<p>if u got into duke, why not just go there, instead of applying to other schools? And, I thought that schools wouldn’t allow you to apply to other colleges during your gap year, as well? You should look into that.</p>
<p>This is where you honestly see my inexperience when it comes to career and industry knowledge. I believe that working in banking/finance requires various degrees of competencies in mathematics depending on whether you’re working in front/middle/back office. However, I do not know to what depth nor breadth. </p>
<p>I always hear experienced members on the boards recommending high-school students to study what they are passionate about. They advise HS students and undergrads that the banking/finance sector or investment banking specifically takes in applicants from diverse fields - such as English majors to Engineers. This, together with anecdotal accounts leads me to believe that much of the skills/knowledge of many of the jobs is learnt on-the-job? >></p>
<p>Do you really have a passion for banking? Or do you think it’s just a way to make a lot of money and that is appealing to you? This is a serious question, BTW.</p>
<p>@Pizzagirl,</p>
<p>I think you’ve asked a question important to myself. </p>
<p>I think it’s regrettable that I have yet to find my true calling in life. Some of my peers are very clear what they want to be in life - doctors, lawyers, government policy-makers etc. Then there is the other group of people that have no clue what they are interested in in life. This group is likely to fall prey to shifts in popular opinion. A decade ago, a popular choice of career was to be an engineer, so this group would tend towards engineering. Now, the popular choice is banking/finance and so this group would tend towards the relevant degrees. </p>
<p>I did try very hard to find what I am passionate about. I did research work for a period of time but as you many recall above, I have no strong inclination towards anything science-related and neither was I talented in the sciences. I participated in community work and even did an internship at an local environmental office. Sadly, I was never really engaged in any of those activities unlike those save-the-world, altruistic sorts. Lastly, I am also no good in the arts and humanities.</p>
<p>So you see, how that leaves me with the choice of an Economics/ Pre-Business degree. I think the banking/finance industry has been hyped up in recent years. Moreover, this generation is much more materialistic than the previous one and hence financial remuneration has become a much greater motivating factor. Particularly, that is what motivates me. However, I have not worked before in the banking/finance industry and I feel that my understanding of the industry is still very shallow. So honestly, I am more motivated by the money than the passion.</p>
<p>As much as it might seem to the contrary now, you’re way to young to be obsessed with what you are going to do in life. </p>
<p>Only 4% of people work in the field they studied in college. College is supposed to be a buffer period in life that allows you to explore what suits you. Go to school undecided. You can declare a major sophomore or junior year. Use the vast resources of a university to explore different avenues. You might be surprised what you find.</p>
<p>I don’t understand what this generation being more materialistic than previous ones has to do with your decision. Are you that insecure that you feel you have to commit your entire life to something just to keep up with your peers’ material consumption? </p>
<p>I know what it’s like to be your age - you feel you’ve got to have it all figured out, then dive in and do it. It’s hard to do, but pull back and trust that if you follow your highest intuitive guidance you will be guided to your life’s work. It may not be a straight line, but you’ll get there. It’s the highest principle of spiritual and scientific evolution.</p>
<p>To steal a line, “the race is long, and in the end it’s only with yourself.”</p>
<p>“So you see, how that leaves me with the choice of an Economics/ Pre-Business degree. I think the banking/finance industry has been hyped up in recent years. Moreover, this generation is much more materialistic than the previous one and hence financial remuneration has become a much greater motivating factor. Particularly, that is what motivates me.”</p>
<p>You’re an entering college freshman. Why do you have to “know” what you want to do? College is the time to explore, to take classes, to find new passions. Hey, I’m a top 20 school grad myself, with an economics degree, who went into business and mgt consulting. But I find nothing more sadder than all of this “gotta go into banking/finance” crap all over the boards, motivated by money. You don’t have to decide now, AT ALL.</p>
<p>@applejack, </p>
<p>That is a very surprising statistic. I didn’t know the figure was that low. I suspect it refers to all college students. Do you have figures for students at the top 50 colleges? I believe it could be significantly different. </p>
<p>For me at this point, I don’t have many options. As I mentioned earlier, I am neither passionate nor talented in mathematics, sciences or the arts. That leaves me with the humanities which would include subjects like Economics and Public Policy (a discipline which I recently discovered thanks to the advice of other members). A Pre-Business degree also looks appealing. I think it is very short-sighted to say so, but at this stage, I can’t possibly see myself pursuing any other course of study. </p>
<p>I think it is unfortunate that I have yet to find an academic discipline that truly motivates me. For example, some of my friends love chemical engineering so they’ll do just that or others are fascinated by anthropology and they’ll pursue that in college.</p>
<p>applejack is right.</p>
<p>I think you’d be very well-served to go to a school that allows exploration an encourages students to take a bunch of classes before they must declare a major. I don’t know which on your list fit that description.</p>
<p>Here’s the other thing: even once you pick a major, you may not know what you want to do with your life. I was kind of lost when I graduated. I didn’t know what I wanted. And I felt let down, because I thought I was supposed to graduate from college and know what I wanted and be able to just land the job–or enter the grad program–that would get me there. But that’s not the case for everyone! </p>
<p>I know a lot of people who have gone through the same anxiety (and I might go so far as to say disillusionment). No one had really prepared us for the reality that you don’t always know what direction to go. But most of these same people had great outcomes, long-term. They’re successful, fulfilled, and happy.</p>
<p>Perhaps a gap year would be smart for you. I have always regretted not taking one. It took me a while to get a footing in college and figure out why I was there. </p>
<p>But you’re not alone - for everyone you know who’s passionate about chemical engineering, there are 10 who are as lost as you. Seriously - life isn’t a straight line. Your career’s going to go in directions you never could have imagined. Find a major that teaches you how to think, analyze, and critique, and you’ll probably be able to flow with the changes.</p>
<p>Best to you. You seem to have a wonderful heart and motivation. You path will reveal itself when the time is right.</p>
<p>For finance/consulting go to Duke, then Cornell or NU. Michigan also does well but I think at the former three it is easier to get internships/stand out EC-wise.</p>
<p>@hoedown, </p>
<p>Thank you for sharing with me your personal experience. May I ask how you finally found what you wanted to do - your true calling?</p>
<p>antwerp,</p>
<p>Well, first I had to figure out what I didn’t want to do. I was pretty far down the road interviewing for corporate banking, when I realized this was going to be an awful fit. So I stopped–but that meant I was facing graduation with no plans. That felt awful–like I’d failed college. Four years of study and no job, no real job aspirations, to show for it? Luckily I had some really supportive adults in my life (professors, and my own parents) who convinced me it was okay to not know what I wanted to do with my own life.</p>
<p>I lucked into some jobs after graduation, one temporary, one not, and those positions helped me to figure out what I liked and didn’t like. I discovered out the basic field I wanted to be in, and went to grad school in that discipline. Even then I was still more undecided than a lot of my colleagues, some of whom enrolled already knowing what their dissertation topic would be. But that was okay. Through grad study I learned a little more about what felt like a good fit, and here I am. Even my job has evolved to where I’m doing things that mesh well with my abilities, and not doing the things that I’m rotten at. It doesn’t happen overnight.</p>
<p>A lot of my colleagues and friends have very similar stories.</p>