This is slightly OT, but I love this graph : https://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/in_schools_f.jpg
Many companies recruit heavily from local/regional schools
@jym626: The above post by OP shares a link that shows that the Goldman Sachs hiring was regional.
@jym626: Great chart. Thank you for sharing. If it included Amazon, then the University of Washington would have overtaken the whole chart rather than just being the dominant school for placing grads.
If I count correctly there were 9 taking GS positions (which is nice). I thought the OP said 14- maybe that was offers, not acceptances?
May have included internships.
As you know, internships are key to getting a full time job offer.
Still thinking about the chart & the article that @jym626 shared. A nephew just finished Duke undergrad without any job offer. Going back for a 10 month Fuqua program that costs $82,000 & placement is not as good as several $30,000 (all in) 10 month programs. The chart & the article show that high paying careers are available for graduates of less prestigious schools.
You said you didnāt qualify for need based aid. Was that with 1 in college or 2? Family income would have to be pretty high to be ineligible for need based aid, especially with multiple kids in college.
None of you can borrow $120k without family help. If your parents werenāt helping you and your brother by co-signing those loans, you wouldnāt have gotten them. By co-signing them, your parents are agreeing to repay them if you donāt. Most students donāt have a quarter of a million dollar safety net.
Sounds like the OP was fortunate to have been in the SMU Alternative Assets Management program, which looks to be a highly competitive honors finance program. It says it is "the most selective " program at SMU. http://www.smudailycampus.com/news/alts-makes-final-cut
https://www.smu.edu/Cox/CentersAndInstitutes/AlternativeAssetManagementCenter
Those fortunate to get in are likely to have good employment options, but as a student entering as an undergrad without guarantee of acceptance to a prized program, looking at $120k in loans is daunting. to say the least.
Even if the student gets a well paying job with hopefully big raises or bonuses. Still facing loan payoff when they may also want to buy a car, a house, get marriedā¦ it can be an anchor around ones ankle.
@FinalYear My concern is the salary. Getting offers over $60k is very good but not enough to even start paying down these loans. I donāt see any offers for well over $100k, so you canāt depend on that salary unless you have a tangible job offer in your hand with a guaranteed salary in writing. I would be very suspicious of any 100k promise out of college. Itās too far above market value. I know because I live in Texas and Iāve been in the finance industry for 10 years. Finance companies are known for being cheap. At $100k, thereās no reason for a finance company to recruit out of college when they can hire someone with 10 years of experience. Dallas is a big place and there are plenty of experienced professionals to hire from. This sounds a lot like a commission based job, which is very typical. Few people in commission based financial positions come anywhere near that salary. THATāS why these places recruit college graduates so heavily. They have to, because thereās insanely high turnover.
My advice, unless you have a real aptitude for sales, donāt do it. You could end up with serious financial problems if the job falls flat. That happens 98% of the time with college graduates in these types of jobs. I was one of them. Defer your student loan payments as long as you can until your salary is high enough to start making your payments. You can also consolidate your loans for 20-30 years, which can lower your payments significantly while you build a career. Getting married is cost-effective too, because it can create a 2 income household.
Lol. If you can find someone to marry you when you carry that level of debt. I told both of mine to be wary of how much debt their potential mates carry. Iād hate to see them end up helping to pay for someone elseās elite education when theyāve been very responsible financing theirs.
Wow - you all are making a lot of assumptions calculating out his salary and position. He says he has calculated out a 5 year payment plan. I think heās a really smart guy - graduating out of an elite program at SMU. Letās give him the benefit of the doubt and move on from judgement. He wanted to help people if anyone had questions about loans etc, not get a firing squad. Sure - he got some jabs which is fine because few people can pull this off, but we are on to page 5 hereā¦
@Publisher I have a few friends in the Big 4 so if you shoot me a PM I could always try to get the answer you are looking for.
You are correct though in that I did not consider any specialty masters programs. The thinking the whole time for me was, āIāll be HIGHLY disappointed if I have to pay any more money for school after this. I better find/get the job I want now and get out.ā
@fleishmo6 You are correct in your assumptions. Although I donāt want to focus too much on my end job here. Instead, Iād like to focus on how SMU gave me the platform to find the job I would love. To be honest, all three internships wouldāve led to jobs that wouldāve paid the bills. I was fortunate though in the salary department in discovering consulting was my passion, and fortunately SMU has a growing scene for that.
And I was not a good interviewer at first. But due to my campus involvement and work experience, along with the countless opportunities to apply for, I got hit with a lot of interview experience early on which Iād like to think helped make me a strong interviewer later. Coming from a small town, Iād never seen anything like it. But employers literally sit at the career fair sometimes with no one to talk to. There were sometimes more of them than there were of us. Obviously this wasnāt the case for big firms, but it goes to show opportunities abound because of how the firm sits in Dallas.
@Publisher I have a few friends in the Big 4 so if you shoot me a PM I could always try to get the answer you are looking for.
You are correct though in that I did not consider any specialty masters programs. The thinking the whole time for me was, āIāll be HIGHLY disappointed if I have to pay any more money for school after this. I better find/get the job I want now and get out.ā
@fleishmo6 You are correct in your assumptions. Although I donāt want to focus too much on my end job here. Instead, Iād like to focus on how SMU gave me the platform to find the job I would love. To be honest, all three internships wouldāve led to jobs that wouldāve paid the bills. I was fortunate though in the salary department in discovering consulting was my passion, and fortunately SMU has a growing scene for that.
And I was not a good interviewer at first. But due to my campus involvement and work experience, along with the countless opportunities to apply for, I got hit with a lot of interview experience early on which Iād like to think helped make me a strong interviewer later. Coming from a small town, Iād never seen anything like it. But employers literally sit at the career fair sometimes with no one to talk to. There were sometimes more of them than there were of us. Obviously this wasnāt the case for big firms, but it goes to show opportunities abound because of how the firm sits in Dallas.
@fleishmo6 @Publisher Both your assumptions are correct. I was determined to not have to get a Masterās afterward and get the job I wanted to first time around. Also, I donāt want to focus too much on my current job - all of the internships mentioned wouldāve led to a job that wouldāve paid the bills. I want to spotlight that SMU gave me the platform to discover all the possible jobs out there, sample them via internships and info sessions. I wasnāt held back by lack of companies recruiting or alumni network.
In the end I discovered a passion for consulting (just so happens it pays well so I was fortunate there). Definitely was not a good intervie
I.m not advocating for or against the debt. Again, itās about individual circumstances and risk tolerance.
S attends a similar school in the SE. They provide a lot of First Destination info (down to the individual student level. No names but major, employer, location, title, function, etc.) So I looked at the past 4 yrs within the Finance, Enterprise Mgmt, and Econ majors. They seem to place heavily in IB (and other areas of banking) and consulting. Small school each major have about 100 kids. Each yr about 50% of each major placed in banking or consulting. The rest were in Mgmt Rotational Programs, Brand Mgmt, etc. All good jobs and high paying. The IB and consulting kids are all starting out 75k+ all in (IB kids making 130-150k first yr).
Soā¦ if you were attending this school and were successful in those majors, there is a very good chance you would end up with one of those jobs. DO the work to get in to the school. Then do the work at the school and engage the campus recruiting, info sessions, business clubs etc. Itās like a funnel. Thatās what happens to these kids. The ones that donāt go IB or consulting donāt want to and go straight to industryā¦My point is, again, not advocating for or against debt, ā¦ how much risk are we talking about? Seems like a proven formula at some of these schools.
Personally I wouldnāt take on the debt (because of my risk tolerance), but I can see why someone would.
Thereās a difference between going to a school where your networking and effort CAN lead you to that job (say that school sends the occasional kid to Goldman Sachs or Deloitte) vs. a school where that IS what happens for many, many people every yr. Just by working hard and following the system.
@coolguy40: Regarding your post #67. OP is in Financial Consulting. First years typically get a $5,000 signing bonus, a base salary in the area of $85,000 if with one of MBB plus eligible for a year end bonus of approximately $17,000. Second year sees about a 10% increase & third years see a substantial jump in pay if not asked to leave.
Of course, OP did not state that he is with one of MBB, but the next level of competitors pay packages should still be close to SMUās average of $77,333 for a financial consultant. (SMU chart does not appear to include bonus pay in the chart although they do furnish salary & bonus figures to US News for first year MBAs.)
Finance industry, as you know, covers a very broad spectrum of jobs & careers. Judging by your post, you may be with a finance firm such as Household Finance & not with a major consulting firm.
Also, OP should be able to handle in excess of $1,300 a month payments if earning above $80,000 with a clear career path with something similar to lock step pay scale.
P.S. I just reread your post #67. OP & you are in entirely different industries. Your post clearly reveals this.
IIRC, $1300/mo would be the estimated payment for a 10 year payback. If the OP plans to pay it off in 5 years, then double that payment amount. Not saying it isnāt doable especially if living in a city with a reasonable COL, but it could forestall other financial plans. The OP sounds like they got a good education and hopefully it will provide a good ROI. Am a little puzzled that the OP said they used CC during their college search and now want to pay it forward, but they either had a different SN or just lurked.
It will definitely forestall other financial plans. No vacation fund, for example, as suggested by another poster. No new fancy car.The good news is that management consulting firms usually demand a lot of hours of work so OP wonāt have time for much beyond work, sleeping & eating.
I think that OP is planning to use bonus money to pay down student loan debt in addition to monthly payments.
Perhaps I overlooked it in one of OPās posts but I donāt recall the OP saying how they planned to pay off the loan in 5 years. We were always taught not to spend money we didnāt have. Bonuses are not typically a fixed amount, and hopefully we wonāt be facing another financial downturn.
So assuming all goes well for the OP and they budget well and spend carefully, the can hopefully pay the debt off as planned.
I think the reason some posters responded as they did is because of the thread title and mixing apples and oranges. Maybe this wasnāt the intention, but it sounded like the OP was implying to readers new to the college search that he/she could share their experience which might give the impression that taking out large loans may be a generally reasonable plan. IMO this is going down a slippery slope, as it may be manageable for a a select few in specific circumstances. But for many, that can be a big mistake. Unless a student takes a position that offers debt forgiveness, its best to follow the adage- no more debt at graduation than you expect (not hope, expect) to earn your first year out.
Best of luck to the OP
@austinmshauri I did receive financial aid (albeit very small amount) my senior year, as my brother started college. My family is in a unique situation. There was a major health issue that came up and ate into my parentsā savings. My parents have a reasonable income but I can say due to this and some other factors they look a lot better on paper than reality.
And I mispoke, I am doing them an injustice by saying in that post you quoted āthat my family did not help me.ā By cosigning the loans, my parents took a risk and it would not have been feasible to attend the school I did without their help. I am very grateful they were able to help in this way.
@jym626: I donāt think that you are familiar with the pay structure & increases at these type of firms. If you did, then I do not understand your concern. OP will be fine. If OP is still with the same firm for a fifth year, what do you think that his base salary & bonus will be ? It is not a well kept secret.
While an associate (BA/BS no MBA degree) starts with a base salary of $74,000 plus $5,000 sign on bonus plus bonus of up to $17,000 at yearās end. A promotion to consultant (MBA starting pay level) starts at $146,000 base salary plus bonus of up to $32,000 for a total of $178,000.
Project leaderās base is over $!77,500 plus bonus up to $49,000 plus profit sharing of $28,000 = $249,000.
Principal 's base is $249,000 plus bonus up to $100,000 plus profit sharing of $50,000 = max. of $400,000.
Partner base is $400,000 with a performance bonus of $4000,000 -$600,000 = Max of $1,000,000.
Not Biglaw money, but still substantial. And finance majors in IB make substantially more. Wharton grads in IB report first year base & bonus so high that I will not share it here because few would believe it. In fact, I have trouble believing the amount of compensation claimed by Wharton grads in their very early years.