My (Underground) American Dream: My True Story as an Undocumented Immigrant Who Became a Wall Street Executive by Julissa Arce

Author:Julissa Arce [Arce, Julissa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Autobiography, Biography, Ethnic Studies, History, Non-Fiction, Personal Memoirs, Social Science, United States
ISBN: 9781455567577
Google: nzqvAQAACAAJ
Amazon: B01A5VQU5C
Publisher: Center Street
Published: 2016-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

When I called my parents to share the good news, it struck me that I had now gone almost three full years without seeing them. Three full years without seeing my mom’s face or giving her a hug. Three full years without a moment spent listening to one of those old José Alfredo Jiménez cassette tapes in the car with my dad, and without helping Julio with his homework. How have three years passed already?

They knew it was a big deal that I had a job offer, but I wasn’t sure they really understood just how big an accomplishment it was to be hired at Goldman Sachs. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, our daily lives were becoming worlds away from each other. I tried to stay in touch as much as possible, but there were times when it was so painful to talk to them that I found it easier simply not to talk to them at all. At times, I would go weeks without a conversation with my mom, dad, or Julio.

It seemed as if every new achievement was met with a bittersweet taste of how much I had given up, and how much they had given up, just so I could walk down this road. I did my best to push the sad feelings down and instead focus on everything positive that had happened.

I spent a couple of extra weeks in New York City after the internship ended. I had to give up my dorm room, so I crashed on the couch of Jessica and Antonia, whom I’d met through HBSA and who were now living and working in the city.

I stayed that extra time so I could have a few interviews around town. Even though I basically had an offer from Goldman in hand, I still wanted to know what my options were. I wanted to land offers elsewhere if I could, just so I would know without a doubt that the best offer of all was from Goldman. I interviewed at JP Morgan Chase and at UBS and at Lehman Brothers. It was such an amazing thing to be able to say to them, “I don’t have an offer from Goldman yet because they don’t give offers until September, but the MD told me to expect good news.” That made all of my interviews so much better, and I interviewed for almost everything, including investment-banking positions. I knew that I didn’t want to be involved in IPOs and mergers and acquisitions, but I took those interviews anyway, and I was asked to come back on their Super Days. At that point, I turned them down. I knew those were spots that I was potentially taking away from one of my fellow SEO colleagues who actually wanted those jobs, and I didn’t want to hamper anyone else’s chances.

Instead, I went back to UT with the full confidence that I’d be getting a call from the recruiter at Goldman come September.

Back at school at the start of that semester, Robert and I were, for all intents and purposes, in a relationship.

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