Hello, I am a current HS senior looking to eventually get into investment baking. After applying to many colleges and receiving some offers I have found myself stumped on going to a state school that is not a Wall-street target like Ohio State for nearly free or going to a semi-target like Virginia or Michigan and paying 75k a year in debt. Is it worth it to go to a wall street target school and go that far into debt or can I receive an opportunity at non-target schools as well?
No.
You may attend either of those fine schools and not end up at a bank. Also you may find another field more appealing.
If you are going to be in finance there are many options.
The math is simple. If you have a job that earns 25k a year more (not particularly realistic) it would take you about 15 years approx with compound interest just to break even. That’s a brand new car, every year, until you are nearly 40.
OSU can lead you to the same places. It’s up to you more than anything else.
If someone else is going to paying this for you without co-signed loans or from cash on hand, a school with solid recruiting and cache may very well be worth it for the head start at graduation.
In your scenario, it’s a definite no from me.
You can only borrow ~$5500/year. Where are you planning to get the other ~$70k? Graduating with a debt of $300,000 plus interest is a very bad idea.
You can’t afford that level of debt. Even if you could take out that amount of debt (which is highly doubtful) graduating with $300,000 or so in student loans would handcuff your life decisions for 20+ years after graduation. The large payments you would have to make to cover the payments of your undergraduate loans would interfere with every adult decision you make – it would mean you probably couldn’t take that amazing job at a start-up for less pay, get that new car, take a nice vacation, get the home you want etc. You should stick with an affordable option.
Investment banking is one out of literally thousands of things you can do with a business degree. I agree with the above advice. Even if you somehow could get $300,000 in financing, that load of debt is more than medical school…for a bachelors degree. Even if it was for a law degree, I would still tell you it’s not worth it.
It’s definitely not worth it. Getting into IB is extremely competitive even from target schools, so there is no guarantee you’d land an internship and/or full-time position. Furthermore, the majority who go into IB leave after 1-2 years because it’s a grueling field with work that isn’t particularly fulfilling. Basically, it is a very poor financial risk.
If IB really is for you, you can get there from tOSU. Keep your grades up, create a LinkedIn profile, head to your college’s career center, and network, network, network.
My son got into investment banking from SMU, not exactly the ivy league. You can get there – if you really want to go into banking, focus on internships as that’s where you get your foot in the door (however – my son never interned at a bank, or at the bank where he’s now working!).
The one thing my son says his bank looks for is whether you love what you are doing. That is, you have a real passion for commercial real estate, if you are doing real estate finance, e.g.