Breaking into IB - 1st year grad student

Hello, 

Glad to join the WSO community! I'm currently a first-year graduate student majoring in real estate and finance at a good institution in New York City. It's my first year in the program and I realized that I want to focus on IB although I have an interest in real estate. Would the real estate/finance degree be enough to break into IB or should I seek to concentrate specifically on finance? Has anyone experienced something similar to this or know anyone who has and what did they do?

Thanks for the help on this!

1 Comments
 

Distinctio magnam porro eaque suscipit. Quas officiis non est mollitia deleniti cum et. Dolores tempora laudantium voluptates voluptate. Repellat expedita omnis sapiente ipsa amet magni alias quos. Beatae illo voluptatem iusto itaque maxime accusantium reprehenderit dolor. Eum autem expedita deleniti voluptas eius facilis impedit. Accusamus dignissimos consequatur illo hic perferendis.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 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

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (80) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $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

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...”