<p>This is a cross post from the Business Majors section..!</p>
<p>Hey there everyone. I'm currently a rising sophomore at UC Berkeley, and I'm applying to the Haas School of Business in a few months.</p>
<p>But I'm really, really confused about my major and life.
I'm super excited about doing math, and I really want to pursue a career in the investment banking, actuarial, or consulting field.</p>
<p>However, I'm not the most outgoing person ever. In freshmen year I visited many, many clubs but I did not like any of them, and was disgusted (is this too strong of a word?) by what they did and absolutely hated stuff like drinking and hazing. As a result I ended up just studying my freshmen year, but ended up with pretty bad grades (3.4 GPA) due to family issues.</p>
<p>Now I'm really, really confused. I've always wanted to pursue investment banking because it's what runs in the family and I love mathematical work - so I assumed having good quantitative skills would help me be a banker of some sort.</p>
<p>But I've realized - I'm already so far behind without an internship this summer. I'm just taking a few classes at Berkeley over summer and plan on teaching some Japanese at a local place for some allowance.</p>
<p>=----=</p>
<p>Here's the real question however - enough of my banter.
If I'm a slightly introverted person and dislike going out so much, should I pursue a career in the IBanking field? Or should I settle for something like actuarial work or consulting work? I have a feeling I could potentially pass 2-4 exams for the Society of Actuaries (FM, P, FME). I heard actuaries can make around $70k or higher if they land a somewhat good position out of college.</p>
<p>I don't plan on living a spectacular life (although I wouldn't mind having a spectacular one), and I just want to be modest - yet I want to earn enough money to support my parents when they get old as well. Because they've raised me with all their energy, I want to be able to support myself and my parents. To do that, I feel like I need to work my way up to a 6-figure salary..</p>
<p>ANYHOW.. I'm still confused. Should I pursue a career in investment banking if I'm a sort of an introvert, or should I go for actuarial work? I'm majoring in economics and mathematics at the moment. I've started to take upper division classes so I (think) I'm on the right track for quantitative learning/practice. But the real problem is that I don't think I'll do so well in interviews and clubs that are required to land even an interview for middle~top firms and banks.</p>
<p>Man.. I wish I was more outgoing. Another option is for me to break out of my shell and disregard all others' opinions about me and pursue investment banking like a true champ - but I'm not sure if I can suddenly do that considering I've lived a very quiet life for the past four years. Not to mention, my love for listening to music in bed doesn't help my career pursuits either.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance, if you read the whole post, major props to you! :)</p>