EB (EVR/CVP/LAZ) vs MBB (Bain/BCG)
Option 1 - EB (EVR/CVP/LAZ)
• Hours 65-90
• Culture is reportedly rough
• Deal flow is low right now, not a lot of deals that can be put on resume
• Work would skew toward pitch work
• Was told MM PE recruiting is realistic but MF is tough to compete for against the generalist groups at peer EBs/BBs
• A&A promote in 2-3 years
Option 2 — MBB (BCG/Bain), non-NYC
• Hours 65-85
• Culture seems good
• Works sounds more interesting vs pitching
• Exits are strategy/corp dev roles, PE is doable but difficult (?)
• Promotion in 2 years
Other context: Prefer NYC as a city but not by a huge margin, generally agnostic. Not 100% sure that I want to do PE but seems like a realistic/natural next step given my levfin background. But also very interested in Tech strategy role.
Main hesitation on the EB is that a low deal flow seat seems like a tough place to spend two years if the whole point of banking is reps. Main hesitation on MBB is that it closes the investing door pretty firmly.
For anyone who’s been in either seat — how much does deal flow actually matter at the analyst level, and is MM PE off an EB with thin flow realistic?Appreciate any thoughts.
not sure how any of those 3 EBs have low deal flow (esp EVR/CVP + LAZ banner year).
Depends on the group for sure, but if truly bad deal flow recently in the coverage group across all banks, i'd recommend consulting. If firm specific, it is manageable and you could probably level up
Yeah this is very much group-specific, can definitely move internally in the EB, but I'd assume that would be after 1 year.
I'm sure I can still get interviews from MF/UMMs cuz of the brand but I'd assume the dealflow to lower my chances/competence during those interviews.
Congrats. I think you should take a step back and think whether you want banking or consulting. Good news is that in early careers people switch so if you try one for a few months or a year or two and want to do the other, sometimes the door may still be open AFAIK.
The old joke is do you want to soend your time in Excel (banking) or PPT (consulting)
One is finance and money and those decisions. Deal oriented. One leads to PE/HF managers or CFO or investor
The other is management advisory and more operational leads to COO or CEO kind of stuff or manager
Prob best to figure that out. The rest of the minitoa of WLB and all will be secondary. Try to make a good decision. Two different trains going in diffeeenr directions. Early on both trips they aren’t that far apart but after a while separation increases
Also this is WSO - this forum probably leans EB / banking. There is probably some Consilting forum or something. Idk.
Good luck
Appreciate it — helpful framing!
I'm honestly torn between strategy consulting/finance longer term.
But if I pick finance, I'd ideally want to pursue PE. But since the group is mostly pitch work, I’d get the brand without the reps. Does an EB name still carry you into say UMM PE without them? Or transfer internally first and push everything back a year?
Generally from what I have seen PE firms hire bankers that have sell side M&A experience or relatively deep industry experience. Those two can help them at the junior level. But for the most part the PE firms like a model money and PPT wiz so deal experience is most important for that. That said PE recruiting is fairly early in banking programs so often its hiring on potential and then once you have a PE offer, word spreads and you get staffed accordingly so it’s a win-win for the bank and the PE firm.
They do also hire consultants but it’s more for operational work.
Again just my 2 cents and experience. Good luck
The hour comparison seems totally out of whack. As someone who worked at MBB, interned at an EB and has friends in both .. I mean you only give a range, but expect the distribution at a good EB to skew much much more to the right.
MBB: Mo-Wed around 9-11pmish, Thu 9-8/9pm, Fri 9-6pm; weekend as a junior basically 99% completely off
EB: between monday and friday you will at least work 15h more and then add sunday on top which is a standard workday in almost any bank.
That being said, do what interests you. I liked my time at MBB and it gave me much greater exit optionality, but 2 years at an EB will also set you up really really well.
+1 on the hours here for MBB. Have been here for exactly two years. It's probably 55-65 hrs, at least at Bain in a large office. I track my hours pretty religiously.
In non-PEG work, I've had ~4 projects. Two of the project I've averaged ~8 hours a day. Two of them I've averaged 11 a day. The worst week I worked was 65 hours. The worst day was 16 hours. I never worked a weekend ever.
In PEG, I've done about 15-20 projects. I've gotten pretty lucky. The first "stint" of PEG, I averaged about 55 hours a week (had an unreal team). In PEG as a senior analyst (SAC) and have averaged about 65 hours a week. Worst week has been ~70 hours. Worst day has been 17 hours. Across all the deals I've worked on, I've worked 7 weekend days (each less than 3 hours per day).
Not saying MBB is better than banking but hopefully another datapoint for you. FWIW, I'm interested in investing roles. My friends and I haven't had any issues getting interviews for some pretty sweet investing roles but it's definitely going to be more difficult than from an EB. If you grind PEG (or the equivalent at BCG/McKinsey) + do some prep on your own, you'll be fine for the interviews imo (with the exception of the "most prestigious" funds like KKR or Apollo - you will not get looks at those firms at MBB)
Do you think a PEG stint is worth doing for someone not interested in investing exits? Hoping to land in scaled/late stage tech strategy
Thanks! I've seen most MBB consultants go into PE operating/value creation roles, would you say that's more doable from MBB vs investing roles in PE?
Was in same position. Interned at EB then went MBB FT. Would do it again.
MBB hours (particularly at BB) are not hitting 85, 55-70 is a more realistic range
Nice humble brag post. Couldn’t brag to anyone in real life so you had to come here?
Also had to chuckle when you said no MF would want to give you shot, like lev fin at an EB is some kind of death kneel.
Even more pathetic is people replying to you not realizing it’s a humble brag lol.
lol lev fin at an EB doesn’t exist
'DCM'
I can smell the DCM jealousy from here
.
I worked in banking and then went to the buyside where I dealt with each of those names and the consultants. I think it really depends what you want to do later - if tech strategy is genuinely of interest then would go to the MBB. Definitely see a number transition to PE particularly in Europe so would not say that door is completely closed.
I did not always see a big difference between the hours that juniors at MBB and EBs pulled but perhaps that was just my own experience - others here seem to have a better handle. Just seems actually to be very seat (and boss/client) dependent.
Culture wise - I don't think it is that different either, I would say MBBs are much better at the soft stuff and perks but ultimately the core culture is similar (long hours, bosses that frequently over promise etc.) - I guess banking does not really bother to always dress it up as much.
The best junior bankers I saw really wanted it whereas to be honest the best juniors and even mid-level guys I saw at consultants, did not always seem to need to be fully devoted. Based on what you have said, if NYC is a minor consideration, sounds like potentially a better fit at an MBB.
Makes sense! If I were to go into corporate after MBB/EB (open to BisOps, CorpDev, Strategic Finance and etc), which one would you say is better?
This going to sound a bit unhelpful, but depends what role at a corporate and the type of corporate. Those roles you mentioned is relatively quite broad and MBB probably overlaps best with those.
My thinking is if you wanted to go into M&A at a really acquisitive corporate, then EB. If more strategy / perhaps more sporadic M&A then inclined to MBB as you'll probably lean heavily on a bank when you do M&A anyway.
It sounds like you might be solving for retaining optionality across strategy, variety of corporate roles and potentially PE - in which case I would lean MBB. A lot of people there seem to be in a similar place too.
If you were leaning to CFO function / Corporate M&A / general investing roles (basically more of a finance focus and less optionality) - then would go banking.
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