Don't Stress About Prestige - It Couldn't Matter Less
After lurking around this site, I still don't understand why the hell y'all care abt prestige so much. It doesn't matter at all. I went to non target with decent GPA and now I'm a VP(ignore username) at BB.
The most important thing is interviewing skills, and 90% of whatever you will be doing is learned on the job.
Don't stress if you're seeing all these WSO users claiming prestige is more important that breathing air. Relax and work hard, best of luck. Anyone who disagrees with me please respond.
So I take it you're VP at RBC
I think it’s DB
No, I do not work for RBC or DB. I'm a younger VP who makes good money and enjoys my life working for a well-respected bank. You are part of the "prestige problem". Kids reading on this site are going to think they have to work for Blackstone or else they let their entire bloodline down. It's all such a joke.
Both RBC and DB are good banks whether you like it or not.
Couldn’t agree more. Do what makes you happy. Prestige is superficial.
I have received some interest for buyside positions over the years, but I've never seriously considered. Can you please explain why you think it would be a good idea for me to leave my position and "escape"(your words - not mine) sellside for buyside?
I do feel like you could make a ton more money if you do well on the buyside with equity ownership.... Over the long run.
Back in the "good old days" you used to be able to make tens of millions as a banker if you were good and underwriting debt but now it's much harder (yes it does happen but not as widespread).. I'm talking about the 90s - early 2000s
Stay in your lane middle market boy
dont really get the point of shallow posts like this. congrats, you are the exception, not the norm.
and btw, flexing you are at a BB is the very definition of trying to show off your prestige lol
Don't think this is flexing for prestige, as I take the OP meant undergrad institutions or MBA programs. Also wouldn't call this a shallow post, but to each their own. And those saying schools like Texas, UVA, OSU, are non-targets, I guess? Still have OCR and most kids from these schools can actually rip through an accretion/dilution analysis unlike a sizable amount of target kids at LAC's who struggle to understand what a P/E ratio is during training
Your claims on VP would carry more weight if you were a certified user. Until then we can all hold your legitimacy in question.
muh certified user
Certified user means jack shit. Wtf is teller at non-profit even? Are you a certified Going To Be an MD? LOL
The only reason your name says "Teller" is because you are a coward that posts anonymously.
Try and keep up, OK?
You're 100% correct. I am actually just the teller at my local Wells Fargo.
I can tell you've got an annoying nasally incel voice
Sure thing, prospect.
Dude how do I see you under every post
Discussing or debating merits of prestige is the least prestigious thing I've ever heard of. Doesn't matter what side your on, not prestigious, pathetic.
Never understood why people obsess over prestige and comp on here because it's infinitely pointless when you compare. Congrats, you played the IB/PE game perfectly and now you're like 40 and made $2mm last year and still haven't caught up to some 23 year old professional athlete's $10mm signing bonus who slacked off in college and doesn't work nearly as many hours. But please tell me how prestigious your corporate sweatshop job is.
I'm very confused by the point you're trying to make. Please elaborate?
High finance isn't prestigious at all when you're comparing it to professional sports where you both start careers at the same age having gone to the same schools.
Non-targets obsess over prestige the most
This website: if you go to a non target kiss your dreams goodbye, you’ll be making 2.35 an hour to clean up all the money that we targets make…but in rare cases if you cut off your left toe nail and trek up to mount fiji and network with the man up there, maybe you can do it.
Also this website: non targets care the most about prestige
i think it comes from the company you keep and people become wrapped up in it. If you came from nothing, working as a bank teller would probably impress. But if you came from family/friends within the banking industry, your teller position would be come much less " impressive"
I agree it's overexaggerated, but exit opps are still much better if you come from a better bank, no question..
In my experience the older I get the more having the right amount of social capital seems to matter.
Couldn’t agree more. I’m about to start as a VP at a BB (think BofA, GS, MS, or JPM). I went to a non target and my GPA was ok. I think what helped was I’m very good at networking and I interview extremely well. I sometimes get insecure about my undergrad but it did help me stand out (sometimes good, sometimes bad).
If you utilize your resources correctly, prestige becomes less of a factor.
This is some insane cope. Prestige absolutely matters (whether you pretend it doesn’t or not). I also went to a nontarget with good grades and pretty much struck out at every BB/EB/MM. Extended graduation and landed LMM IB that I leveraged into a better role that I leveraged into PE.
What you are looking at is survivorship bias. For every you or me who “made it” from a nontarget, there’s 10 or 50 or 100 who fail. Plenty of kids from my school who wanted IB (not even BB, just any banking job) fell flat on their face recruiting and will never break in.
This “oh everyone can do it preftige doesn’t matter” attitude is unhelpful and more importantly, annoying. Recognize the amount of luck and random chance that went your way (and mine) to allow us to do where we are.
Am I taking prestige advice from somebody that worked at LMM IB and LMM PE?
no chance. Ironic since LMM IB and PE is a dead end due to prestige / inability to move up in prestige
Lol I upgraded out of my LMM IB internship for FT and currently work at a megafund spin-off. Had two UMM and one MF offer during on-cycle recruiting as well, picked my fund for a combination of culture, carry as ASO1, and leaving banking within 1 year instead of 2.
I do pretty well operating in the LMM. Pretty sure the ~$1.2M I’ve made annually over the last few years (and the next several inshallah) will keep all but the biggest prestige whores happy.
Paid off home in a high end suburb, paid off home in a high end vacation spot, paid off cars, a couple high end toys, and very few expenses beyond maintenance of what I have.
Will I end up on the cover of the journal? Nope. But I have several interesting board seats and am able to dedicate time and money to those, and other, organizations whose values align with mine.
A fulfilling and purpose driven life. That is what money allows me to pursue and I could care less that some snot-nosed Gen Z’er thinks less of me because of it.
Agreed, the ones who struck out are probably not in IB and won't care to be on this forum
Yep feel free
Can I PM you as well?
Can I also PM you? Haha
$$$ > Prestige. Happy to work as a janitor if I'm taking home $1MM a year. Happy to work at a place like Truist > Barclays or Citi lol.
until you get burnt out and exit with truist on your resume
Ouch
Usually would agree, but to be totally candid there is prestige, where a name on a resume carries a lot of weight by its reputation alone.
Was on the sellside previously, and recently switched to what would be considered a top tier HF. Just the name alone updating on LinkedIn increased my views significantly from pretty much nothing to 100+, huge bump in connection requests, cold-message deal pitches, etc. Speaking to new people when they ask what I do, it has entirely changed the tonality of the conversation... I'd never had someone 25 years my senior who works in finance genuinely ask about my macro opinions with sincerity.
Work your ass off make money be successful, that doesn't change at all, but there are some places that influence a person's judgment without you lifting a finger
Did u go from s&t?
Nope, moreso banking side of things
That alone has made me want prestige. Only thing better than making a lot of money is making a lot of money and having that rep.
I mean I agree with his initial post on it doesn't mean everything, you can have a lucrative career without it and you can make a name for yourself that opens doors (more selective in asset class or type). There are just some places that are known for being absolutely rigorous in interview process and almost impossible to break into - those are the ones that set you up for your career just having that on the resume. Those might be few and far between. You'd have better luck with industry focus imo
Prestige matters for exit marketability if you’re interested in moving to buyside. There is also the factor of the alumni effect where if you’re at a huge bank like JPM or BoA, there are likely a lot of other people on buyside from those banks who will inherently believe you’re strong because they believed you would be around a similar skill and experience level as they and their peers were back when they all first broke into buyside
Other than that, it doesn’t matter
Sounds like you don’t work at Evercore
I don’t understand what you mean. Are you saying you shouldn’t worry about the firm you’re working for or are you saying you should just focus on the work itself and not the name? You also mentioned not to worry about GPA and it’s all interviewing skills when in reality your GPA is incredibly important to even get an interview so that you can even have the chance to showcase interviewing skills.
Maybe it's personal bias, but when I reach out to HHs or apply for UMM PE/MF PE/>$1bn HFs, all PE firms stress about prestige. HHs don't even want to speak on the phone when they find out about my bank's brand name, which isn't BB/EB/top MM. HFs are more loose here.
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