“Fuck You, Ivy League Brats”
One of my friends graduated from a second-tier school last year. He had no clue what Investment Banking was when he was a freshman. His immigrant family had gone through a lot of financial hardships. He was determined to get into Investment Banking because he knew he would start making a lot of money from the entry level analyst position. But, he knew nothing about the Wall Street world. He worked his ass off to learn everything he possibly could for two years about investment banking and the culture on Wall Street and networked with about 500 bankers in NYC. He skipped classes, took a bus, commuted for 7 hours to get to NYC, met with 10 to 15 bankers in a day, and learned as much as he could from them. He did so for months.
His hustle paid off when he made it to final rounds of one of the most premium investment banks in the world. He was called in for a final interview. When he got there, there were 30 other people sitting in the lobby waiting for their interviews for the same position. Each one of them was from a Ivy League school. Some went to a business school. He was literally made fun of by five other candidates from some of the top schools in this country. They told him in his face that there is no way he could possibly beat all those Ivy League candidates. They made fun of his school, the place he came from and the fact that he thinks that he could get the gig over all of them. And they said so because finance always had been a field where most people that get the best jobs are Ivy league graduates. Most bulge brackets banks have these top ranked schools on their target lists. And, as a consequence, these Ivy league students are well-prepared and are always favored. My school has no on-campus recruitment from the top names in finance. Or any industry for that matter. Five hours later, when all the interviews were over, my friend was sitting in a bar. He was deeply demotivated by what he had to face and the shit he had to take from those Ivy league students. While he was drinking his beer, he got a call from an unknown number. The female voice said “Congratulations, you got the job”.
He beat all those 30 candidates.
Two hours after this, my friend hunted down email addresses of those candidates that made fun of him and ruined his mood right before his interview. He left the body of the email blank. The subject line said “Fuck You, Ivy league Brats”.
Hard working candidates that do not go to top ranked schools always have the face such shit. I have personally experienced it from time to time.
We do not have the brilliant infrastructure of resources, mentorships and networks that students at Ivy league schools have. We do not get to listen to some of the world’s renowned speakers in our school auditoriums. Top tech, finance and consulting companies do not come to our campuses for recruitment. We do not have professors that sit down in meetings with the heads of highly successful people in various fields.
But, none of that means that we are not as smart.
It just means we know how to struggle. We know what its like to fight tooth and nail to accomplish our goals. It just means we are hard working. We know how to hustle when their is no supporting mechanism.
I respect so many ambitious students that go to top schools. They have worked hard in high school. They did the right things. They hustle in college. But, it cannot be denied that they hustle within an environment that offers an infrastructure that amplifies their efforts. And, as a result, success is more likely.
We hustle in an environment where all we have is our determination.
This piece is not meant to undermine anyone’s efforts but to urge you to appreciate our hustle, smarts and determination.
And, I go to the same school. And, I promise you that I am going to be snatching a job thats conventionally reserved for Ivy league graduates. It is highly unfair to live in a world that tends to judge someone’s curiosity to learn and competence based off of what school her or she went to.
No one knows exactly whats needed to execute a job well before getting the job. In most jobs, you learn as you go. What one needs is an endless curiosity to learn. And it is utterly stupid of people to associate that trait to the school ranks.
I knew it would be really hard for me to become an associate at a VC fund. I know that my career center is pretty much useless in helping me achieve what I want. So, I started hustling. I started leveraging what I have got. The only asset that I have — curiosity to learn. I currently work as a VC analyst.
And, there were some people that told me straight-up to my face that there is no way I could get that gig since I go to a second-tier school in a city that is not even remotely famous for startups/VC.
So, yes, “ Fuck you Ivy league brats”.
