Earlier this year I applied ED to a lower ivy (Brown/Dartmouth) and got in. I was deciding between that and REAing to a HYPSM school but really liked the environment where I ended up EDing. I was also cautioned to be on the conservative side even though I have a top 5 tier profile.
After getting in, I was elated and felt like all of my hard work paid off. After getting in, I started thinking more deeply about what I want to pursue throughout college and after. Some of the careers that began to interest me are “prestige” careers (think IB/PE/HF/VC/Consulting/CorpDev); when I started to look into the undergrad makeup of the tippy-top firms, I realized that HYPSM was wildly over-represented compared to other ivies.
Before looking into all of this, I thought all of the ivies were considered to have the same prestige and the whole HYPSM thing was just CC being CC. Now I see alumni networks at HYPSM just seem to be on another level. Moreover, when someone says they went to HYPSM, there is a substantially different response versus B/D; I just feel like I fell for the fit-first trap and shot myself (and my career) in the foot. I guess I can attempt a transfer app but that’s highly unlikely.
I’ve been very upset (at both my reduced prospects and myself for listening to the people who told me to aim lower) for the last few months if I’m being honest.
If you continue to maintain a “top 5 profile” academically, it should be extremely easy to land into any prestige career from either Brown or Dartmouth. If you believe that it was a mistake to choose a college that fits you (because you liked the environment), then there is probably little point in having a discussion on a forum designed specifically to help students choose good fit colleges.
I am really not sure what to say here. You got into amazing schools. Do you REALLY think that getting into a school was the end-goal? It is not.
It’s what you make of it, WHEREVER you are. You should be extraordinarily happy with your accomplishments, but you are only starting. If you look back, you will greatly hamper your chances at accomplishing all the things you want by wasting time and your precious brain cells on things like this.
Oh, and let me add, if you read CC so much, your chance of getting into these “better” schools approximates close to zero, as it is for EVERY candidate. Unless your first name is Greta or your last name is Bezos, that’s about the ground reality.
I think Brown and Dartmouth grads do pretty well for themselves. You’ll be fine. If you want to have a good college experience, stop dwelling on what you didn’t do.
You need a change in your personal perspective. You haven’t even started college yet, and you think you have “reduced prospects”. You need an adjustment in your thinking. Plan to do well at your chose school. Everything else will fall into place if you do.
I hope you realize that not all IB, finance, etc folks are HYPSM grads.
I worked at a teeny tiny firm in IB on Wall Street and most were not HYPSM grads, but made a TON of money nonetheless (like $500k+). Yes Goldman Sachs will have ivies and make more $. No matter who you are, where you go, someone will be at a bigger firm, make more money etc. They will also sell their soul in number of hours worked. I’ve seen grown men in suits with bloody nose because they were drunk and fell down the subway. Others equally alcoholic because they succumbed to the pressure of what that lifestyle expects. It’s not all about achieving the holy grail of schools, firms, $. And life doesn’t stop at getting into college. Need to figure out what kind of lifestyle and balance you want in life because everything comes at a cost.
Obviously not all finance people are HYPSM grads, but when you look at undergrads at the tippy-top firms/groups in each sector (Sequoia, DE Shaw, Five Rings, Viking, Third Point, McKinsey NYC, etc.) HYPSM grads are just wildly overrepresented.
For sure your points are valid, but I just feel like now I won’t be able to ever make this choice for myself, I just closed the door for the rest of my life.
Also, I also know people at these kinds of firms who have a great WLB and aren’t all miserable alcoholics. It’s just cherry-picking to say people doing high finance all are miserable.
Yes, HYPSM grads are overrepresented, but so are Brown grads and Dartmouth grads. All the companies you list have employees from Brown and Dartmouth; nothing is closed off to you.
Because of the magnitude of the decision you recently made, and the sensitive stage of life at which you made it, some level of regret should not be especially surprising. As a counter-example of a sort, a prominent political figure, when taking the Proust Questionnaire, associated his “greatest regret” with his choice of Harvard:
Note that his response suggests the importance of fit in choosing a college.
Sure but you haven’t closed the door on anything - you are just starting out. Most people have multiple careers let alone be stuck on one path for rest of their life. I went to a suny and ended up at this IB firm. Ended up going a different path altogether due to other life circumstances (which happen to all of us), but had I stayed at that firm, I was on path to being financial analyst without a finance or business degree (I was junior analyst when I left). My point is - nothing is mapped or guaranteed. I’ve always been of the mindset that a person who is success-minded will end up at the top even if they start out as at the very bottom. And you’re starting at Brown, which most people would consider a pretty darn great start. But frankly, mindset is everything. Positive mindset will take you places. Negative mindset will bring you down. I’ve proven that in my life many times over.
This is complete nonsense…really. You are closing the door on yourself. No one else is closing it for you. You have been accepted to a wonderful college where opportunities abound.
Also anyone who tells you they make more than several hundred thousand dollars and have a great WLB is lying to you. That much money comes at a cost. Nothing wrong with it, but it’s a choice.
It seems more like your fit preferences changed since the time you applied ED to a college. I.e. your fit preferences now value the incremental increase in prestige of some college other than the one you will attend more more than the value your fit preferences at the time you applied ED gave it.
Honestly, I think it’s about having realistically achievable goals in mind. If OP’s goal is to get to the absolute summit of the tippy top of firms and salary, they will never feel like they achieved their goal - because there’s always higher to go. If OP’s goals are to do something they love while making great $$, that is very much achievable on their current path (and I’d argue on just about any college path that lets them excel and grow).
I just wish someone told me that prestige matters even between the ivies for these kinds of jobs. I don’t come from a background where people even know about these roles.
I was only told what college you like is more important than its brand name at a certain point.
This is YOUR issue…not the employer issue. At the end of college, if you present yourself as someone who would have been better off graduating from a different college…you won’t come across well at job interviews. Think about that.
You are at an Ivy League school…and all of them are considered elite schools. You need to get over this pity party you are making for yourself and excel where you will be attending.
I would add that it’s ok to have a pity party for a moment but you can’t mire in it. You have to keep going. After every single setback, you have to pick yourself up and move forward (and this is most peoples dream not a setback).
I have to wonder why before even starting college, studying the subjects, having internships and doing day to day work - why are you already so fixated on specific firms you want to work at?