How Competitve?

[ajpimentel]

I had been 3Q'd+ LOA Without a nom for a while, but just recently I got a call out of the blue saying I was going to be interviewed for a nomination from my senator. I did end up getting the nomination, and a few days later received an appointment. I have already accepted my appointment, and was wondering if anyone in here could speak from experience in regards to my career path. I love business (Run my own insurance marketing business), and I was planning to major in management at West Point. I was hoping to branch into the Finance Corp after West Point. However, I've had a lot of people tell me that finance is a competitive field, and I've had others tell me that finance is not competitive, and not a lot of people want to do it. So how Difficult is it to branch into Finance? Eventually I hope to have a career working in Private Equity or a Hedge fund which I know is already super competitive, so the competitive aspect won't deter me from my goal. Was just hoping to get some insight on the slots available etc.

 

[Volbeater7734]

As a fellow appointee, I think it’s best for us to not worry about the nitty gritty details of our future branch. We’ll have the best resources available to make our decision at USMA. Also, a big reason I’m going West Point is that if I don’t get my #1, I’ll still be happy with #2, #3 and so on. Make sure you’ve made peace with the situation in where you don’t get your first choice.

 

[VelveteenR]

Also, understand that the Army finance corps is primarily concerned with payroll, accounting, vendor payments, budgets, etc., pretty mundane stuff, not a hedge fund manager among them.

For the class of 2019, there was one Finance slot. The class of 2021 had four. So, it’s “competitive” in the sense there are few openings because it’s the smallest branch in the Army. I would also guess that the routine nature of the work does not call to many.