 2 years in and have to start in another field)
2) What are my odds of being employed with this degree after I earn it
3) What do people earn who have completed this degree
4) what percent of my income will be needed to make payments after graduating</p>
<p>Now, with that being said, USC has some fantastic networking opportunities and a fantastic alumni network in LA (lets face it, they run this city). So even if you were to do a degree with less earnings potential, you still could network your way into a very solid job (a fraternity brother of mine majored in history, but networked his way into a job at Goldman Sachs through various student organizations). </p>
<p>I’d be happy to discuss your situation in greater detail. Feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>I assume a BSBA from Marshall right or did you go into Master’s program to be able to call it a Finance degree? Is finance really an emphasis area or a track rather than degree? I see in the graduate school it is clearly a program, but in undergrad, how do you get a finance degree? Is it defined? I can’t see it on the website and have been through every Marshall link it seems…</p>
<p>You’re right, SC doesn’t have a seperate finance degree from the standard BSBA. They have a new curriculum since I left, but when I went through it you took four concentration classes in either Finance, Entrepreneuership, Marketing, Real Estate, or Operations (yuck). That being said, most everyone I graduated with (myself included) simply put BS in Finance or whatever their concentration was to portray themselves as more qualified in a rough market.</p>
<p>I am asking because S wants to do finance (is in Marshall) and when he came in 2011 there were those concentration areas you mentioned, now I don’t even see them anywhere so I have been totally confused. He will graduate BSBA but would like it to have some focus and finance is his thing, so I guess he just takes the classes and calls it finance…???</p>
<p>He is considering moving into Leventhal so considering that, I think find that attractive cause it sounds better cause just because it has a focused, but obviously ya gotta like it and acctg is certainly dif than finance. Sorta disappointed there is no finance concentration, am I just getting hung up on nothing or do you see what I mean? Like you mentioned, I don’t like finishing college too generic.</p>
<p>Yeah I see what you’re saying. Leventhal is a great opportunity, and he’d definitely have the chance to move into something finance related. I would say it’s definitely great he knows what he wants to do now (I’m assuming the interest in finance REALLY means he wants to do investment banking/private equity/hedge fund/other big money job).</p>
<p>I will say that with the right networking, he wouldn’t have a problem getting a job at least in the IB field (PE/HF are difficult out of school–I got lucky). Like it or not, the reality of the situation is the jobs in finance come from WHO not WHAT you know, and SC is all about WHO you know. Regardless, his path into one of those jobs looks something like this:</p>
<p>1) Fresh/Soph Summer: Summer Wealth Management Internship
2) Soph/Jr Summer: Botique Investment bank/private equity internship
3) Jr/Sr Summer Bulge Bracket Internship (ideally leads to offer)</p>
<p>With Finance Specifically, Look through the course book. From my understanding, the new curriculum was designed to free up schedule space by eliminating redundant classes. He should be able to take any of the FBE (finance business economics) classes for which he meets the prerequisit requirements (which would be the advantage to going marshall as opposed to leventhal)</p>
<p>I’d have him look at:</p>
<p>FBE 421: Valuation
FBE 441: Trading and Exchanges (Taught by Dr. Larry Harris who was chief economist of the SEC…he knows his stuff)
FBE 440: Investments (gives a great intro to portfolio theory)</p>
<p>As far as networking goes, I’d say joining a fraternity cant hurt, but he’d do well to ask what the alumni typically do (my brothers disproportionately went the route it sounds like he wants to), but the trojan investing society is also a solid place to make connections. Stay away from the “business” fraternities, they dont really do anything worthwhile.</p>
<p>Thanks SCHedgie, good stuff. And you kept me from going crazy looking for those emphasis areas that have changed. Appreciate the tips on the classes, have linked the thread over to him.</p>
<p>Always happy to help!</p>
<p>If you don’t want to answer then you don’t have to, but how much do you make and how many hours do you work per week? And is it flat salary, hourly, bonuses can increase take home a lot, etc? Sorry if this is imposing.</p>
<p>Ha, no not a problem at all. Me personally, I make 60 a year base, with potential of up to 50% assuming I perform and the fund performs (in my first year here). I also get all health paid for, and breakfast lunch and dinner catered (which, if you’ve been living here, you realize having someone else pay for your food is substantial).</p>
<p>Hours are usually 55-65 a week depending on if there’s a market crisis/its earnings season/someone wants to make my life miserable.</p>
<p>Now, I’d have to stress that I completely lucked into my job and it doesnt happen often. Hedge Funds are so different when it comes to compensation so don’t take my situation to be representative of the industry (believe me ive tried to figure it out, to no avail).</p>
<p>Now, that being said, I can speak to investment banking because a ton of my buddies went in. It usually shakes out like this:</p>
<p>If you work at a bulge bracket/middle market you start at around 70k. Bonuses are entirely dependent on how your group does for the year/how you perform. Typically its just south of 100% of your base (unless you work at goldman, the analyst bonus program was done away with this past year).</p>
<p>For botique banks, ive heard compensation is way lower, but Im really not sure, and im sure it varies from place to place. </p>
<p>Now for the hours: bankers love to complain (its really just bragging) about how much they work. Alot of the time you arent really doing anything, but youre “on call” until something comes up, and then you’re working all nighters. All in all, youre putting in 80-100 at an investment bank weekly.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>That does help demystify it. Thanks! I’m used to some business friends “complaining” about their 100hr weeks with a look of pride on their face. They’re mostly in SF or LA. So I’m clear, what area/state are you in?
Good luck, I hope you max out your bonus.</p>
<p>Don’t we all. I’m in santa monica.</p>
<p>I’d be curious to hear if they tell you what their bonuses are…from what I understand was slow this year…whcih doesn’t typically bode well for bonuses.</p>
<p>One friend (who likes to talk) said he maxed his bonus, but that was months ago so 1. I don’t know if it was for the last year and 2. He was new-ish at the job (1 or 2 years), so I guess that means it was 30% - 50% of base, but I don’t know that number.</p>
<p>The others and I don’t really talk about that stuff.</p>
<p>Great thread. Thanks for starting this one up.</p>
<p>What are the typical exit opportunities of an IB Analyst besides going back to school for a MBA and becoming an Associate?</p>
<p>@psydent, depends what firm he was at I suppose, id need to know more to even pretend to be informed.</p>
<p>@moss-that kind of depends on the firm. If youre at a BB bank, it can range from going into private equity or a hedge fund (ive seen a couple do it where I work), to going “back to industry (a corporation)” in a more senior role but for less money. I’ve heard of some going to consulting (rarer, consultants have a hard on for people with MBAs).</p>
<p>Each has their pros and cons which I could go into if you’d like.</p>
<p>All in all, the skills you learn in IB will serve you well pretty much wherever you go (a meticulous attention to detail, the ability to work yourself more than you should be humanly able to, and the ability to use excel without a mouse).</p>
<p>S is currently is Marshall and always thought finance, but has option to get into Leventhal if he wants so he is pondering that change in direction because of the opportunity to get in there (good at acctg classes and liked them, hasn’t had finance courses yet to really compare, but is a math kid and dad is a finance guy in corporate land). Considering the choices of Leventhal undergrad and finance masters or staying the course doing undergrad in finance as originally planned. Any thoughts of the value of having both in your basket if goal is pretty much what you are doing? (IB or PE/ HF, etc.) Of course 4 years sounds better than more than that.</p>
<p>His other concern is internships, mainly lack of them, because he is an athlete and has commitments in the summer due to that and they prevent him from being able to do internships. Thinking your suggestion about the Trojan Investing Society is a good place to start, thinking what he will lack in internships he should make up for by making connections next couple years he has remaining in undergrad. Can’t do everything, but can pick good things to do…sharing this thread with him so he can ask the Qs from here. Thanks, agree great thread and well beyond what to bring to the dorm! ha.</p>
<p>Not a problem @ca dreamin. </p>
<p>As far as the masters and such goes, people have different opinions on it. Mine is that having a masters might actually price him out of some of the entry level jobs available. That being said, the summer between senior year/when masters starts wouldn’t be a bad time to lock down an internship either.</p>
<p>I would say this, though. It’s kind of a shame that having an internship is a prerequisite for many of these “entry level” jobs. It always drove me crazy, but as many a banker would say “it is what it is.” </p>
<p>Not sure what sports he plays/the financial situation if there’s scholarships, but at some point it might be time to think about leaving the team to pursue the internship (I was on a team and ended up having to make that decision, it really sucked but looking back it was probably the right one).</p>
<p>Just my thoughts. Keep the questions coming!</p>
<p>Thanks SChedgie. Was just looking at masters if he went accounting route to get in the finance classes he couldn’t take if he went into Leventhal. Leaving team not an option, not just scholarship, as it is a passion and playing pro for some time is likely, which is why grad school isn’t that appealing and staying on finance track may be best. He is smart and knows that you have to be set for the next career at any time so is trying to cover a lot of angles. Some have no idea how much athletes have to balance/trade-off, but if they can handle it all well they have a lot of value add in the time management skills and connections they come out with. Luckily he has a great mentor at USC guiding him through some of this as well. But also good to get thoughts of those like you out there in the battlefield. Appreciate learning importance of internships so he can think about next summer. Thanks.</p>