USC is my dream school and its literally perfect (except its not a basketball school) but how’s my chance of being an investment banker in NYC from this school.
USC isn’t known for investment banking. When I worked on Wall Street, most of the people came from schools in New England, New York, New Jersey or the Big 10. You don’t get a lot of people who went to school on the west coast.
That said, it’s not impossible. It’s just that USC doesn’t have a lot of connections on Wall Street and logistically it’s inconvenient for a USC grad to get a job in New York. When I was there the only people I knew who went to west coast schools were me (USC), one from Stanford, one from Berkeley, and one from Golden Gate U in San Francisco.
There are lots of little hedge funds and investment companies around LA or Orange County. If you were willing to start out at one of those and later move to NYC, then USC would work for you. There’s also a lot more venture capital firms in California than in NYC, although from what I seem to observe, it’s almost impossible to get a job at a venture capital firm without some kind of proven success in the tech industry.
@simba9 So u ended up at wall street from USC?
I’m not sure “ended up” is the correct term. I live in California and took what I thought was a four-month job on Wall Street. I was there for four years, then came back to California.
How did it happen or if that’s to personal can u give me advice to get there
P.S. I live in NY
I was a programmer in Silicon Valley and a recruiter from NYC called me out of the blue offering a four month job working on fixed income trading systems at Lehman Brothers. (It was actually a respected investment bank back then.) I suspect she got my name from a California recruiter.
Initially I turned the job down because it sounded boring, I had young kids in California that I didn’t want to leave, and most importantly, I didn’t want to wear a suit. Everyone kept telling me I was an idiot for turning down a job that paid so much, so I eventually took it thinking, “Hey, it’s only four months.”
The job turned out to be fascinating, and my desk was right on the trading floor so it was never boring. The downside was insufferable office politics. They were always offering to train me to become a trader, but I didn’t think I had the personality for it. My wife and kids eventually moved to NY and we ended up staying for four years before moving back.
Of the people I mentioned before who went to west coast schools, the girl from Golden Gate U was a trader with an Econ degree, the guy from Cal was a business analyst with an MBA, and the guy from Stanford was a math graduate who specialized in developing mathematical models for Lehman’s trading systems.
Wow that’s really cool. So now I have to ask u NY or LA which city is better?
Tough to answer. I like New York as a city more than LA, but if I had to choose between the two as a place to live, I’d go with LA because I prefer California to the east coast. Plenty of other people would prefer New York.
OK thanks, after hearing what u have to say I think I’m going to go to IU instead even though USC is my dream school
It fits better with wat I want
Everyone I know who went to Indiana U, which includes my sister, loved it.