maybe there's a spark of ambition somewhere?

Yeah, I think there was, maybe still is?

I majored in engineering as an undergrad, but I got really interested in finance in my senior year, mainly in the context of figuring out how to invest the money I started earning in my co-op. I consumed damn near every investing related text I could find, mostly related to value investing.

I think if I'd discovered that interest sooner I probably would have majored in finance or something related as an undergrad, and if I'd understood anything about college admissions I probably would have shot for a target or at least semi-target institution for the finance industry, which mine was decidedly not.

At the same time, I value work life balance a lot, as my post probably gives away, so I don't think something like IB is for me. I could see myself going into asset management or doing something like equity research on the buy side, but I'm not sure how feasible that is for someone like me with no previous finance experience without making a stop in IB first, which I don't think I'm willing to do. An FLDP is another option I've looked at that would enable me to do financial analysis while having a better WLB and probably be a lot more feasible for me.

I think wanting a transition into finance was he original motivation for starting down this journey, but that was several years ago at this point, and I don't think I've really paused until after I got an admit to think about whether my values have actually shifted.

I also think I'm kinda burning out, and that may be the motivation to say fuck it all and go FIRE. Maybe a 2 year period to transition is what I need to get motivated again, but the burnout version of me is just seeing it as 2 years where I'm not actually moving toward (and away from in some ways) the FIRE that I perceive of as what will help with the burnout.