Interview with a Banker

For his Washington Post blog, intrepid journalist and UCLA grad Ezra Klein spoke to a member of an endangered species: a Wall Street recruit from Harvard.

What is it like to be a member of an elite (albeit dying) breed? Ezra Klein gives us the scoop.

According to the “accidental banker,” an anonymous Harvard alum, the way to grow up fast is by heading to Wall Street. The mysterious banker “focused on history and government and political philosophy” at Harvard (does that mean Social Studies?), landed a summer internship at Goldman after junior year, and then promptly returned to Goldman after graduating (that’s a story we haven’t heard before).

The banker says that it is appealing to have a job lined up in September of senior year, a hefty salary, and the opportunity to build skills that can be used in other sectors.

Of course, Wall Street comes with its own fair share of sacrifices, the alum says. “These aren't the types of things you grow up dreaming of doing, but you wear a business suit, you meet clients. It's a way of growing up very quickly.”

So what makes these kids so obnoxious?

“People on Wall Street work very hard and they feel they chose this path because there was a reward promised to them. And now, when it's being taken away from them, they get very angry."

Photo courtesy of Michael Daddino/CC BY 2.0