Bulge Brackets are SUPERIOR to Elite Boutiques

BBs are one of the most well known banks around the world. Ask your parents if you've heard of the BBs and they will likely know all of them. When you have that name brand on your resume, people automatically know what "BofA" or "JPM" or "UBS" is. Literally no one knows any of the EBs besides people on the IB -> PE track, which is a very small subset of business. Even people in finance don't know EBs -- MDs in S&T/ER literally didn't know what Evecrore or Centerview was.

When you go to raise money for your startup, go work for a tech company, go work in corp dev, etc. the BB name will set you up 1000x better than any EB name will because people will actually know what your BB is. 

Good groups at top and mid tier BBs have great exits, and routinely send over 50% of their analysts in those groups to UMM/MF firms. So, BB's strong groups get the same PE exits as EBs, but a much more well known brand name. 

As far as a career in IB, there's a reason why every senior person in the industry tells you to start your career at a BB and there's a reason why all the MDs at EBs come from BBs. 

EBs are too specialized in M&A. BBs offer greater vastness of experience early on career by getting exposure to a variety of different deals. A BB sells M&A, ECM, LevFin, Prime Brokerage Services, etc. It's harder to make a career as an EB banker if you're only offering M&A to a client, while the banker at a BB can offer everything the bank does and is a one-stop shop. More products = higher likelihood of business.