<p>I am a freshman in high school. I recently became VERY interested in investing, and I believe I found my future career in investment banking. To become an investment banker you basically need to go to an ivy or an ivy equivalent school for undergrad. The school that has interested me the most is UPenn Wharton, which is very hard to get into. Is it stupid for me to be researching UPenn Wharton and preparing for sending an admission as a freshman, or should I wait until next year. By the way I have a 4.0, i am in wrestling and baseball, I am going to have a job as a caddy, I am going to volunteer as a groundskeeper at my local little league and I am in one club at my school and I am going to join another one next year.</p>
<p>It's not at all stupid to research. Obviously, you could very well change your mind on what career you want and your first choice for college, but there's no harm in looking. I'm a freshman also, and as of now, it's my dream to go to Yale and become a surgeon. Once your in high school, I don't think there is any harm in planning ahead and working hard towards your goals.</p>
<p>good luck in becoming a surgeon!!</p>
<p>you will probably change your mind this early</p>
<p>I don't think it's stupid at all. My daughter is about your age and has very clear career goals, also. This, I believe will actually help considerably in the college search process. It also will keep her focused during high school. I didn't have a clue as to what I was going to major in when I went to college. I had absolutely no direction and it showed in my first year grades.
I don't think that there are enough students out there like you. If there are, they probably get the same responses, such as, you'll change your mind, you're too young to think about your future, etc. etc. Don't let anyone bring you down. :)</p>
<p>It's fine to do research now. Just make sure not to get stressed out over it until your senior year.</p>
<p>way to go kid. seriously PENN is a great business school (#1) and its environment will introduce you to a great network of business savy people and recruiters. It is not at all too early to be preparing for Wharton. Please,please keep your grades up and study hard for your standarized test. Get involved more at school and you will be great. Do not apply now of course. Get a great education and dont lose sight of your goals. May God bless you.</p>
<p>investment banks r da ones that probably care least abt which college u graduated from, to b honest!!! u just need a not-so-bad education, sharp mind and extremely good stamina.
Also, there r a lot of EC u can do about investing. like there r many 'shadow investment' games by some major banks, which aim to give college or school students ideas abt what da career is like
i played da merill lynch challege b4</p>
<p>^ Are you kidding me? You think a Wharton grad and a Penn State grad are gonna have equal chances at a job at Goldman?</p>
<p>do your research now!</p>
<p>and know what you will need to do for upcoming years. then as you become a junior/senior youll become more busy but youll know what to do already and wont need to waste time with that. </p>
<p>=]</p>
<p>It's a great idea - just make sure you also research the career choice. Make sure that "investment banking" is really what you think it is. (From what I understand, and I may be mistaken, "investing" and "investment banking" are two different things.)</p>
<p>In any event, consider the level of college you want and aim towards that. It's great to plan as a freshman so you don't end up as a junior saying, "Oh, no! They wanted 3 years of [whatever], and I only have 1! What can I do?" This is where planning as a freshman can really help. </p>
<p>Of course, plans may change: as a freshman, d wanted to do something with physical therapy. So we looked at the science progression at her high school and set it up so that she could take Anatomy & Physiology as a senior, while taking the big 3 (bio, chem, physics) and not having to double up. By the time senior year came around - heck, by the time sophomore year came around - she didn't want to do that any more, but she was still able to satisfy the science requirements for any top school.</p>
<p>Planning is always good.</p>
<p>The most important thing to do is realize how extremely competitive it is to gain admission to UPenn, especially for Wharton. First, you have to study your ass off for your SATs and ACTs, and take them early so you have time to take them a few more times. Study for your classes- take the hardest ones offered and do well. Take summer classes at a local state or community college.</p>
<p>Then, you have to come up with a way to distinguish yourself from all the other kids who have the SAT scores and the grades and the class rank and the extracurriculars and the community service. All that? As someone put it in one of these forums, "Prestigious college admissions are a lottery. (The things I mentioned) are merely the ability to buy a ticket." Those are only the very basic essentials to applying. So go to summer programs, attend a Young Entrepreneur's Academy in your area, and start your own business. Invest in stocks and get published in local economics magazine. You have to be the kid whose name they remember at the end of the day.</p>
<p>work hard for admission to a selective school, but don't worry too much</p>
<p>also, there's a very, very high chance you'll change your mind. First of all, you've got 7 years until you're a senior in college. That's a pretty long time! I totally did a 180 in terms of career plans in high school. Not only that, but most college students change their major/career plans several times during their 4 years. </p>
<p>I-banking is TOUGH. You'll need to determine whether or not economics (the hardcore stuff, not high school intro) is something you love. You also need to figure out if working 70+ hours a week is something you want to do. Some people LOVE i-banking, others don't. People drop i-banking as a career option after spending a summer interning for one. </p>
<p>So basically, try hard for good grades, but don't start laying out your life course already. So many things will change over the next several years, and your perception of what you want to do with your life is likely to change when you have to take a look at the real cold, hard world lol.</p>
<p>If you're going to need financial aid for college and would be content to attend UW-Madison, you might want to keep up that caddie job also. There's a really good scholarship for caddies called the Chick Evans Caddie Scholarship. Since you live in WI, I think you would have to go to Madison to qualify for it, but I didn't check it out thoroughly. There are requirements on time or rounds spent caddying, class rank, financial need, etc. I think there are some other caddie scholarships as well, perhaps at more local levels. My sister's kids used to caddy, and she told me if they had known about the scholarships they wouldn't have quit doing it.</p>
<p>Actually my mom's friend's uncle runs that scholarship and I have talked to him, so I am pretty sure that I can get the caddying scholarship... I know that I may change my mind, but since UPenn is so competitive I am just trying to find out what I should do just in case I do apply there.</p>
<p>My heart was set on majoring in biology back in freshman year of high school. Then I got into political science. Then law. Then environmental policy. Now I'm studying business in college with extra coursework in science, math, and French.</p>
<p>Research schools, not careers. What you hear about careers in high school is incredibly limited (people often think their options are limited to the three more publicly lucrative paths - medicine, law, and business) and honestly you aren't old enough to know what you want to do with your life. Most people in college don't know. Enjoy high school but develop good study skills and work hard; embrace your education as an education and don't think think of it as training for a specific job or career. So, if you want to do research, look at colleges: their academic offerings and opportunities beyond classes (like research), student life, admission requirements. Also, realize that there is no formula for admission into the most competitive schools, including Penn.</p>
<p>MAKE SURE you do some sort of extracurriculars that relate to your interest in investing. Everything you listed shows you have initiative. But if you never do anything related to money and yet say you want to become an investment banker, colleges will look at you funny.
Try to get an internship somewhere. Call the bank. Call one of those Federal Reserve chapters if you live close enough to get there.
Anything at all related to investment banking is a good place to start. Just bumble around and follow your interests and you'll wind up somewhere you love.</p>
<p>im not sure if iv mentioned it, but i do have a portfolio using fake money on investopedia.com and in 8th grade my school entered teams of four into a state wide stock competition and my team won 4th out of 110 teams in our district</p>
<p>OK, but that sounds like investing, not investment banking. Perhaps being a stock broker would be something more to your liking. Or mutual funds. </p>
<p>According to wikipedia (I can't believe I'm quoting that):
[quote]
Investment banks help companies and governments raise money by issuing and selling securities in the capital markets (both equity and debt), as well as providing advice on transactions such as mergers and acquisitions.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Is this what you want to do? Or do you want to manage investments? Two very different things.</p>
<p>There are positions in investment banking which involve managing stocks...at least I think there are. Portfolio management is what interests me...it looks like i may have done my research wrong :(</p>