My 'talent' has become somewhat of a nuisance as I'm constantly referred to as 'the writer' at work/by friends/family when I can do so much more than just that. While I appreciate the significance of sound prose and clear writing I do not like being boxed into this very small role especially at work when there are more interesting things one could be doing.
As a former journalist these two quotes sum things up:
1)'tell me something positive i'll write you a paragraph'
2)'tell me something negative and i'll write you a page'
London School of Economics. The opportunities on offer for grad school were really good. Great peers, amazing public lectures, awesome job opportunities, the school is slowly developing a start-up/entrepreneurship culture via societies and the careers service. Lastly, the campus is based right in the heart of the city.
I had an awesome year and I still have regrets about not doing more extra-curriculars/freelance/taking up opportunities.
Graduated (again), work in a VC backed AM firm in London, paid off my parents mortgage and now fixing up the property outside of work. Started researching Venture Capital careers as its what I want to get involved in long-term. If anyone has any thoughts on this please do get in touch with me.
Small company. Personally, I'm working in a 10 man boutique buy-side firm having just graduated in September. I'm getting real responsibility i.e. responsibility for clients, working across several roles not just one like you'd get if you join a larger firms graduate scheme. By getting involved in all these aspects you get more operational experience as well in terms of the 'nuts and bolts' plus smaller firms tend to be headed up by very experienced individuals so you'll pick up their habits directly instead of only maybe meeting them once or twice if you were at a comparably larger firm.
It matters if you want a career in a 'professional service' i.e. politics, banking, law etc and to some extent the business world purely b/c these institutions not only offer you a brand name education but the opportunities (work experience, public speakers from a range of industries, extra-curriculats etc) on offer are far far superior to lower ranked colleges.
Even though I had a great time, got two great degrees and actually found a really good job in the City I cannot help but feel why I couldn't have gone straight to work skipped all this debt and invested even more money/time in other endeavours like getting solid operational experience in a company. For instance, my head of opts at my firm built the biggest mutual fund in the UK around the age of 20.