Friend wrote a letter to PROF. after internship at UBS

[wallyhopp]

reminds me of a few internships I did at architecture firms.. The first year "new guys" were doing some pretty low level type stuff. i'm talkingTOP of the class newly graduated graduate students getting stuck redesigning bathrooms for jack in the box.. no joke.. the liberties and creativeness allowedand DEMANDED in college overly prepares you in some ways for what will be a corporate type do as we say type job. I would literally need to be mentored by thetop guy and that simply was not feasible. So i really got a good glimpse of what "life after college for the next 5 years". Tough work from theground up type stuff. I stuck with it in college for a year and soon, major was changed.. Thank you internships

 

[skip2mylou23]

I've got an internship coming up and I hope it doesn't change my mind/goals.

 

[scribble253]

One of my co-workers just got layoff from UBS.

 

[desent]

I rather work a corporate office then a fast food join... save up the money and start my own business from there.

 

[justscoreda100]

IMO internships aren't about actually learning actual skills. There resume padders for the most part because in most fields especially mine, you learnalmost everything on the job. Ima CS major and most companies give out internships for the sole purpose of receiving cheap/free labor. Its sad but thatinternship at UBS will probably get you in the door at another company that will teach you the skills you need. IMO college isn't about building skills fora certain job its about measuring your aptitude to learn.

 

[cjmoney]

Originally Posted by LazyJ10

Its not even just internships. First year "analysts" can feel the same. Basically, they've often treated it as a "rites of passage" type environment. I had friends go through it and even read about it in Liar's Poker.

Its really the luck of the draw.

Good book. I've had both, the boring internship where they use you as free labor...and the well paid amazing internship that I will remember the rest of mylife. Stepping stones...

 

[vancity74]

Good for him. I majored in Finance as well, and I had a similar experience. Needless to say, I will never work in the field again.

 

[snow pl0w]

Originally Posted by xxxoverridexxx


Spoke the truth. His teacher replied back that he has never witness something like this and that he wished ppl were more honest like him.

UBS

Unfortunately, as can be seen from my internship reports, I didn't learn much about finance from the internship. Although we were told from the beginning that most of the work would be office work, we didn't realize it would be so dull and repetitive. As I later learned by talking to other students who had previous experiences with other internships, this was one of the worst they have had. While they admitted that in almost all of the other internships they were told in the beginning they'd be "doing office work" as well, eventually most of them helped with research or received some other serious assignment, at least something relevant to finance. That was not the case at UBS. To summarize a day's work; copy, fax, file, print, mail, bind, run back and forth, replace paper/printer cartridges, get mail, create excel spreadsheet(s). I don't think four years of college are necessary for this.

The internship was very valuable, I'd say. It was valuable in the sense that, after seeing what goes on in a major branch of a major financial company, I'm debating whether I made the right choice by selecting finance as my major, or going into business in general. True, this was only a small piece of the puzzle, but it was still an experience. I guess I'm glad that I did it before getting a full time job in a similar environment. And if I was offered a full time job right after the internship, I probably would've taken it. But now that I had time to think about it, things seem different. I don't know if I'm ready to give up my life for $55K/year in a cubicle or office. It made me reconsider all those things I wanted to do as a kid that kind of just faded away as I grew up, as I tried to be more mature and "act my age," as everyone told me to do.

I would definitely recommend this to other students, not because they will gain valuable knowledge, but because they might realize that finance isn't their thing and pursue the dreams. When asked in elementary school the popular question, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" I don't think many people answered "certified financial planner or charted financial advisor." If 5 years from now you see me flying a navy jet or driving a formula one car, you know what made me change my mind.

Your friend sounds like a self-important douche. Did he really think as an intern he was gonna roll in and manage 8 figure accounts? How after 4 years ofschool he never heard someone refer to a "spread sheet money"? Finance is boring, especially just starting out. How could he not know for the next3-5 years after under grad he'd be staring at an lcd screen all day? Kids think they're special because they completed under grad, newsflash EVERYONEhas completed under grad - you are NOT special. That letter makes him sound like a brat imo.

 

[snow pl0w]

* spread sheet monKey, is something guys in finance call 1st and 2nd year guys..literally spend 60+ hours a week creating spread sheets and power points. Idon't know how a 4th year finance kid wouldn't know any of this ahead of time. Sounds like the kid watched boiler room and/or wall street too manytimes and thought he could just walk in and start buying up companies. Give me a break. Gotta pay your dues kid.

 

[dman14]

Originally Posted by Matt Barkley Heisman Number 8

someones gotta do the +*@%% work.

qft, and you got to be willing to suck up to your supervisors to get on top

and no, they wont let you run major accts the first day you step through that office door

 

[lilpro4u]

I major in Finance mainly because I love dealing with money..

But I will get my corporate experience out of college, and then work for my self.

 

[lurkin2long]

Originally Posted by knightngale

it is all about connections

connections beat out all imo.

i dont care how smart you are or experience.........

this is a fact of life.

 

[therav4]

Originally Posted by lurkin2long

Originally Posted by knightngale

it is all about connections

connections beat out all imo.

i dont care how smart you are or experience.........

this is a fact of life.

Unfortunately, it is. And I am a Finance major, so I kinda know what he is talking about. That's why its important not to just find any position, but theright one.

 

[reigndrop]

Lol a lot of business internships are like this. And as LazyJ10, pointed, same goes for first years. Don't be disappointed if you go into business and thisis what you're doing lol. I went through it too, except I had connections that helped me out lol.

And to the guy that said it's all about connections, that's the truth. I see people around me that don't know anybody that are slaving away, whileI have it a little better.

Edit: you finance/business majors going into i-banking/sales and trading should also note this, those first few years are known as weeder years. They'reseeing who will put in the work, and who won't, and they'll fire the ones who won't. After this period, you will have it muchhh better for you ifyou can handle the work and prove yourself.

 

[randomhero1985]

This is a perfect example of internship experience being overrated when an employer is making a hiring decision.

 

[guillermo gutierez]

Kids think they're special because they completed under grad, newsflash EVERYONE has completed under grad - you are NOT special.
yep. i KNOW this. it sucks to hear otherwise when i go back home cuz everybody in the hood thinks that since ima graduate from college that imabe makin "mad bread" i keep tellin them it doesnt work out like that

and after i read the article i also was like "what was dude expecting" i dont know anything about finance, but it sounds boring. i have workin at aninsurance company for a couple seasons and i damn sure aint expect to be in there as an underwriter or doing anything important.

the most i did was filing and scanning.

 

[0cks]

Well for a company it really makes little to no sense to give all that real hands on experience, have you mess up and then spend their "valuable"time cleaning it up. At the end of the day you might decide the job/industry is not for you and the company is left with nothing. It's also a double whammyif they are paying you too. They basically are hoping you learn something through osmosis.

Sounds like the internship at UBS did it's job for the OP's friend

 

[therav4]

I am presuming this is not the case when you finish your masters, is it?

 

[reigndrop]

Originally Posted by TheRav4

I am presuming this is not the case when you finish your masters, is it?

Depends on your working background before you started your masters program. If it's very little, you'll still be treated like this.

 

[skip2mylou23]

Like someone said before, the internship is a huge resume filler. When you graduate and apply for a job, you may be doing more meaningful stuff. Either way,your friend should know that you have to go through that process before you become the boss.

 

[calvinjohnson]

Good read

 

[harlemkickdiva]

Wow...I am so thinking about changing my major now

Not a finance major but I am accounting and I'm starting to feel like this just sitting in class

I'm about to switch from Accounting to business admin and just go to law school

 

[after h0urs]

If this kid felt disillusioned after a internship, he didn't have the stomach to last anyways. Did he really expect to go into an internships @ one of themost prestigious investment banks in the world and do meaningful work as a kid? You gotta pay your dues, do work, and exit the game after 3 years with six figsin your bank account.

 

[snow pl0w]

Delusions of grandeur: a delusion that you are much greater and more powerful and influential than you really are. How was the kid smart enough to land aninternship at that kind of company but not bright enough to have realistic expectations? Professor may have sent him some empathetic response but I wouldguarantee he was laughing his #!!% off and shaking his head at your boy thinking, "Who does this KID think he is?!"