Best Career: M&A, RX, Capital Advisory or Industry

First off, I currently am planning on being a career banker. Currently a generalist and have the option at my current firm to specialize in any product / industry of my choice. What would you recommend based on your experiences giving consideration to lifestyle, comp, most interesting deals, ability to bring in new business as you rank up. Obviously the answer is largely dependent upon what you’re most interested in, but I don’t have a strong preference at this time, after working on all deal types across many industries. Still trying to figure that part out. I may switch to a larger firm soon, and assume I’d want to “specialize” at that point and I would target specific groups.

  1. Capital Advisory provides the best work life balance over time, is the easiest to bring in new business, and comp is relatively good (in terms of fees per deal).

  2. M&A seems to provide below average work life balance, harder to bring in new business compared to capital advisory but easier than RX, but provides the highest comp.

  3. RX has the worst work life balance, average difficulty bringing in new business, amazing comp during poor economic times, but poor comp during good economic times. Also arguably the most interesting and complex deals.

  4. Industry - not sure. What has your experience been like?

Curious to see how everyone disagrees/agrees with my views.

4 Comments
 

Biased, but if you want to be a career banker would argue Rx. Better job safety and demand for us consistently is greater than those trying to break in. 

 

Anecdotaly, the real ballers at my EB are industry guys who are well-known in their respective coverage areas.

 

I was thinking along the same lines personally, but thinking more between RX and M&A. M&A is the way I went because I wanted to leave banking eventually and that sets you up well. However, I do think RX is much more interesting and if I wanted to stay in banking would have done RX.

 

Quasi ut provident unde et dolor quia. Iste sed voluptatum est autem excepturi aut consequatur corrupti. Voluptas molestias alias temporibus minima sed nisi aperiam. Quia sapiente et laboriosam maxime.

Omnis voluptates doloremque modi voluptas. In earum voluptates in itaque. Id dolorem repellat explicabo quos corporis optio ea. Nemo deleniti nemo explicabo odit. Facere quisquam doloremque ea eum ut eius et quo.

Nihil corrupti vitae tempore quidem facere aut quibusdam. Rerum alias voluptatem itaque officiis maiores numquam. Quibusdam recusandae aut ducimus consequatur. Beatae asperiores sed doloribus perspiciatis.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (48) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”