David Kanter | You can go your own way

A six-figure salary and an apartment in Manhattan are hard to part with, especially when you're 23. Yet that's just what 2002 Wharton and College alum Doug Tansey did and he hasn't looked back.

During his high school years in Sacramento, the lucrative, fast-paced lifestyle of his aunt and uncle, both of whom were investment bankers, intrigued Tansey. He resolved to become an investment banker himself and decided an undergraduate degree from Wharton would facilitate this career choice.

When he arrived at Penn, he immediately felt at home. Aside from pursuing degrees in Japanese and Finance, Tansey participated in ballroom and Latin American dance and spent summers in both China and Japan.

Then came on-campus recruiting season. Tansey was left with a tough decision. The CIA offered him a position as a Japan Analyst in its Foreign Broadcast Information Service, while Lehman Brothers offered him a lucrative investment banking position. Despite conflicting feelings, he ultimately pursued his original dream to become a banker on Wall Street, reasoning that the CIA position wasn't right for him because it didn't seem like a Wharton graduate "should be doing that."

In all fairness, there is no one thing that Wharton graduates should be doing, as demonstrated by their varied career and education decisions. Nevertheless, Tansey's initial belief wasn't all that misguided, as over 65 percent of Wharton undergraduates pursue careers in finance - and for good reason. The first-year salary for Wharton graduates from the class of 2007 in finance was as high as $100,000.

Some might contend that despite the lucrative financial opportunities available to those pursuing careers in finance and consulting, Wharton graduates should be less willing to accept such jobs due to the "robber baron" description often used to characterize financial executives and their firms. Although there may be some valid reasoning here, this characterization is an oversimplification.

First, despite any alleged devious maneuvering, investment is at the core of the American and global economic machine. Without banks to facilitate investing, the global economy would grind to a halt. Also, nearly all investment banks have a philanthropic branch, such as Lehman's own "Lehman Brothers Foundation."

So if the pay is so good and investment banks and consulting firms have a legitimate, beneficial role to play in society, why then would Tansey leave it all behind after only a year on the job?

His answer was simple. "I felt empty. Very empty."

Despite the important role investment banks play in society, which he openly acknowledges, Tansey saw investment banks as "a waste of human potential and emotional capital." During his year at Lehman Brothers, he said he often spent 17 or more hours a day hidden away in his cubicle staring at an Excel spreadsheet. Investment banking didn't exactly turn out to be the exciting, fast-paced life he had imagined in high school. After about a year on the job, he looked around at the passionless, money-driven lives his bosses led. He ultimately told himself, "I don't want to get stuck being you."

So he left his cushy loft in Manhattan, came back to Penn and began an intensive, two-year pre-med program. He's now studying at Penn's School of Medicine, which the United States Army will finance in exchange for service when he completes his studies. Talk about finding fulfillment.

Tansey's experience with finance offers a valuable lesson for students like me who will one day have to evaluate their career options: don't get stuck following the crowd if something else beckons. As with most jobs, some students like finance, others don't. "It just depends on the fit for the particular student," said Barbara Hewitt, senior associate director in Career Services.

After all, investment banking didn't ruin Tansey's life or hinder his future opportunities - it just wasn't for him. I'm also pretty confident in saying that Tansey would never say not to try investment banking - he probably would encourage students to go ahead and give it a shot to see if they like it.

But he did say that in Wharton, "they teach you that reward takes risk." So go ahead and risk it. Maybe we could all risk being a little more fulfilled.

David Kanter is a College freshman from East Falmouth, Mass. His e-mail is kanter@dailypennsylvanian.com. David Versus Goliath appears on Wednesdays.

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