General

[quote=Citylimits]So what I get from your post is that you are currently a Senior in High School and you still haven't applied/been accepted to any colleges.

You are trying to get into a very competitive field with no experience in said field. All your experience are in other fields. I would say that you shouldn't get your hopes up when applying, you will be going against more qualified, more experienced individuals applying for the same positions.
Your credentials in high school mean next to nothing to these companies when they can higher someone that has been studying in the field for who knows how many years.

I wish you luck the best of luck. Don't be discouraged. It's going to be hard.[/quote]

Yes -- but at the time I apply for these jobs, I will have been accepted. Hopefully into an at least mid-top tier Ivy, which matches JP Morgan's/Goldman's criteria. And to the point that I have no experience in this field: that is completely true, but from what I have heard and read, as long as you have the computational skills and analysis/critical thinking skills required in various other fields like bioinformatics (which I have been doing), they will hire you. But yes, I do not nearly have as much experience, even if this diversity factor played in my favor.

Thanks for your encouragement! Truly means a lot.

So what I get from your post is that you are currently a Senior in High School and you still haven't applied/been accepted to any colleges.

You are trying to get into a very competitive field with no experience in said field. All your experience are in other fields. I would say that you shouldn't get your hopes up when applying, you will be going against more qualified, more experienced individuals applying for the same positions.
Your credentials in high school mean next to nothing to these companies when they can higher someone that has been studying in the field for who knows how many years.

I wish you luck the best of luck. Don't be discouraged. It's going to be hard.

[quote=theHater]@AmyrIin: you won't be doing much regardless because firms won't trust you with any thing important (i'm about to finish my 4 month internship at an accounting firm next week) so having a big name on your resume would look a lot nicer also if you plan on going to ivy league you can forget about having time to work on weekends and maintaining a high GPA (3.7+). The most i got to do was help out on an audit and even then all my work had to be double checked, everything is do able but it's not realistic to be aiming so high and packing your schedule, just live your college life and enjoy it to the fullest and when it comes to summer then you can work to your hearts content.[/quote]

Alright yeah I feel you that makes perfect sense. I'll try to get something at Goldman/JP or at least maybe something like Bank of America. ML's ibanking department is quite lacking hahaa

@TheLeader: Oh haha. I'm currently a rising senior in high school, and I plan on going to college next year for all 4 years (or 3 if I get into Cambridge or Imperial College of London. Those UK schools man ahahaa).

@metaghost4: Yeah I see where you're coming from. My sincerest apologies about that hahaha sorry didn't mean to do that at all.

@theHater: What I plan on doing is intern every summer, and if I went to a school like Columbia, intern not only every summer, but every summer + Fridays and weekends to maximize experience while in college. I just want to know what might be better. Skipping all the way to the top (assuming I get the job) at something like JP morgan and stuck doing things like data input, or going to a lower tier firm like ML and doing actual analyst work?

@AmyrIin: Late into the game as in you're in your senior year now, haha.
If you're not attending college, or have a way of scheduling things in.. then you're not late at all.
Yes! Why start at something low if you can get straight to where you want to be? You might not get the opportunity again!

@metaghost4: @theHater: my apologies guys, I just really want to get some help in this, as I really don't have much experience in stuff like this. In the past all I've done is really just work with post-docs and people in science. It's a dramatic shift and I don't really know how valuable ranks vs. experience is in the financial world.

@mikealSin: I live in the Bay Area and since God knows when I've always been surrounded and immersed in science and technology. Naturally I did it and was pretty damn good at it, but still, never really interested me. I don't know what I want to do tbh, but I do know I do love the investment banker NYC highrise lifestyle (stupid reasons, but believe me I think it's enough motivation, at least for now), so I'm just going head on into it. However, I do know what I don't want to do, and that's working in the medical field. My brother right now is a pre-med at Yale, and seeing the stuff he has to do, all that science and research -- it's just not for me, i can't explain why, i just don't like it.

@metaghost4: I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad, as I really have a problem on my hands I would like to bring to a bigger audience -- one more experienced than I in the "real-world" -- to help me with this decision.

@theHater: a larger audience always has some good ideas

[quote=TheLeader]Maybe you can use the opportunity as a starting point. Granted, it's a bit late into the game.. but it's still a start. Maybe from Merrill Lynch, you'd be able to meet a few more people who will be able to get you into JP Morgan/Goldman.[/quote]

What do you mean by "late into the game?" I don't think I'm starting late haha.
But you bring up a good point -- however, if I could start straight out at those two firms, if you were me, would you take it?

Experience is experience.

Maybe you can use the opportunity as a starting point. Granted, it's a bit late into the game.. but it's still a start. Maybe from Merrill Lynch, you'd be able to meet a few more people who will be able to get you into JP Morgan/Goldman.