[2026] Unbiased Prestige Rankings
S++ : PJT RSSG, EVR RX/M&A, GS TMT, CVP HC, Q
S+ : GS FIG, MOE LA, MS MENLO/M&A, CVP (rest)
S : MOE/RX/HC, JPM HC/M&A, GS (classics)
S- : PWP HC/RX, PJT M&A, MOE (rest), HL RX, Lazard PE&I/HC, JPM (rest), MS (rest), Lazard (rest), GS (rest), Allen&Co
A+ : BofA FSG/M&A, Barc PU&I/TECH/HC/FSG, Citi M&A/IND/FSG, PWP (rest)
A : BofA REGL, LionTree, Gordon Dyal, Ducera
A- : BofA (rest), Citi (rest), Barc (rest)
B+ : Guggenheim, UBS GIG/LevFin/IND, Jefferies, Greenhill, Macquarie IEC, RBC PU&I
B : Rothschild, DB FSG/LevFin/REGL/IND, BMO M&M/M&A, RJ CR (Financo), DB (rest), William Blair HC, UBS (rest), RBC, Macquarie
B- : Cain Brothers, Wells Fargo, BMO (rest), Piper Sandler CR
C+ : Piper Sandler (rest), Harris Williams, TD Cowen HC/TECH, RJ (rest), Baird, FTP
C : Solomon Partners, KBW FIG, Oppenheimer & Co., TD Cowen (rest), Nomura, BNP Paribas,
D : KBW, Lincoln International, HSBC, Cantor Fitzgerald, Mizuho, Stifel, MUFG, KeyBanc
F : BGL
no life but accurate
This is exactly what I was looking for
db (levfin etc) and db rest in same tier, hl m&a missing, plz fix
Evr m&a too high
lol one of the better groups for training and getting high quality deal experience, no matter which team you end up with, whether it is media & comm., tech (NYC or Menlo), HC, industrials, energy etc - EVR is consistently landing big ticket deals across all these industries
Placing it along pjt rssg, gs tmt, q, cvp hc seems a bit high. Not saying it isnt very good, but probably not the same level of those
Overall yeah for sure. Only exception is EVR TMT NYC is insane. Super lean (they pick the top analysts in the summer class for FT since internship is generalist) and they cover all the coolest media tech deals out there. Outside of TMT I’d place the rest of EVR M&A in the tier just below Q/PJT RSSG/GS TMT
EVR TMT is not even a thing — wdym?
Doesn’t really make sense to separate out some RX groups and not others. Like this implies CVP RX is S+ and 2 tiers above PWP, and 5+ tiers above Gugg. Or that Ducera RX is better than GHL and JEF, let alone Gugg. All of which are obviously wrong
congrats on gugg rx
No single person would argue DUC > GUGG 🤣
PWP always gets glazed on this forum lmao. Everything PWP should be moved at least down 1 tier. Exits have been awful. And Guggenheim should def be in line with rest of Barc.
If you take a look at the talent Solomon has hired in the last 18 months (ex Goldman, Greenhill, Guggenheim, Evercore, etc MDs who are rainmakers in their respective sectors) you’d be hard pressed to argue that piper and cowen are higher up.
why is PWP so high lmao, they're a joke nowadays
This. Most overrated firm on the street, not clear what their trajectory is
Beefing with Mike Kramer and Ducera
I bet if Buffett was 20 today, he would be spending time making the same lists. bravo!
Deleted
No one cares about Houston lil bro
Not sure why this is getting downvoted—energy/hc at JEF are definitely a step above other groups at the firm
curious how RX & FIG are doing, both seem to have alot of momentum
My team in S, objective and good list IMO
Congrats on Macquarie IEC, have fun getting laid off
based on prestige, GUGG and GHL should be A-
LionTree should be higher IMO, btw where is Raine?
Only Barc PUI should be A+, rest are a tier below
Barclays PUI is not what it used to be, the rest of those groups plus Industrials are on par.
It’s just all over the place
WF(rest) should be at least B (#7 in US M&A table). Groups like REGL(ranked #2 in transaction volume)/Levfin/IND shld rank at least B+. IND has worked on 5/10 largest industrial deal this year, including the 80bns railroad merger (coadvisors with MS). Macquaire, RBC, and BMO way lag behind WF's both current and future momentum.
Wells Fargo is paradise
Can you please PM me? I tried requesting you but it wouldn't let me
Throw Truist into A tier while you’re at it
where is DBO Piper
dont get the hype around industry boutiques like Allen & Co, Ducera (little to non-existent M&A deal flow in 2025), Dyal, and LionTree. Also no one outside of finance know them as well.
Allen & Co on Netflix x Warner Brothers, Pfizer x Metsera, Portland Trail Blazers, Getty x Shutterstock, Doordash x Deliveroo, Cox x Liberty, etc just in 2025
LionTree on Paramount x Skydance, TPG x DirecTV, etc in the last 18 months
lol
Allen&Co and Liontree maybe different, but Allen&Co is definitely not on the same prestige level as GS(rest), which is just general perception at my target school. Ducera actually did no meaningful M&A, same goes to Dyal.
Congrats on Moelis!
edit: who is taking MOE HC over GS IND/HC lmao
those who fell for the "lean deal team, c-suite exposure at 22, and heavy deal flow experience" kool aid during recruiting cycle
WF and BMO in the same tier is wild work.
No life lmao
~ works at Apollo
Think there should probably be be some more firms in the D tier if we are including all the international banks
Scotia?
If RBC and Macquarie are on there I feel like CIBC and Societe General should be too
I'd argue that S++ should only include PJT Restructuring, CVP HC and Q. Then I'd put the rest of the S++ names in S+, and also throw in MS Media & Comms
Dyal should be higher up the list. Have been on some massive transactions this year, while still operating under the radar
What are the massive transactions?
I’d work at shit tier consulting before considering dyal
Why
Malu we ling mataduwape swefumewa leme ta-meh aieu ta sarawanatintin
Shut up bro
You shut up who the fuck are you
this is america speak english
Wells Fargo should definitely be B+
Where do other Euro banks (SocGen, ING, Credit Ag, Santander) and their respective teams place on this list?
-F
Could you elaborate? Looking into some of these firms.
Given DB LevFin is in B, I'd put Santander LevFin in B- (currently 3 MDs from CS LevFin). Also, putting WF LevFin in B- is criminal. Should be at least B or B+.
GUGG and GHL definitely hard done. Idk many people taking DUC > GUGG RX
Top and bottom tiers are accurate.
Middle A/B tiers are inaccurate and more representative of 2-3 years ago. BofA and UBS are too high (BofA pays like shit and doesn’t care about IB, UBS is a disorganized dumpster fire post-merger).
Baird and WF are ranked too low, no one with a brain is taking Macquarie, UBS, or DB over them. They should be B/B+
Agree on WF but not Baird. They pay badly and grind people to the bone… on the most boring MM deals possible
Isn’t this dependent on group though?
everyone takes DB over wells fargo though
"unbiased"
WF REGAL and LevFin with BMO is criminal
MOE HC is not S tier lmao
In what world is WF same tier as Cain and BMO, and below WB & RJ lmao. In terms of deal flow and momentum from this year alone, they are at least B+ or higher.
once you realize there is more to life than deals you realize this entire forum is one big circle jerk
Congrats on Barclays!
Wells LevFin and real estate is A-tier
CVP too high, analysts can’t hit MFPE no matter how hard they try. Most people I know picked other competing offers over CVP.
No way Barc groups are that high lmao wtf
All the wells analysts trying to shill their mid ass bank hahahahaha
They are not shilling if OP puts BMO and Wells on the same tier in 2026, let alone some of the top groups. Also this list rarely holds any significance
Moe RX is not above PWP and HL RX lmao. Pls fix
congrats on pwp
MOE RX isn’t above HL RX, but any M&A/RX group at MOE CLEARS all PWP groups by a large gap (objective third party with no horses in the race)
Fair. Agree
You have 4 "S" tiers...
D.A. Davidson?
What is D.A. Davidson
Nomura GT should be at least 2 tiers higher than rest
congrats on Nomura GT bro!
Nobody cares about this but cosplaying high school students.
I have worked at a bottom tier firm on this ranking and closed more deals, had better comp, and better wlb than “prestigious” firms on here.
care to share where
BGL 😔
why did u steal my nickname lmaoo wtf is this
Thoughts on Moelis? Any color on recent exits?
Solid bank, un-solid exits— hope to have helped!
Bonuses in level D are higher than those in A+. Honestly, I think they often are
A+ has worse bonuses than D.
S++: PJT RSSG. Qatalyst
S+: CVP, EVR RX
S: GS TMT, EVR M&A, MS M&A
A++: GS FIG, GS IND, MS Menlo, EVR Rest
A+: JPM HC, JPM M&A
A: GS Rest, MS Rest, JPM Rest, MOE RX / HC, LAZ RX, HL RX
pls fix
The funniest thing that almost everyone who commented on this thread has had shit thrown at them.
Congrats on Macquarie!
Congrats on having no life!
Disagree. Evercore Tech is a B+ team behind Q, GS TMT, and MS Menlo. Maybe comped with JPM tech, Barclays, etc… What is insane about them?
Jeffries should’ve a tier lower.
PJT M&A should be higher than MOE (rest), their exits have been better recently
m klein?
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