@Publisher
So if even Ivy League educated people can’t get a job, who can?
My only two options will be two work extremely hard to get what I want or two transfer into an elite school, so I will not be taking your advice. I know a man who became a banker at Deutsche Bank, and he attended Morehouse College.
I also know a man who became a banker on Wall St. and he attended UTK. He went on to get his masters degree from HBS, and became a VP with the Carlyle Group.
Thank you for your advice but no thank you. Nothing is impossible.
Not what I said. There is a website for students & young Wall Street bankers. If you think that I am being harsh, wait until you get a dose of real life. If you want it so bad, then you need to work a lot harder. Math is the easiest area to improve with self study. You can believe in fairy tales or deal with reality. Khan Academy is free for everyone. There you can learn skills for the ACT & SAT.
If I remember the Wall Street website discussion board, I will post it later.
Just because I am writing what you don’t want to read doesn’t make it wrong.
Dreams without hard work & realistic goals are just a fantasy.
@Publisher Well, thank you. I did misread. I don’t think I will retake the ACT/SAT.
What do you mean by working harder? Like, do you mean by networking or working hard to succeed in college so I can have a shot at transferring? What do you mean?
Wall Street can be brutal & cutthroat. You need to have sharp math skills. You cannot, for example, settle for a score of 25 on the ACT & expect to get hired by Goldman Sachs.
Poets & Quants lists free internet courses (MOOCs) Massive Online Open Courses. You can be taught by the best professors in the country from the best MBA & business schools for free.
@Publisher I actually look at the websites you listed and I didn’t even know they had free courses. Thanks. I think we should continue to speak. Can you PM me?
I don’t see any rational benefit to transferring to an “elite” school for a bachelors degree. You’re already going to a top school. The idea behind college is to open your mind to possibilities. Most students change their major at least twice before deciding what they want to study. A Wall Street investment banker is one occupation out of millions. A 80k job at a NYC financial firm sounds great, but that salary is barely paycheck to paycheck in New York, not counting student loans. In other words, if you changed the cost of living to Memphis, TN it would be worth a 42k entry level job. The reason these companies recruit so heavily is not because of high lucrative demand. Don’t fool yourself. It’s because the job has a high turnover rate. If these jobs were as great as they boast, they wouldn’t have to recruit at all.
Regardless of whether you transfer or not, you’ll have to network like a fiend and work hard to maintain a top GPA in order to get to where you want to be. I don’t think it’s impossible (nothing is), but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t going to be difficult. Whether you’re at UT-K or an Ivy League, as @Publisher, stated, it’s difficult to land a job on Wall Street.
Therefore, I suggest a couple of things:
Similar to what @cleoforshort said, jump into UT-K with both feet. As I said, regardless of whether you transfer, you’ll have to network like a madman, and push yourself out of your comfort zone. It may be tempting to simply keep your head down, get a high GPA, and then transfer, but taking advantage of UT-K’s undeniable good points (big student population, Knoxville being the third most populated city in Tennessee) is essential for the career you’re trying to pursue…
As what @coolguy40 stated, keep your options open. The path to your career is not a straight, predictable path. Whether by your own volition or not, you’ll veer. You need to have a plan B. Perhaps even a Plan C, considering how early you are in your academic career.
Ultimately, you’ll have to grind. You’ll have to grind if you want to transfer, and you’ll grind once you get to your new institution. Grind, grind, grind. Once you start putting in the work necessary to reach your goals, it will be sobering.
Consider majoring in economics & finance. Although typically an MBA course, you will need to know financial modeling.
& valuations.
Investment banking is heavily numbers (quantitative) oriented.
Take advantage of Poets & Quants free MOOCs one course at a time. Last year, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania offered a series of basic business courses (accounting, intro. to finance, marketing, management, etc.) that along with an undergraduate degree in any discipline would qualify one for entrance into a MBA program.
Finance is a tough major, but very sought after, Economics varies school by school. Oddly, I prefer the easier schools in order to understand the theory before tackling the math.
But: I look at the students I know who have offers from the big banks- and then I look at how they work once they are there, and…@TransferStalker is not wrong. It takes a lot of work - both in the classroom and hustling for internships out of the classroom- to get those jobs, and even more to keep them. If you don’t reallyreallyreally want it - or (better) really get a kick out of it- it is not a happy path.
I was considering applying for the SEO career training program. I know someone (the man who attended HBS and worked at The Carlyle Group) who landed his first high finance job because he was a member of this program.
I can apply as a freshman in college, which I will do. Any suggestions before I do? Thanks in advance!!