How much do you think is an acceptable starting salary for a Wharton grad?

[emeraldkity4]

Personal contact makes a difference- oft times starting at a more entry job to learn the business is a better bet- but with this economy what made sense 5yrs ago, is still luck of the draw now.

[Alumother]

Somehow I really just want to cook you dinner. You're an adult, but, of course, still a kid in some ways. You've been in college, now you have to go out in the world. Where, as you say, you don't have connections. Don't worry. You will make them. And those who have them? Don't worry. They have plenty opportunities to screw up.

[mapesy]

legendofmax: Problem is I am horribly bad at networking.

Once you start your new job, I encourage you to work on your networking skills. Although networking isn’t a panacea, it will make your career climb infinitely easier. Please take this advice from someone who has been there.

When you first enter the workforce, a promotion is one of the rewards for good performance. Things get more difficult the higher you climb, however. Whether you’re looking for a new job in a different company or you're applying for an in-house promotion, there will be many excellent candidates vying for the same position. So management faces a dilemma: Whom should they interview for the position and how should they be differentiated? Since many candidates have the necessary skills, the answer is that they will almost always select candidates who have a sponsor or networking connection first.

I know more about the IB hiring process than I wish I knew. After IB firms give job offers to the top candidates from the top schools each year, many fill the remainder of their open positions through networking contacts. It’s really not fair, as many top candidates slip through the cracks. But that's how it's done in IB, and that's how it's done in many industries. That’s why I think that networking will be one of the most valuable skills you’ll ever learn—no matter what career path you choose.

Of course, it’s possible that you’ll have a great career without networking. It’s just much, much harder.

The following link gives great advice about networking your way into IB jobs:

Networking Your Way Into Investment Banking Jobs | Mergers & Inquisitions

Best of luck to you, legendofmax! I hope you’ll return to CC in a couple of years to give us an update. I know that many of us are interested. And I totally I agree with Blossom: If I were your mom, I would be so incredibly proud of you and your accomplishments thus far!

[legendofmax]

Thank you all for the kind words.

And I plan on sticking around CC for a while... I joined over four years ago and for some reason I haven't left yet :P This place holds a lot of sentimental value to me, as it was an amazing source of information for me and gave me a lot of good memories. I'm still friends with a few people from that initial Princeton ED group. I owe a lot to this site :P

To try to maximize options, I applied for 7 other jobs through Pennlink, so I am hoping to see what'll happen there. This Chicago gig won't kick in for a while, so there is still time to try to push that $50k barrier up through other options.

[legendofmax]

I'm trying to apply to San Fran -- as that is where I'd ideally like to live. Hopefully something else falls though (using some online sources it's determined that earning 50k in Chicago is roughly the same as earning 70k in San Fran, so I'm trying to hit that mark/find work there)

[emeraldkity4]

I betcha that the COL is actually reversed and $50,000 in San Francisco ( don't call it San Fran) is like $70,000 in Chicago.

San Francisco, California (CA) - Sperling's BestPlaces

The median home cost in San Francisco is $673,610. Home appreciation the last year has been -15.00 percent.

Compared to the rest of the country, San Francisco's cost of living is 87.23% Higher than the U.S. average.




The median home cost in Chicago is $222,960. Home appreciation the last year has been -11.30 percent.

Compared to the rest of the country, Chicago's cost of living is 26.45% Higher than the U.S. average.

[polyglotmom]

Congratulations on landing a job in Chicago - son at Penn told me that many Wharton graduates are stressed about their job prospect and I would think that the peer pressure of who gets the higher paying job puts even more pressure.

Focus on being a valued employee.

1. Do talk to head hunters when they call you even if you are not looking for a new job. (I did not do this well - do not say upi are not interested until they tell you your market value and availabilities. Don't say you are bad at networking. Do not underestimate the power of positive thinking. I recall I started to get head hunting calls before my first year was up.

2. Be humble and nice but also be forceful and take credit for your ideas and work so that you can show your worth and value daily - it is really about "What have you done for the company today?" As mentioned earlier, when you get paid more, there is more pressure to perform and those are let go first.

3. Be sure to network inside the company - for example, set aside lunch time as time to network - make appointment with managers who may not be your direct managet. Build informal mentoring system if the company does not have one. Ask them for their opinion and what you can do to be successful in the company?

Be sure to prepare for the cold windy winter with warm clothes. I was totally unprepared for it coming from New England area.

If you are visiting Chicago for house hunting, consider staying at the Univ of Chicago International House. I stayed there in the spring and it was quite lovely and made me feel like a student. Very reasonably priced.

[TheAnalyst]

When is the start date for the Chicago job?

[JHS]

Those median home price figures can be very misleading. Chicago is much bigger than San Francisco itself, and much more economically diverse. Comparatively few poor people still live in San Francisco; most have been pushed to urban suburbs around the Bay area. Lots of poor people live in the city of Chicago. So the median house in Chicago may be in a neighborhood that essentially doesn't exist in San Francisco (instead it's in Oakland or Hayward), and lived in by a family that barely exists within the San Francisco city limits (say, African-American skilled union workers). If you compare "rent paid by first-year B.A. analysts without parental support, in a decent-but-edgy neighborhood, with a roommate", the two cities are going to be a lot closer. (Although, again, there are a lot of such places to live in Chicago that, if they were in San Francisco, would be in some different city/county.)

(But, Emerald, you got it wrong. The basic idea is that in San Francisco it costs $70,000 to have a lifestyle you could afford in Chicago on $50,000. I am questioning whether the difference is that much, but there almost certainly is a difference there. For example, in New York City, my daughter and two roommates are living in a tiny three-bedroom apartment for $3,200/mo. in basic rent, in a nice but formerly marginal neighborhood in Manhattan not really well served by the public transit system. Her brother is living in her former apartment in Chicago, a two- bedroom that is three times the size of the NYC apartment, very convenient to public transportation, for about 35% of the rent, i.e., about 1/8th what the NY apartment costs per square foot. Taking into account taxes, NYC girl has to earn about $17,000 to pay her share of her rent, for Chicago boy, it's more like $10,000 for much nicer (though less hip) space.)

[legendofmax]

An update:

I may be working for Merrill Lynch/Bank of America doing a C# coding position for 65-75k a year in Houston (contract to hire position)... it isn't for certain yet, but I am excited if this thing goes through. Definitely a good place to get the foot in the door. I just got off the phone (short interview) and it all went quite well.

I am really, really hoping this works out.

[JHS]

???

legend, granted, $75K in Houston may be twice as much effective income as $50K in Chicago. But "C# coding" on a contract to hire basis does not sound like a first rung on the finance-professional ladder, complete with training, experience, and contacts to help you get to the next rung. Not to mention bonus and promotion potential. It sounds like high-tech wage slavery, and something that could get outsourced to Bangalore next week. A behind-the-back-office job in Houston isn't much of a foot in the door at B of A, unless the door you want to open is in their IT department.

Also, when you are doing your calculations, recognize that as a contract worker YOU will be paying a bunch of costs -- including the employer portion of Social Security, health insurance, and liability insurance -- that your employer would pick up if you were an employee. (And you may need to hire an accountant to make certain you are filing all the crap you have to file.) That stuff will eat the heck out of the nominal pay differential here.

You have a strong sense of who you are and what you want to do, and you know what this job is, while I'm only guessing from your sketchy description. Help us out by explaining what's so great about this opportunity vs. the REIT analyst thing.

[legendofmax]

To be fully honest, it's a bit of a dilemma.

The Chicago job went into a quick state of "We have to do some restructuring, and the position should hopefully still be there, but we need a bit of time to let you know for certain."

The Houston job is close (I'm currently crashing in Austin, TX) and pays a bit better. To be honest, though, I'd almost rather go to Chicago. But everything's now in a big state of entropy and unknown decisions.

In all honesty, I'd probably end up choosing Chicago if it came through (I'd really like to be a financial analyst and not just a code monkey), but I just wanted to let you guys know that there is another opportunity out there in the pipes :P Wanted your thoughts.

[legendofmax]

This market is killing me.

I'm half-tempted to just apply to teach English in Japan or something.

[boysx3]

You might as well apply to do that too, keeping all of your options open! Any new experience is never a waste.

I hope the job in Chicago comes through! I would be happy to help you find a good place to live and help you get settled here, as I just did that myself.

[MomofWildChild]

All the non-Wharton kids are applying to teach English in Japan, so don't count on that.
I'm glad there is at least another possibility out there. Hoping Chicago comes through, though.