During Jon Gantman's senior year as a Wharton undergraduate, he ran through a marathon of interviews with prestigious banking firms, had countless extra-curricular activities and had a full schedule of classes, some of which he hadn't even attended in three weeks.
Gantman, a 2004 Wharton graduate, is just one of seven students profiled by Nicole Ridgway in her new book, The Running of the Bulls: Inside the Cutthroat Race from Wharton to Wall Street.
Ridgway's first book describes the life of Gantman and others, who sacrificed their free time, social lives and sleep in a quest for six-figure salaries on Wall Street.
Ridgway spoke about her book in a lecture at the Penn Bookstore yesterday.
Several anxious Wharton underclassmen and worried mothers interested in the ins and outs of the finance recruitment process watched as Ridgway read stories of seven overachieving members of the 2004 graduating class.
As the young author told of their trials and tribulations, most of the audience were amazed by what a Wharton alumnus must endure to secure a top job in the industry.
"I'm very energized by the whole process," Wharton and College freshman Shreyans Parekh said. "It makes me more motivated to take that extra step and explore all of my interests at Wharton."
Following the reading, Ridgway, a writer for Forbes, took questions from the audience about the recruitment scene.
"The whole thing is very intense," she said. "It makes even the most high-spirited people anxious at times."
A very large percentage of Wharton students eventually go into investment banking, making the pressure to beat out one's classmates all the more important, Ridgway explained.
"Most of these kids have a type-A personality; they're all people willing to work hard," she said. "Also, recruitment-wise, there are a lot of investment banks that come on the campus early in the year. They're just very prevalent."
Looking back on it, though, none of her subjects had any regrets once the process was complete. Despite the fact that some wished they had had more of a college experience, Ridgway explained, all Wharton students know that the job following graduation is the prize that they're after.
"When I applied to Wharton, I knew what I was getting into," Parekh said. "I knew that a lot of high-powered consultants and bankers come from Wharton and I'm ready for the competition."
