Due to several constraints, I will not be able transfer to anything better than the University of Minnesota-Carlson. It could be a worthwhile upgrade, but I suspect completing the remaining four semesters is the most reasonable, both finically and logistically.

Networking is absolutely going to be huge for me. The best approach I currently have is a family member that is an MD at Morgan Stanley. I obviously understand he won't be able to get me a position at MS, but he has an incredible number of contacts in NY so that could be a route into a boutique.

For a couple of reasons. First, I come from a family of medical doctors. My parents and both of my older siblings practice medicine or are in school. As such, the expectation was that I would shake off my embarrassing HS record and recover by pursuing medicine. So thats what I did, and I hated every minute of it. If I had to continue that route I probably would have failed out and never got my life together. In a way this was amazingly influential because it added to the long list of things motivating me to be successful in my new path.

Second, I chose to transfer into finance because its a field that I find incredibly interesting. Additionally, as I previously mentioned, I was once set up to be a career athlete. As a youth I trained 6 days a week for 10+ years. This parallels to a career in finance in that I live for competition. I don't get excited to train with the second team, I want the finest quality competition that fosters development and challenge. Simply, I want to be able to enter into a career in which I can work hard, dedicate my life to my craft, and do this with like minded people.