i retired on 70K/yr and i have to recycle plastic and aluminum cans just to pay our internet bill. good thing i'm still hearty enough to drag 35 pounds in cans and plastic bottles on my bike to the recycler. wish i could afford a car.
agreed I've worked temporarily for a global financial company and I was in a skyscraper .....the scenery of the city in my office was beautiful and distracting, huge window in front my desk ........funny thing is that I didn't know shite bout abstract business administration theories and shit.....all I knew is some stats and how to do some simulations on computers the kind u would use for signal processing.
GPA means very little when you get out into the world, picking up a skillset rather then committing mindless facts to memory is far more important. The name of the school you went to is the only thing that will follow you throughout your career. Your GPA may not even follow you to your first interview, sure, if its awful you won't even get a look, but hover around 3.0 and have something in that head of yours for an interview and you'll be fine. Put yourself in a position where you have to think critically rather then just follow the herd, I know one of the most impressive skill builders out there right now is investment groups where students basically act as sell side analysts trying to convince the rest of the group that a stock they are presenting is value for the money. That said, my best advice is to transfer to Harvard.
Generally, I agree. My point is that if you expect to crack the upper echelon of most major corporations, it's becoming more and more necessary to have an MBA from a major school. Nothing against Cal St. Fullerton, but it ain't Harvard or even the University of Michigan. He'll need a top GPA to get into a major business school.
Meh, very few people have the resources to put themselves through, or ability to get into, the most prestigious MBA programs these days right out of undergrad unless they received their undergraduate education there or if their mother and father are considering donating a fair amount of money to the program/school's endowment. The fact is that schools, much like the job world, begin to look at your performance once graduated as more important then your GPA if you've been out in the workforce for any period of time. Generally, if you have a big four accounting firm, major consulting form, or reputable corporate player backing your application you're going to get in to at least one of the top five MBA programs in the nation. You'd be surprised how many of the higher ups in corporate america (although not necessarily CEOs, because today they are more figureheads then decision makers) weren't necessarily well educated for their undergrad degree, but when they got to a point where their resume needed bolstering, went back and jumped through the hoops at a prestigious MBA program to continue their career development. There's more then one way to skin a cat, and I think in today's world you're seeing an increase in MBA candidates coming in with job experience, and the MBA programs are eating it up, because they can structure their programs based more off of Corporate America as the majority of their candidates are coming in with a strong frame of reference.
Very easy. Just log into Expedia.com and buy a ticket. It'll be around $500-600 one way. If you are expecting someone else to pay and to have an internship waiting for you, I'd say forget it. Can you remember what you ate for dinner 57 days ago? I talking that kind of forget it. Why don't you try logging into Monster.com and finding out? And your university has a job placement department - ask them where they place most of their finance majors.
Don't totally crush his dreams, I know plenty of people who have gone abroad, either on a internship, job, or school. BUT..........they've either more or less lucked into it, or did a lot of leg work and effort to get there. Maybe your career services, or business school would be a good place to ask. I'm sure there are forums online to help you. Keep in mind, you're the one who is going to have to put in the effort, which will be more than asking people on a soccer board what to do with your career. There are a lot of really smart people with international experience on this board who can give you advice, but they're not the ones who are going to land you that job. P.S. Also, don't limit yourself to "I want London and/or Tokyo". There are plenty of other great cities in the world that you shouldn't pass up because you're focused on a couple of places.
Yes, you are right. There are lots of opportunities to study abroad even for people in lesser schools and with lesser GPAs. One of my brother's spent a semester in Prague. And that kind of thing would be fantastic on any résumé for an international company. It's just that it seemed he wanted a spot in a high powered company where future leaders are groomed, and that kind of thing just isn't available to regular people whose connections are found in a soccer internet board. snsj4, if you really want to be a CEO or CFO, you should remember this:
doesn't the average lawyer only make something around $70k/yr? big school, big firm, big money. go to southwestern st school of law, and you may end up at your own practice earning $28,000 suing dentists...
this is complete bollocks! -you could have a 4.0 from Harvard, a 770 GMAT and three great internships, you're not getting into a top 15 MBA program right out of undergrad, period! -grad schools very much care about your GPA. if you couldn't hack it before, you may not hack it again. while it is no longer the deciding feature, it is something that will set you apart. -if you have major i-bank/consulting experience, you've probably graduated with a 3.6 from a well respected undergrad institution, which increases your chances, yes. big 4 acctg firm, a 3.2 from Texas A&M or such state school, studying what is a very focused, memorization based field, working in a very defined field without much room for creative thought. you don't see a whole lot of auditors at top b-schools. anybody can get a job at a fortune 500, but if you don't show any type of advancement/growth, you're not getting into the top schools. -if you look at a good deal of corporate leaders in todays world (Immelt, David as two examples), they earned an MBA immediately after finishing undergrad. different world than today. hell, my CEO doesn't have an MBA and went to a podunk school. while Harvard or an MBA are great on the resume, if you don't produce, you're not going much further than a mid-level manager job.
I was kidding. Unless you go to a top 14 school, law school is a giant gamble. The top firms have a shortage of talent while 90% of lawyers have trouble getting jobs. Its an odd market.
it is an odd market, that is true. although, my friend is an experienced associate recruiter at MLB, and she says they'll pull anybody in if they have two years at any firm. granted, they won't be partner track, but they'll get their two years at a big firm before jumping. another friend at JD said their experienced hiring is way more lax than straight out of school.
It is not what you know, it is who you know! The main thing is to get into something you are going to like and want to get up in the morning and go do. What good is having a six figure income if you are miserable.
This is pants for a number of reasons. Anyone who views auditors as working in a "memorization based field" simply do not understand what their job entails. Taking a group of principal based based accounting standards, understanding clients' business changes, interacting with client contacts who view them as the enemy, and obtaining evidence supporting a defensable opinion is perhaps one of the least "memorization based" fields out there. It was true in the 80's and it is true today: The three best directions to go out of college are 1) Engineering, 2) Top-10 IB, and 3) Big Four Accounting.
I disagree with those that say that a Business Administration degree is worthless. It is education, and never will be worthless. It is only worthless to the people who think that a degree is an admission pass to success. For example, a small business owner would get a lot more out of a BA than someone trying to climb the corporate ladder, but neither would find their education useless. Furthermore, most institutions consider undergraduate degrees in general to be pretty worthless as far as training for a job...but they still value them because undergraduate education helps you to learn how to learn. An undergraduate degree means someone is more likely to be trainable. As far as the most helpful degrees, I would have to say the sciences. Especially mathematics if you want to be in Business. Every business field is basically just an offshoot from mathematics...Marketing (Statistics), Finance (calculus and diff eq, as well as algorithm analysis), Accounting (obvious), Supply Chain Management and Institutional Investment (algorithms again), etc. I once read an interview with Warren Buffet where he was asked the question: If you had to get rid of all of your advisors except for one, who would stay? He responded that he would keep his top mathematician. He said something to the effect that his mathematician would be worth 10 times as much as himself if he had the guts to make decisions that were necessary.
people at the associate and sr associate levels (most likely to be considering b-school) are not dealing with high level structural changes to the business they are auditing. they are still spending time sampling and testing payroll and accounts payable, regardless of the changes a business is going through. partners and sr managers make structural decisions, and those I mentioned above simply set different parameters for the testing of said changes. 1) R&D (whether at Boeing, GE, Rohm & Haas or Eli Lily, etc) it is the best way to go. 2) management consulting -- best way to make contacts, best way to learn how businesses operate 3) high finance -- whether it be a BB i-bank or top PE/hedge fund, it is great experience and great $$
Citigroup, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, etc. all have internships for undergrads. The key to getting a job there is getting an internship there and performing well. Be involved on your campus in stuff that can help you. If you're interested in Business, I'm sure there is Business Fraternity at your campus that you could pledge. Join groups that you are interested in, leadership opportunities are available, and that will help you. Like others have said, Academics come first.
Do what i did. Learn a skill, study your market properly and be ready to work your ass off. And, work for yourself. I was never a believer in working for other people. If you are anything like me and obviously lack talent and brains, lol, prepare to make it up with worth ethic and people skills. Sorround yourself with people who are going to be useful to you in your business, and more often than not people who are more knowledgeable than you. You will more than likely fail, but hey at least you gave it a shot.
I agree 100%, but not for a college grad. As you mentioned the chance of success is stacked against you. Let alone someone who who has a boat load of "theory" packed under their belt from college classes, yet no real world experience to unload it on. Going your route is great, but I think building that idea "on the side" while learning the ropes as a cog in the machine for a few years will prove invaluable to you. Learning how the business world works (relationships, networking, dealing with failure/setbacks) are things that can be dealt with better later when you have seen them happen from an outside perspective. Dont be a guinea pig. Observe other guinea pigs on a small scale (day to day) in different roles, and see what the successfull ones do.
This is an easy one. Corporate Management! After you get your degree, try to get into management mentorship type positions at whereever you work. Do your time and look for more responsibility and management type training. It could take some time, but you will eventually get there. Could take 10-15 years before you break through middle managment.
Tigersghost. I agree 100%. True success is choosing your own path whether it works out for you in the end or not. That is the best measure of someone's character... believing in themselves regardless of what the consequences might be! You are right on!