Chance Me: TX student who wants to be an investment banker (1480, 3.7) [not top 10% rank, <$40k parent contribution]

[Catcherinthetoast]

This post should be repeated often. Spot on.

[Twoin18]

@BKSquared

There is also a Plan C, and that is to work in industry after college. STEM may be a good choice, then apply for an MBA. That is what D’s fiance did. He worked as a scientist in a big pharma, got an MBA at a well regarded BSchool, and was a fairly “hot product” for consulting firms with a healthcare/pharma/biotech practice. The beauty of Plan C is that it may be easier to stand out vs a sea of “finance bros’”, especially if you are not a grad of HBS, Wharton, Stanford and maybe a couple of others. You may also enjoy an industry career and stick with it.

Strong STEM graduates with industry experience and excellent interpersonal skills are a hot commodity across many sectors, including consulting, law, finance etc. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be an applied degree like CS or engineering, so that may make for easier college admissions. But standing out academically in STEM courses in college may be less straightforward.

[1dadinNC]

@trid You have heard from the experts that do/have done IB for a living. I will add that there are other careers in the financial industry that might fit your needs. They pay very well and less competitive to get into.

Consider asset management for example or FP&A. There are other jobs within the financial industry that might be worth exploring. Some random examples: My brother works in the risk management/regulatory side for a large bank. He does very complex asset flow and regulatory modeling. Majored in economics and statistics. Best childhood friend is on the regulatory side for another multinational bank. They have senior roles and get compensated very well.

Good luck!

[NiceUnparticularMan]

Yeah, NiceUnparticularMom ended up having a great career in “normal” corporate banking. Lots of variety over the years, lots of cool due diligence visits and Board presentations and such, and at peak she was working directly for a C-level executive (I used to joke she would not get top billing in Succession, but it would still be a speaking role). Fun stuff.

I gather kids see some of the salaries people sometimes get in IB or whatever, and think that is what they want too. But as they say, a career is a marathon and not a sprint, and I think a lot of people end up having very fulfilling banking careers following many other paths.

[BKSquared]

Came across this this AM, https://www.wsj.com/articles/goldman-sachs-deploys-its-first-generative-ai-tool-across-the-firm-cd94369b?st=ujwygjlen4wx77v&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Link is gifted.

[sfogooner]

Try adding Rutgers to the list. They do have the clubs but are not a target school. But possibly have good connections to wall st.
https://myrbs.business.rutgers.edu/undergraduate-new-brunswick/libor

[evergreen5]

It’s possible that TCU might offer enough merit to bring the price close to your budget. Neeley has gotten expensive, with extra fees over what arts & sciences students pay, but merit is common.