So I finally decided what I want to do with my life...

[w_alloy]

I feel like I'm at a turning point in my life and would really appreciate some advice. I'll try not to get too emo/lifestoryish on you, nevertheless cliff notes at bottom.

I'm a really competitive and ambitious person, and the environment I grew up in told me to bury these character flaws. I've recently decided I can't turn away from who I am and that I want a comptetive and ambitious career.

I don't have a high school diploma or equivalent. I failed my AP government class second semester senior year of hs, and although I got a 5/5 on the AP test, and I had enough total credits to graduate, this was a required class for me. I had too much spite to make it up or get a GED. I then spent a lackluster non-degree seeking year at the local university (University Alaska Anchorage). I dropped out the beginning of the following year because of a complete lack of direction and motivation and a general depression, and because I was making enough off poker to easily sustain myself.

In the year and a half since I dropped out, I've played about 4 months worth of poker and had good but not great success, a bit over a quarter mil pre-tax, which I've done a decent job of not spending. Some other notes about me:

- I'm smart. I could always pass, and almost always ace, tests in college or HS without any preparation. I got a 3.5 gpa my first semester of college taking a relatively hard course load. I never bought any of the required books, never did homework that wasn’t a significant portion of our grade, and never studied (at all). I'm confident I could be successful in any field.
- My only job experience is a few summers commercial fishing (my employer commercial fished for "fun" and managed one of the biggest oil drilling sites in Alaska, and wrote me an amazing letter of recommendation)
- I don’t feel my past school history is indicative of what I will do in the future. I am motivated now, and as long as I am working to achieve goals I really want, I am a hard worker. People I know are skeptical of this, and in light of my history I don’t blame them (or you). But lets set skepticism aside and assume I can and will work my ass off.
- I don't know what I want to do. What I DO know is that I want a competitive job where I am challenged every day, making close to what I was making playing poker, but I don’t want to work ibanking or big law hours (I know some people are probably rolling their eyes at this, keep in mind this is just what I view as ideal). I have very general interests and talents and am open to suggestions, but was thinking maybe trading or high level aeronautical engineering. I dont really know much about entry level trading though, except that it's hard to break into?

Cliff notes: I'm 21 with a sparse job history and no real documented education and want a competitve career. Assume I am smart and a hard worker.

Here are my questions (finally!):

1. Is there any possible way I could get a good job without going back to school? (unlikely, but I have to ask)
2. Is there any way I could get into a good undergrad program (maybe after a year at another school)?
3. Is there any way I could be hired by a trading or investment banking firm in the next 4 years?
4. How hard is it to get into a good graduate school with a state school undergrad degree?
5. What would you do (with my goals) in my shoes?

[Yeti]

[ QUOTE ]
I've played about 4 months worth of poker and had good but not great success, a bit over a quarter mil pre-tax

[/ QUOTE ]

Play more poker?

[Bicycles_Biatch]

I negated everything you said about being intelligent when you typed the line "good but not great success playing poker"...

If you don't think $250K in cash ... mostly tax free... in four months ... isn't AMAZING money for a HS drop-out... then you are either lying... or you don't have the brains god gave a jelly-fish.

[XXXNoahXXX]

You claim to have made $250,000 playing poker in four months? And thats "good not great"? So you are 21 and potentially make $1M per year playing poker? How is this not the easiest short term decision ever?


You say you want to make close to what you're making in poker ($1M/yr), that is simply not possible without putting in years at a job working long hours.


If you really are that good play poker til the wheels fall off. If you're that smart you could handle state college workload while still getting plenty of hands in.



Edit: I doubt the truth of his poker success and/or intelligence since he mentioned poker almost in passing and the first three replies all picked it out as the obvious DUH answer.

[Autocratic]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've played about 4 months worth of poker and had good but not great success, a bit over a quarter mil pre-tax

[/ QUOTE ]

Play more poker?

[/ QUOTE ]

lol this is either not true, or OP is retarded. You are 21 and have the capability to bring in nearly a million a year, and are asking what you should do?

[sailonice]

you have to be a pretty damn good player to make a quarter mil in four months, so id say keep play, but invest. i know its not as fulfilling to you as getting a job and working at that but it pays off. Play until you feel you have a sufficient ammount in the bank and in stocks, then go get your ged and hit up a college. bust it out in three years and go from there

as for getting into a good graduate school, it helps to have a good school to come from, but in the end it just depends on grades and test scores.

[w_alloy]

[ QUOTE ]
I negated everything you said about being intelligent when you typed the line "good but not great success playing poker"...

If you don't think $250K in cash ... mostly tax free... in four months ... isn't AMAZING money for a HS drop-out... then you are either lying... or you don't have the brains god gave a jelly-fish.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wrote it in a misleading way. I played an amount of poker that could easily be played in 4 months over a 1.5 year period, all the while reading strat on 2p2 and thinking about the game. Also I ran really hot, and had some success in poker before this 1.5 year period.

On the "good but not great" line, I guess my perspective is skewed as the only person I know IRL who plays poker has had more success than me, and I've beat myself up for not playing more enough that I don't feel like I've had "great" success because I've fallen so short of my potential earnings.

[Yeti]

okay, i thought thats what you might have meant. i'm sure tons of people feel the same as your second paragraph.

anyway, back on topic.

[w_alloy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've played about 4 months worth of poker and had good but not great success, a bit over a quarter mil pre-tax

[/ QUOTE ]

Play more poker?

[/ QUOTE ]

lol this is either not true, or OP is retarded. You are 21 and have the capability to bring in nearly a million a year, and are asking what you should do?

[/ QUOTE ]

I can't bring in near a million a year anymore as A) that amount of hands would kill me B) most of this was on party right before it ended, the games are way way tougher now. Also, I can play poker while going to school full time, and I feel I should start preparing for the future now.

I dont want to play poker my whole life.

[CappyAA]

Even if you make a quarter mil over 1.5 years, that's still way more than you are going to make as a h.s. dropout entering the job market.

I don't believe you.