Street: Introduce yourself to your readers.
RC: I'm Reginald Cheltenham, the Big Swinging Dick (BSD for short). That's from a book by Michael Lewis on getting a job on Wall Street.
Street: Any other nicknames?
RC: The Ryan Monster.
Street: How'd you get that name?
RC: Initially it was my screenname from 9th grade. I came up with the name after I asked a girl to one of the school dances and she declined. And I thought of myself as a monster. The monster part of The Ryan Monster no longer refers to me thinking that I'm ugly. It actually refers to me thinking of myself on more of the ferocious side.
Street: What kind of glasses do you wear?
RC: Versace glasses, of course. Black rims. They are kind of helpful in the interview process because when the recruiters see them, they are kind of large and obnoxious, they will make the connection and remember me the next time I see them. I recently purchased a Brooks Brothers suit.
Street: How much?
RC: Are you serious? Oh, God [Chuckles]. I was deciding between a plain suit or a pinstrip suit. Solid color is more a first interview type of suit, and pinstripe is more "I want to make a fashion statement" kind of suit, like in the fashion magazines. I decided between plain and creative by getting very subtle pinstripes. Not completely noticeable, but subconsciously, they were there.
Street: What are OCR events like?
RC: There's a sort of clique, a group of kids that know each other at all of these things, I'd say about 30-40 of us who definitely know each other by face and sometimes by name. And it's always, "Are you ready to begin this ass-kissing fest?"
Street: What's the funniest thing that's happened to you during OCR?
RC: Right at the beginning, I didn't know that the interviewer and the recruiter were often two separate people, and the interviewer was often someone from the actual operations of the bank, so I called my interviewer, who happened to be a trader who was apparently extremely stressed out all of the time and he bitched me out. He basically compared me to a telemarketer and said, "Fuck off."
Street: Are you a typical whartonite?
RC: I am definitely not a typical whartonite. Wait, I'm getting a call from the New York area code. [Takes a business call]. That's the first time that that's happened, actually. Well, actually, I got another call the other day.
Street: What is a typical Whartonite, then?
RC: There is no such thing. Definitely not. There are Whartonites focused on international development and others focused on corporate takeovers. Which aren't necesariliy evil, by the way.
