<p>I am confused. If you’re spending 80 hours a week doing “meaningless” work, how is that a good experience?</p>
<p>As for pay, it’s over-rated. You can live just as well if not better if you’re in a career field that has a high likelihood of being high income in a lower cost of living area.</p>
<p>I went to high school with far too many overachieving people. They went to top undergrads and went on to work in the financial sector. The most amusing thing is that the vast majority of them with the exception of one or two are not doing better than me. I’m fortunately to have a higher standard of living (income vs. cost of living) and work one-third as many hours as they do. Not bad for an average computer science student at a state school.</p>
<p>How? It basically comes down to a few factors:
High private sector income in a lower cost of living area hedged by a military retirement
Zero educational debt
Dual careers (and thus ‘double dipping’) that are complementary: software engineer at a defense contractor and a commissioned officer in the reserves</p>
<p>The reason I bring it up is that so many of my friends were BS’d into thinking go to an Ivy-level school and working in finance was some sort of panacea. It isn’t. There are so many opportunities out there to do well, it’s on you to find the “angles”.</p>
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<p>How about you just try to go through the process and see how you do? No one has a crystal ball answer for you.</p>
<p>@Dark - I do admire your realism. It’s extremely hard to get into. </p>
<p>What year will you be? Have you done any internships?</p>
<p>I do know quite a bit of people that have worked in i-banking in Chicago, but as someone that has lived in both cities, I can definitely say that NYC is just a whole different league (though yes, lots of other people are quite happy in other cities).</p>
<p>Thanks Cobra. I have not done any IB internships (maybe due to those reasons I mentioned as well, which also makes me hunk I have not chance at IB. Today an internship is practically required for IB. Why would a company hire someone inexperience when hey can hire someone who’s already done the work and knows what to expect?</p>
<p>As more experience in general, I have few: I’m currently doing a commercial banking internship in China in one of China’s big 4 (I’m interested in commercial banking too, hence who I asked in the end whether commercial banking is also as picky). In the past I’ve really only interned at one very small accounting firm. Besides internships, I’ve also done a lot of entrepreneurial stuff: I’ve founded a new student group, about to establish an investment fund, and possibly also a credit union. They may sound nice but I don’t think they’re compare to an internship. After all, if you want to work FOR SOMEONE, wouldn’t entrepreneurial experiences be more of a turnoff?</p>
<p>Plus right now I want to work at a big firm first because I’m still lacking on work experience and have too much to learn first.</p>
<p>I doubt that you’ll be able get into i-banking for now, but it’s definitely not impossible. An MBA a few years from now from a top-10 school could give you another chance to get into the i-banking world. I’ve heard of lots of people without i-banking experience getting into i-banking after an MBA at a great university. </p>
<p>Having said all that, you’re in much better shape (financially and career-wise) than most other rising seniors. You’re on a good track in life.</p>
<p>I would not give up on IB if it is your passion. Not coming from an Ivy league, but from a top 10 school, I get the prestige thing when I tell Engineering firms about which school I am from. But the thing is, it is really your abilities and results that are important.</p>
<p>I get the feeling that wall street is probably more superficial when it comes to choosing who gets in or out. But don’t give up. Just keep trying to apply to all the internships you can find and network like crazy. Any possible connection you might have, whether through a friend’s friend’s, or w/e, USE IT.</p>