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I disagree with you here regarding this particular individual. Put yourself in his shoes for a second. He grew up in a low-income family in New York with very little sustenance and probably very little academic encouragement since neither of his parents attended college.</p>
<p>Why shouldn’t he be allowed to dream of being a rich banker? Not everyone can afford to go to Princeton, major in English and become some sort of critic or writer without any concern for practical matters like money. The majority of Princeton’s applicants who come from privileged backgrounds can probably afford to learn purely for the sake of learning and fall back on daddy or mommy’s money if their aspirations to become artists or writers don’t work out.</p>
<p>However, the OP can’t do that. He needs the money to help his family, maybe put his little siblings through college and give his kids the sort of quality academic support that he never got. If in order to accomplish all this, he needs to work on Wall Street then so be it. This is what the American dream is all about and there are many paths to reach it with investment banking being one of them.</p>
<p>Good luck to the OP wherever he ends up.</p>