Terrible education record - career in Finance possible?

Bear with me folks, this will be a long post. I’d be incredibly grateful to those of you who take the time to read it and offer your input. For those who don't have the time or can't be bothered to read it, summary is at bottom.

I will first give some background on myself. I am a 25 year old student studying Computer Science -B.sc in Applied Computing (Hons), to be precise. The Institute of Technology I study in is in Ireland. Its decent, but nowhere near recognized outside of Ireland. I have never been very academical. I passed everything at school, but I didn’t get better than honour level C’s. My grades throughout college, other than first year, have been below par to terrible. There are a variety of reasons why my grades were so poor, ranging from not trying hard enough from second year onwards, unsuitability to the course and bouts of depression.

First year I put in effort and had reasonably satisfactory grades. Second year was largely ok too, other than failing two modules which I still need to repeat. I didn’t pass them but managed to carry on in to third year. Third year I failed three modules out of 8. One was a 10 credit module so I had to stay back to do it again. The following year, I passed all three modules I failed in third year, though I was tired of it. I deferred my course with the two 5 credit modules from second year still outstanding. This was back in the summer of 2016.

I have now realised I need to get a degree. I was intending on completing my 4^th year, but I found it difficult to get back in to the programming after such a long break. I’m not great at it naturally nor do I enjoy it, so I didn’t feel it would be worth the effort (which might not be enough) of preparing from scratch for a project year in 10 months. Especially to only get an average degree.Taking this in to consideration, I’ve decided to graduate after third year. I won’t get my Honours B.sc, but I will get an ordinary B.sc. Unfortunately, they judge the grade on third year alone, so because of that, I think my average would be around 45-50, giving me the lowest graded pass degree possible.

As you can all see, my education has been an absolute write off. With all that said, let me now tell you a bit about what I am currently doing/want to do. I don’t have any skilled work experience or internships, though I have worked for a couple of years for a security firm. Ultimately, I would like to work for myself/be an entrepreneur, though I currently don’t have any real ideas, network of people or funds to do it successfully. As I feel the time isn’t right, I feel I should try get in to the corporate world to build skills, network and save some funds for when the time is right.

In the last year or so, I have taken an interest in Finance. I have done some investing and trading in that time. I would like to learn more about these things and potentially work in these areas. I am currently studying for CFA, which I will sit in December after graduating with my B.sc. I quite like the idea of Finance as its something I’m interested in and something I can make use of for my future goal of being an entrepreneur/running my own business.

I understand my education track record will greatly hinder me, even with the three levels of CFA passed. I am realistic, I don’t expect to be working in JP Morgan doing Investment Banking. I’d be happy enough getting a role as a Financial Analyst in a smaller company and being able to work my way up to a decent wage. I am now willing to make a massive effort to do what it takes. I will study long and hard for the CFA. I will learn things like Excel and Financial modelling in depth to make me a better candidate for the job.

tl;dr: Terrible grades, failed modules, not a top college, ordinary bachelors degree, couple of year gap in middle of college, almost 26, no skilled work experience.

With all that said, I now have some questions for you all:

1/ Do I have any chance of breaking in to the Finance corporate world with my education track record? The CFA is quite the effort to study for if my efforts will be wasted because of my poor grades. I feel it will be difficult to even get an internship due to my grades and age.

2/ Is there anything I can do to try make up for my poor education record? Would I literally have to do a degree from scratch?


I’d really love your honest feedback to help me consider my options.

There are two ways into a job that you love.

1. Get brilliant degree and stun everyone with your marvellous skill or

2. Start at the bottom and work your way up.

You have had a terrible time of it but now you have a goal.

Pick a sector where you want to work and get a basic job there. So it could be receptionist or office junior. Doesn't matter what .... It is a foot in the door. Once you are in it is easier to move up. It will be tight money wise for a few years but if you play your cards right.

My brother in law started as a holiday job in a very big investment bank. I won't name it but it is beeeeeeeeg! He is now one of the most senior employees earning millions a year in salary and bonus. He has not got a degree or indeed any qualifications other than a couple of mediocre A levels

Bear with me folks, this will be a long post. I’d be incredibly grateful to those of you who take the time to read it and offer your input. For those who don't have the time or can't be bothered to read it, summary is at bottom.

I will first give some background on myself. I am a 25 year old student studying Computer Science -B.sc in Applied Computing (Hons), to be precise. The Institute of Technology I study in is in Ireland. Its decent, but nowhere near recognized outside of Ireland. I have never been very academical. I passed everything at school, but I didn’t get better than honour level C’s. My grades throughout college, other than first year, have been below par to terrible. There are a variety of reasons why my grades were so poor, ranging from not trying hard enough from second year onwards, unsuitability to the course and bouts of depression.

First year I put in effort and had reasonably satisfactory grades. Second year was largely ok too, other than failing two modules which I still need to repeat. I didn’t pass them but managed to carry on in to third year. Third year I failed three modules out of 8. One was a 10 credit module so I had to stay back to do it again. The following year, I passed all three modules I failed in third year, though I was tired of it. I deferred my course with the two 5 credit modules from second year still outstanding. This was back in the summer of 2016.

I have now realised I need to get a degree. I was intending on completing my 4^th year, but I found it difficult to get back in to the programming after such a long break. I’m not great at it naturally nor do I enjoy it, so I didn’t feel it would be worth the effort (which might not be enough) of preparing from scratch for a project year in 10 months. Especially to only get an average degree.Taking this in to consideration, I’ve decided to graduate after third year. I won’t get my Honours B.sc, but I will get an ordinary B.sc. Unfortunately, they judge the grade on third year alone, so because of that, I think my average would be around 45-50, giving me the lowest graded pass degree possible.

As you can all see, my education has been an absolute write off. With all that said, let me now tell you a bit about what I am currently doing/want to do. I don’t have any skilled work experience or internships, though I have worked for a couple of years for a security firm. Ultimately, I would like to work for myself/be an entrepreneur, though I currently don’t have any real ideas, network of people or funds to do it successfully. As I feel the time isn’t right, I feel I should try get in to the corporate world to build skills, network and save some funds for when the time is right.

In the last year or so, I have taken an interest in Finance. I have done some investing and trading in that time. I would like to learn more about these things and potentially work in these areas. I am currently studying for CFA, which I will sit in December after graduating with my B.sc. I quite like the idea of Finance as its something I’m interested in and something I can make use of for my future goal of being an entrepreneur/running my own business.

I understand my education track record will greatly hinder me, even with the three levels of CFA passed. I am realistic, I don’t expect to be working in JP Morgan doing Investment Banking. I’d be happy enough getting a role as a Financial Analyst in a smaller company and being able to work my way up to a decent wage. I am now willing to make a massive effort to do what it takes. I will study long and hard for the CFA. I will learn things like Excel and Financial modelling in depth to make me a better candidate for the job.

tl;dr: Terrible grades, failed modules, not a top college, ordinary bachelors degree, couple of year gap in middle of college, almost 26, no skilled work experience.

With all that said, I now have some questions for you all:

1/ Do I have any chance of breaking in to the Finance corporate world with my education track record? The CFA is quite the effort to study for if my efforts will be wasted because of my poor grades. I feel it will be difficult to even get an internship due to my grades and age.

2/ Is there anything I can do to try make up for my poor education record? Would I literally have to do a degree from scratch?


I’d really love your honest feedback to help me consider my options.

Yes but chances are your progression would need to be

1 AP/AR or accounts assistant for a smallish company
2 get qualified with CIMA or ACCA
3 once qualified plus some form of promotion try to move across to an FP&A role
4 you’re now skilled and moderately senior - many options

Thanks for the reply.

I am not against starting at the bottom. In fact, I don't particularly have any desire to work for a massive company in the high ranks. I just want to work in a corporate company for the reasons I stated: To network, learn skills and grow funds in order to help me do something of my own down the line. I'd be more than happy to work for a smaller company, as long as there is room for progression in it. I'm not bothered about prestige and titles and such.

I guess if I passed level 1 of CFA, done an internship with a Finance company while studying for Level 2, I could probably get a job after passing level 2. I know I'm going to need to work harder than ever before. Thats fine.

And here is one of your mistakes - get some fire in your belly - aim high ( which is what you haven't been doing in the past) so even if you only get part of the way.....

Thanks for your reply.

I'm not really looking to go down the Accounting route. Thats why I'm doing CFA over an accounting certificate. I'm ultimately interested in working in Portfolio management, Private Equity or Equity Research. Difficult to get in to, I know. Is there any similar route, starting at the bottom, to take as a Financial Anaylst or doing research? Something along those lines.

Thanks for your reply.

I'm not really looking to go down the Accounting route. Thats why I'm doing CFA over an accounting certificate. I'm ultimately interested in working in Portfolio management, Private Equity or Equity Research. Difficult to get in to, I know. Is there any similar route, starting at the bottom, to take as a Financial Anaylst or doing research? Something along those lines.

Not sure I understand what you are trying to achieve? Are you looking for the highest paid roles so you have a pot of money to start an unrelated business in 10 years time?

I do, just not to climb the corporate ladder. As mentioned in the OP, my end goal is to be an entrepreneur/run my own business, So I'm not overly fussed about trying to climb the corporate ladder when I only want to work in corporate for a maximum of 10 years. Its just a way for me to learn skills, make some money and contacts while building ideas.

All this doesn't mean I wouldn't work hard in my corporate job. I would, considering I'd have to work hard to even get there to begin with - just that I'm not concerned about titles and would be more inclined to work towards my goal rather than making the next level. If I am content, making progress, learning and making contacts - thats good enough for me.

Unfortunately, I'm not ready to go the entrepreneurial route just yet, so this is what makes sense for me to do, for the meantime.

I'm sorry but given your background you don't have the luxury of choice to be thinking like this. You're not going to easily get into a corporate job as it is.. let alone anything to do with buyside finance. You're gonna need to eat a piece of humble pie before you move forward because this attitude isn't going to help.

It is possible to do what you want to do but it will take serious commitment - be that starting off from the bottom (as mentioned earlier), knocking on a bunch (100s of emails/calls to people) of doors with at least some type of work product to show you can add value to a firm or working your ass off to get the grades in your current degree to get into a good feeder school for finance.

that is the reality - sitting the CFA will show your interest but that's it.

it's not like being an entrepreneur will be any easier either. even people at finance target schools (with solid grades throughout, and probably work experience) struggle to get into the industry; you're definitely not waltzing in.

Thanks for the reply.

I am happy to start at the bottom. I know its highly unlikely i'd ever make it near the top jobs, given its the most competitive field out there and I'm up against the best of the best.

I am just asking questions to see if it makes sense to continue along this path. From the amount of effort I'd put in to CFA, just to have to plead and beg to get a job at the bottom (which might never come), it probably would make more sense to focus on programming for the same length of time, do an internship, build a portfolio and get a job as a Jnr Developer. Probably more chance of me managing to make up for my poor grades going that route, than trying to break in to Finance. More room for progression under my circumstances as well, I'd imagine.

Bear with me folks, this will be a long post. I’d be incredibly grateful to those of you who take the time to read it and offer your input. For those who don't have the time or can't be bothered to read it, summary is at bottom.

I will first give some background on myself. I am a 25 year old student studying Computer Science -B.sc in Applied Computing (Hons), to be precise. The Institute of Technology I study in is in Ireland. Its decent, but nowhere near recognized outside of Ireland. I have never been very academical. I passed everything at school, but I didn’t get better than honour level C’s. My grades throughout college, other than first year, have been below par to terrible. There are a variety of reasons why my grades were so poor, ranging from not trying hard enough from second year onwards, unsuitability to the course and bouts of depression.

First year I put in effort and had reasonably satisfactory grades. Second year was largely ok too, other than failing two modules which I still need to repeat. I didn’t pass them but managed to carry on in to third year. Third year I failed three modules out of 8. One was a 10 credit module so I had to stay back to do it again. The following year, I passed all three modules I failed in third year, though I was tired of it. I deferred my course with the two 5 credit modules from second year still outstanding. This was back in the summer of 2016.

I have now realised I need to get a degree. I was intending on completing my 4^th year, but I found it difficult to get back in to the programming after such a long break. I’m not great at it naturally nor do I enjoy it, so I didn’t feel it would be worth the effort (which might not be enough) of preparing from scratch for a project year in 10 months. Especially to only get an average degree.Taking this in to consideration, I’ve decided to graduate after third year. I won’t get my Honours B.sc, but I will get an ordinary B.sc. Unfortunately, they judge the grade on third year alone, so because of that, I think my average would be around 45-50, giving me the lowest graded pass degree possible.

As you can all see, my education has been an absolute write off. With all that said, let me now tell you a bit about what I am currently doing/want to do. I don’t have any skilled work experience or internships, though I have worked for a couple of years for a security firm. Ultimately, I would like to work for myself/be an entrepreneur, though I currently don’t have any real ideas, network of people or funds to do it successfully. As I feel the time isn’t right, I feel I should try get in to the corporate world to build skills, network and save some funds for when the time is right.

In the last year or so, I have taken an interest in Finance. I have done some investing and trading in that time. I would like to learn more about these things and potentially work in these areas. I am currently studying for CFA, which I will sit in December after graduating with my B.sc. I quite like the idea of Finance as its something I’m interested in and something I can make use of for my future goal of being an entrepreneur/running my own business.

I understand my education track record will greatly hinder me, even with the three levels of CFA passed. I am realistic, I don’t expect to be working in JP Morgan doing Investment Banking. I’d be happy enough getting a role as a Financial Analyst in a smaller company and being able to work my way up to a decent wage. I am now willing to make a massive effort to do what it takes. I will study long and hard for the CFA. I will learn things like Excel and Financial modelling in depth to make me a better candidate for the job.

tl;dr: Terrible grades, failed modules, not a top college, ordinary bachelors degree, couple of year gap in middle of college, almost 26, no skilled work experience.

With all that said, I now have some questions for you all:

1/ Do I have any chance of breaking in to the Finance corporate world with my education track record? The CFA is quite the effort to study for if my efforts will be wasted because of my poor grades. I feel it will be difficult to even get an internship due to my grades and age.

2/ Is there anything I can do to try make up for my poor education record? Would I literally have to do a degree from scratch?


I’d really love your honest feedback to help me consider my options.