<p>Polo, hmom5 just took you to school. It is very clear that you know little about the banking profession, so please stop posting comments like "anyone can be a banker" and "pharmacists make more than bankers" -- both statements are false. You need to stop justifying the fact that you're pursuing a career in pharmacy because you couldn't get into banking. </p>
<p>Oh and hint, bolding your font does not magically legitimize your statement.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Polo, you are a 21 year old pharmacy student at Rutgers with a self described low GPA who admits a top MBA program is unlikely. You had as much chance of ever becoming an ibanker as my 97 year old grandmother, and she's a pistol.
[/quote]
Where are you getting this from? I have no doubt that my GPA is low compared to those at the top of my pharmacy class. I meet the cutoff requirements for the top MBA programs which is a >3.0 for undergrad. After that, it mainly depends on your work experience.
[quote]
In another post you explain you have no interest in pharmacy, you are just doing this for security, which to you is a 6 figure salary. That's fine and many do this, but it means you certainly don't have the soul of a banker. There is no one, I mean no one, on WS in a FO job that would ever set out in life to get a trade degree to make $100K. So your thinking is another reason you probably had no chance at an ibanking job even if you were at Harvard, risk taking is just not in your gut.
[/quote]
You can't tell a person who committed to the military during a war time that risk taking is not in his gut.
[quote]
You often say in posts that anyone can become a banker. So not true, Polo, so not true. Just having a pharmacy degree on your resume will probably keep you out of jobs that are seeking movers and shakers.
[/quote]
Anyone who makes it to a top 10 MBA program is nearly as eligible to go into banking as the person sitting next to him in that class.
[quote]
Trust me, even in this economy, there is not a banker on earth who wishes he chose pharm.
[/quote]
Are you certain about that? You speak for all the bankers at Lehman and Bear Stearns who wishes they actually just have a job right now?
[quote]
You need to stop justifying the fact that you're pursuing a career in pharmacy because you couldn't get into banking.
[/quote]
Why would I want to go into banking when I see way more opportunities in the field that I'm currently in?</p>
<p>My brother is a pharmacist, he's forbidden his kid from even contemplating going down that road. He hates it. There is a lot of pressure, and there's no way he can work the kind of hours that was being contemplated earlier in this thread. You'd burn out.</p>
<p>Which is not to say that one might not burn out in I banking, either. </p>
<p>Intellectually I think pharmacy could possibly be quite interesting. Coming from a scientific background, I think theoretical pharmacy, the biochemistry aspect, etc, could quite possibly be as interesting as theoretical finance. But maybe from a pharmaceutical company aspect, rather than as a practitioner in the proverbial Walmart, with six people hovering over you waiting impatiently for their prescriptions.</p>
<p>Though senior bankers sitting with their clients at Lutece, waiting yet more impatiently, and calling in constantly to see whether the finalized details of their financing is ready yet, can be more stressful than that, probably.</p>
<p>I would suggest don't attempt either career solely for the money, life is short and you will likely not make it through. Or hate every day.</p>
<p>As long as there is good possibility to live decently, go where talents and interests lead you.</p>
<p>I must say though, it is impressive how easily my brother has been able to find work. Not always true on the other end. In the past, but undoubtedly moreso now. His career has truly been a lifelong career; for better or for worse. For a number of people I knew on the street this has not been the case.</p>
<p>But the skills & temperaments required to be happy and successful in each of these career paths may not have a lot of overlap, as hom5 has suggested. Like if you took a Strong Vocational Interest Test, the I banker and pharmacist occupations probably have like zero overlap. One would be very high on "Enterprising", the other very high on "Conventional". I imagine.</p>
<p>
[quote]
But maybe from a pharmaceutical company aspect, rather than as a practitioner in the proverbial Walmart, with six people hovering over you waiting impatiently for their prescriptions.
[/quote]
Yes, a lot of PharmDs who work in industry also part-time as a practitioner as well. It's really good part-time pay because the dollar return per hour is one of the best that you can achieve based on the first degree from HS.</p>
<p>My brother always seems strapped for money, probably because he can't bring himself to work the kind of hours that would be needed to make more, due to the stress of the job.</p>
<p>But it's nice that this is probably mostly his choice.</p>
<p>It certainly is an interesting juxtaposition Polo, enlisting during war time and simultaneously running for cover in what is for most an unintellectual, safe profession. Clearly you're conflicted as we knew anyway from your extensive time on an ibanking board while a pharmacy student.</p>
<p>The point is you know little about banking while continuing to speak as though you have experience. You don't go to a school where banks recruit so I doubt you're sitting down with many bankers. And while 3.0 may be a cut off at some MBA programs, it's highly unlikely a Rutgers 3.0 with pharmacy experience is headed to HBS or Wharton.</p>
<p>Your repeatedly saying you chose between pharmacy and ibanking is beyond delusional. Have you been dipping into the pharmacy supplies?</p>
<p>And Monydad, as I'm sure you know, banking is of course stressful at times. But you either thrive on that kind of stress or you don't make it long term. As Polo also says repeatedly in his threads, many don't make it, some by their own choice and some by the firm's. Everyone is not cut out for this business and sometimes we make mistakes in figuring out who is. Certainly pharmacy school would be a big red flag.</p>
<p>What banking is for those of us who love it, is never, ever boring. New markets, new companies, brilliant peers and clients, travel around the world.....</p>
<p>This is true.</p>
<p>
[quote]
It certainly is an interesting juxtaposition Polo, enlisting during war time and simultaneously running for cover in what is for most an unintellectual, safe profession. Clearly you're conflicted as we knew anyway from your extensive time on an ibanking board while a pharmacy student.
[/quote]
It wouldn't be so expensive if I didn't have to deal with your ad hominem attacks. Perhaps I hit a nerve with you that you felt obligated to prove your life's work?
[quote]
And while 3.0 may be a cut off at some MBA programs, it's highly unlikely a Rutgers 3.0 with pharmacy experience is headed to HBS or Wharton.
[/quote]
Would you really like to put money down on that? Because all we're really doing is talking right now, each doubting the other but the only true way to settle it is to prove the other wrong using ourselves as an example.
[quote]
Your repeatedly saying you chose between pharmacy and ibanking is beyond delusional. Have you been dipping into the pharmacy supplies?
[/quote]
No, but some ibankers that now have no jobs have been trying to get their hands on some of those. Unfortunately, if there was a way sell it to them without making management suspicious of the disappearing inventory of what probably are DEA Schedule drugs, you could probably make a handsome amount.
[quote]
Everyone is not cut out for this business and sometimes we make mistakes in figuring out who is. Certainly pharmacy school would be a big red flag.
[/quote]
Might I ask what you do hmom5? It seems that if you were truly cut out for finance, you'd be much busier trying to stave off disaster in the financial world than spending so much time on forums for those who are graduating high school all the way to grad school.</p>
<p>In the end, I'd still like to know if you want to engage in a little bet of whether I get into a top 10 business school and what you're willing to wager on that since you seem convinced that those with a pharmacy background right from HS have a poorer chance of making it than those who went into ibanking right after a bachelor's.</p>
<p>Polo, the only nerve you hit with me is that you are a totally uninformed kid talking with apparent authority on a board easily influenced kids read.</p>
<p>I've spent 30 years in M & A, and the recent slowdown has allowed me to take some time off for some back surgery I've long needed and given me the chance to get to know what's going on in academia, my planned second career. I'm also very involved with my alma mater, Wharton, as is my DH with his, Stanford GSB. We see who they are accepting. I also have 3 kids at top colleges with many, many friends who still aspire to banking.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Polo, the only nerve you hit with me is that you are a totally uninformed kid talking with apparent authority on a board easily influenced kids read.</p>
<p>I've spent 30 years in M & A, and the recent slowdown has allowed me to take some time off for some back surgery I've long needed and given me the chance to get to know what's going on in academia, my planned second career.
[/quote]
You still didn't answer the question.
Would you like to make a wager on whether I could ever get into a top 10 business school? It should be a relatively safe wager for you I might add since you're convinced that those with a pharmacy background will not have a chance of making it or ever exceeding the income of ibankers.</p>
<p>Why don't you lay out all the relevant stats and we can make a little bet. How about you get into a top program and I get you a summer position in a major WS firm so you can actually learn about the business from experience rather than the media?</p>
<p>"Billy Mays here with another FANTASTIC PRODUCT!!!"
This is where all the money is at, screw investment banking and pharmacy. Have you seen how well his products work?!?! That guy must be loaded!</p>
<p>hmom5--if he doesn't get in, I'll take one for the team and accept the vacant internship.</p>
<p>Hey Harvard bois...how bout you all go to sciences and cure cancer and contribute to society instead of ruining ur country..k? thnxbai</p>
<p>Instead, they will continue to help companies find access to capital so they can fund all the activities of their businesses, including research.</p>
<p>I heard someone's giving WS internships to Rutgers grads in this thread? In.</p>
<p>I'm in. And I go to NYU. :)</p>
<p>Sad how the Polo's disappear when they have to defend their trash talk. But predictable I guess.</p>
<p>So hmom-is that WS internship offer still good? I need one for the summer ;)</p>
<p>I have had so many PM's asking for an internship, I wish I never posted the Polo offer!</p>
<p>So no, you guys needed to get resumes in months ago! Most decision for this summer have been made.</p>