<p>I'm almost set on going into the finance sector but am not sure I can handle the hours of ibanking. I'm an undergrad at Stern, but I haven't heard about any other finance careers but banking. I know a little bit about S&T, and I'm not sure if I'm as good a fit. A recruiter from Wachovia said that in S&T, you have to be able to think really fast on your feet (basically more street-smart than book-smart), and GPA is a much less factor than the interview, while in banking, GPA is probably way more important. So, are there any other financial careers that offer the same type of potential compensation as banking but less hours and stress?</p>
<p>HF and PE, but those are way more competitive than banking</p>
<p>yeh, I probably won't be able to acquire one of those jobs out of undergrad?</p>
<p>I think any career where your making 6 figures will involve lots of hours and stress.</p>
<p>
[quote]
yeh, I probably won't be able to acquire one of those jobs out of undergrad?
[/quote]
It will be extremely difficult. Those are usually exit opps for bankers. However, there are a few that go directly from undergrad.</p>
<p>There is no Santy Claus. They pay the big bucks because of the hours and stress. You don't want stress there's always Wendy's, "Ketchup or Mustard?"
Stock analysts do pretty well with less stress until their picks go down.</p>
<p>Ok, here are some routes you could go. Work in finances for bigoil in Texas. Good pay but no where near I-banker pay. But the hours arent heart stopping. Or you could go into commercial banking with a big name bank like Wells Fargo. Again, good pay but not Ibanker pay. </p>
<p>You want Ibanker pay but cant handle the hours? Go to law school.</p>
<p>Even the top law firms don't pay nearly as much as a comparable i-bank (assuming equivalent levels of experience).</p>
<p>Which is why Ibankers dominate the NY social scene and in close second are transactional lawyers.</p>
<p>Lawyers for high paying firms also have to put in crazy hours.</p>
<p>I dont know about analyst hours though.</p>
<p>Bankers dominating social scene? They get 4-5 hours of sleep a night if they get to bed right after work. I think you've been watching too many movies kid.</p>
<p>You should have learned at Stern that if such jobs did ever exist, the wages would be immediately driven down by the vast number of people offering their labour, leading to the current situation: less stress + fewer hours = (on average) less money. There is no free lunch.</p>
<p>I lawled at the social scene comment. Maybe if bankers lived in an alternate dimension... where they had 40 hours in a day, while the rest of us mere mortals got by with 24... then they might have time to "dominate the NY social scene."</p>
<p>hahahaha</p>
<p>I've seen some bankers at bars and stuff. They mostly went on about the salary and the first-class hotels but to say the least the women weren't too impressed. To say they dominate social scene must be a joke.</p>
<p>Consulting > IB.</p>
<p>Can someone clarify the skills and qualifications needed to work in ibanking vs. S&T? I'm especially curious to know how smart you have to be to be a trader. In my case, I did very well on SATs (800 on Math SAT I, 800 on SAT II Math, 800 on Physics), I took AMC's in 9th grade, and did very well, almost making AIME I think, but didn't do that well sophomore year and didn't even take it junior or senior yr. I've been hearing that people who make it in trading are Math Olympiads or people who are just extremely gifted in the areas of mathematics and sciences. Is this true? </p>
<p>From what I know so far:</p>
<p>Banking:
-Feeder school
-GPA
-internship experience
-good math/quant. skills
-amazing stamina</p>
<p>S&T:
-feeder school
-math/quant. genius
-good stress management</p>
<p>buuummmmmp</p>