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rhyme
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 08:00
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I honestly don't know what I want to do...

I know what I don't want to do - I don't want to work in IB working 100 hours a week. Beyond that, I'm pretty open. As I start my research, I realize that a lof of different things sound very interesting - investment management for instance, corporate finance could be boring, but maybe not, maybe a general mgmt job with a strategic focus - I've seen some that looked mighty fun, there's something called real estate finance listed on the employment reports but who knows what that really means - just mortgages? Or working securitizing those mortgages? Working at a trading desk for a mortgage company managing risk? Who knows. The list goes on like this. The more I research, the more I realize I just dont know enough about the day to day life of people in these roles to really make any kind of informed intelligent decisions.

What resources are you guys using to do your research?
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 08:04
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The Princeton review has some great "A life in the Day of X" that gives you and idea of what the normal day is for each job and total comp. Also Vault is great and I am using people in the sectors I am looking into and getting their opinions.
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 08:07
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Princeton Review, Vault, and Wetfeet are the best resources out there, IMO.
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 08:31
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rhyme
I honestly don't know what I want to do...

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Question: What the heck did you write in your essays regarding focus/goal?

I'm kind of in the same boat. I imagine many people contemplating bschool are as well.
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 08:35
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rhyme
I honestly don't know what I want to do...

I know what I don't want to do - I don't want to work in IB working 100 hours a week. Beyond that, I'm pretty open. As I start my research, I realize that a lof of different things sound very interesting - investment management for instance, corporate finance could be boring, but maybe not, maybe a general mgmt job with a strategic focus - I've seen some that looked mighty fun, there's something called real estate finance listed on the employment reports but who knows what that really means - just mortgages? Or working securitizing those mortgages? Working at a trading desk for a mortgage company managing risk? Who knows. The list goes on like this. The more I research, the more I realize I just dont know enough about the day to day life of people in these roles to really make any kind of informed intelligent decisions.

What resources are you guys using to do your research?
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None can beat the real exposure.. what i am trying to do is talk to alumni in the specific field.....or networking with my undergrad alumni who pursued diverse careers
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 08:45
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I am with you rhyme! I think that many jobs sound interesting and I do not feel dedicated to any one career path. As far as I am concerned, if hours are reasonable (so I can also focus on the important things in life) and work is intersteing, I'll sign up for it. I have met numerous prospective and current students on my school visits, and the one thing I noticed is that those with finance background want to get into consulting, those in consulting want to get into marketing, and so on. It is like everyone thinks that someone else's job is better... I supose the story would be different with Exec. MBAs, but still...


rhyme
I honestly don't know what I want to do...

I know what I don't want to do - I don't want to work in IB working 100 hours a week. Beyond that, I'm pretty open. As I start my research, I realize that a lof of different things sound very interesting - investment management for instance, corporate finance could be boring, but maybe not, maybe a general mgmt job with a strategic focus - I've seen some that looked mighty fun, there's something called real estate finance listed on the employment reports but who knows what that really means - just mortgages? Or working securitizing those mortgages? Working at a trading desk for a mortgage company managing risk? Who knows. The list goes on like this. The more I research, the more I realize I just dont know enough about the day to day life of people in these roles to really make any kind of informed intelligent decisions.

What resources are you guys using to do your research?
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 09:30
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Most undecided people seem to end up in Management Consulting. After a couple of years, they get tired of the hotels, the airports and working in far flung places like Mobil, Alabama. At this point, they pick an industry they fancy or have experience in and join it in a corporate dev./gen. management role. My worst fear is that I will follow the crowd at school ending up as a finance monkey in IB and eventually hate myself two years after graduation.

I want to find out more about rotational programs, any one talked to a current student/alum about this ?
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 09:32
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Yea that seems to be the case. There are of course some people who are staying in industry, but it seems like most everyone wants to switch something up. No one is happy and the grass is always greener on the other side.

This is why its so important for me to figure out what I want to do NOW - once I get there, it'll be far far too easy to just follow the herd into banking knowing full well my heart isn't there.


EconGirl
I am with you rhyme! I think that many jobs sound interesting and I do not feel dedicated to any one career path. As far as I am concerned, if hours are reasonable (so I can also focus on the important things in life) and work is intersteing, I'll sign up for it. I have met numerous prospective and current students on my school visits, and the one thing I noticed is that those with finance background want to get into consulting, those in consulting want to get into marketing, and so on. It is like everyone thinks that someone else's job is better... I supose the story would be different with Exec. MBAs, but still...

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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 09:33
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lhotseface
Most undecided people seem to end up in Management Consulting. After a couple of years, they get tired of the hotels, the airports and working in far flung places like Mobil, Alabama. At this point, they pick an industry they fancy or have experience in and join it in a corporate dev./gen. management role. My worst fear is that I will follow the crowd at school ending up as a finance monkey in IB and eventually hate myself two years after graduation.

I want to find out more about rotational programs, any one talked to a current student/alum about this ?
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That's the route that I wanted to take, but consulting seems to be the most difficult industry to break in to. The travel and inconsistent schedule can be a drag too.
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 09:35
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The worse part of banking and MC is that they recruit before everybody else. And they have all those recruiting events.

I don't want to go into I banking or MC, but I'll interview with them and attend all their events just to hedge myself.

Investment management/hedge funds all recurit after the banks and/or off-campus.
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 09:35
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lhotseface
Most undecided people seem to end up in Management Consulting. After a couple of years, they get tired of the hotels, the airports and working in far flung places like Mobil, Alabama. At this point, they pick an industry they fancy or have experience in and join it in a corporate dev./gen. management role. My worst fear is that I will follow the crowd at school ending up as a finance monkey in IB and eventually hate myself two years after graduation.

I want to find out more about rotational programs, any one talked to a current student/alum about this ?
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Right, and it gets very old very fast - the travel that is. You don't always end up on fun projects in fun places, and can be a real drag to get on a plane week in week out. I'm also attracted to corporate rotational programs, but no haven't talked to anyone about this yet.
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 09:37
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lhotseface
Most undecided people seem to end up in Management Consulting. After a couple of years, they get tired of the hotels, the airports and working in far flung places like Mobil, Alabama. At this point, they pick an industry they fancy or have experience in and join it in a corporate dev./gen. management role. My worst fear is that I will follow the crowd at school ending up as a finance monkey in IB and eventually hate myself two years after graduation.

I want to find out more about rotational programs, any one talked to a current student/alum about this ?

That's the route that I wanted to take, but consulting seems to be the most difficult industry to break in to. The travel and inconsistent schedule can be a drag too.
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Consulting is easy to break into. Don't worry about that.
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 09:42
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lhotseface
Most undecided people seem to end up in Management Consulting. After a couple of years, they get tired of the hotels, the airports and working in far flung places like Mobil, Alabama. At this point, they pick an industry they fancy or have experience in and join it in a corporate dev./gen. management role. My worst fear is that I will follow the crowd at school ending up as a finance monkey in IB and eventually hate myself two years after graduation.

I want to find out more about rotational programs, any one talked to a current student/alum about this ?

That's the route that I wanted to take, but consulting seems to be the most difficult industry to break in to. The travel and inconsistent schedule can be a drag too.

Consulting is easy to break into. Don't worry about that.
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Really? Why does everyone act like it's the world's biggest deal? Or is it just the biggies that are hard to get into? As I've been working on this, consulting has actually piqued my interest, but I've kept that to myself. It seemed like showing up to an interview and saying, "I want to do consulting!" was too much like when I was 8 and wanted to be a movie star.

Yeah, sweetie, sure thing.
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 09:44
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I guess it is easy but not that easy. You still need to crack the case in the interview. If you can't, it is a sure ding.
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 09:51
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You're health will go to **** in consulting. You really have no control over your diet excpet which restuarant to eat out of. You might be far away from a gym.

In banking, you could at least go to the gym during lunch and have control over your diet.


But then, if you're going into these 2 fields, you're putting money over your health.
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 09:52
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aaudetat
rhyme
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lhotseface
Most undecided people seem to end up in Management Consulting. After a couple of years, they get tired of the hotels, the airports and working in far flung places like Mobil, Alabama. At this point, they pick an industry they fancy or have experience in and join it in a corporate dev./gen. management role. My worst fear is that I will follow the crowd at school ending up as a finance monkey in IB and eventually hate myself two years after graduation.

I want to find out more about rotational programs, any one talked to a current student/alum about this ?

That's the route that I wanted to take, but consulting seems to be the most difficult industry to break in to. The travel and inconsistent schedule can be a drag too.

Consulting is easy to break into. Don't worry about that.

Really? Why does everyone act like it's the world's biggest deal? Or is it just the biggies that are hard to get into? As I've been working on this, consulting has actually piqued my interest, but I've kept that to myself. It seemed like showing up to an interview and saying, "I want to do consulting!" was too much like when I was 8 and wanted to be a movie star.

Yeah, sweetie, sure thing.
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Because it's not a hard and fast area. That is, it's not saying "I want to work for an IB" where they will care what specific courses you've taken that address key knowledge areas. Do you know NPV? Can you figure out yield curves? Do you know crap about WACC? etc etc.

It's not like trying to get a job in corporate where your industry experience, or lack thereof matters. Know nothing about the mortgage industry? Hard to make an argument to be a product manager in that area.

Now consulting's different. You dont need any industry knowledge because its any industry. It doesn't matter what. Don't know NPV? Thats ok, it might not come up. It just depends on the projects. We dont have to staff you at Goldman, we can staff you at Pillsbury. Basically a consulting gig boils down to little more than a "can you think, do you mind travel, and will you fit in?"

And cases are easy once you learn how to do them.

That's also the problem with consulting. You spend a couple years in it, and by the end of it, unless you get high enough - say director or above - you've become a jack of all trades and a king of none. You don't know one industry especially well, becuase you've worked in fifteen by then, you dont know any one company very well, because you've worked for twenty of them, and you find yourself in a position where you know a little bit about a lot, but not a lot about a little bit.
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 09:53
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gmatclb
You're health will go to **** in consulting. You really have no control over your diet excpet which restuarant to eat out of. You might be far away from a gym.

In banking, you could at least go to the gym during lunch and have control over your diet.


But then, if you're going into these 2 fields, you're putting money over your health.
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You work out at the hotels. The food issue is true though. You eat out all the time.
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 10:04
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gmatclb
You're health will go to **** in consulting. You really have no control over your diet excpet which restuarant to eat out of. You might be far away from a gym.

In banking, you could at least go to the gym during lunch and have control over your diet.


But then, if you're going into these 2 fields, you're putting money over your health.

You work out at the hotels. The food issue is true though. You eat out all the time.
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I've never really liked the mini-gyms at hotels. I need a squat rack and some free weights.
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 10:07
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gmatclb
You're health will go to **** in consulting. You really have no control over your diet excpet which restuarant to eat out of. You might be far away from a gym.

In banking, you could at least go to the gym during lunch and have control over your diet.


But then, if you're going into these 2 fields, you're putting money over your health.

You work out at the hotels. The food issue is true though. You eat out all the time.

I've never really liked the mini-gyms at hotels. I need a squat rack and some free weights.
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Well, yea they aint ideal, but they work.
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I don't know what I want to do..... 01 Mar 2007, 10:12
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I'm in the same boat (and I think most MBA applicants are as well). I have narrowed it to this list:

Don't want to do:

* IB
* Finance
* Sales
* HR

Interested in:

* Strategy Consulting
* Marketing
* General Mgmt
* Sports Mgmt
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