What do you think? It seems to me that the PE recruiting advantage no longer applies to IB post-MBA, and the exit opportunities for post-MBA Consulting are broader. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
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https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/investment-banking/why-do-mbas-se…;
Can you expand on the exits?
Correct.
What type of exits have you seen that have been better than consulting?
At least at my T20-T25, the most impressive people tend to gun more for consulting vs. IB.
Wouldn't agree that exits are necessarily stronger for IB. If you want a finance related exit, yeah - IB is better.
Comp is true in terms of a huge variation. My school recruits fairly well into MM and I think average first year package has been around ~270-300K (I do believe one of our graduates went to a boutique recently, not an EB, and possibly cleared 400K their first year while consultants seem to average around 185-190Kish, B4/T2/MBB are 200+ all in).
I think that most people go into consulting because they have no idea what they want to do and consulting let’s them put off that decision. Also at 30 years old, very few want to work IB hours and the consulting firms are good at selling the tale of WLB.
After the recent IB pay increases, the comp difference between IB and consulting is huge. PJT for example is $225k base, $70k signing bonus, and approximately 100% bonus (obviously depends on the firms performance, but 100% bonus is the norm at EBs). Consulting on the other hand is $175k base, like $30k signing bonus, and about 25% bonus. BBs don't pay as much as EBs, but it's still way more than consulting..
PJT is 250k base
thats scary monry
What year tho?
Had people at my school who picked consulting because they thought it paid more since the employment reports only showed base salary #s (this was when it was typically 165 top consulting vs 150 IB associate) they were absolutely astounded at the total total comp differences once they found out
Also it’s pretty funny how much consulting recruiting centers around billing it as the WLB option. Sure it’s better than banking on the margins but still rough and a steep steep discount
This is actually incredibly common. I can count 3+ instances where close friends going into consulting thought banking bonuses were 15-35% of base (like consulting) and were shocked when I said its more like 75-125% of base depending on bank and ranking, sometimes 150%+.
Lol saw same. And there are people at tio
schools. Like how little due diligence did you do man
The hours are absolutely not comparable. Where in the world are you getting this information from? Both my siblings as well as other close friends work in consulting (MBB and T2) and they usually work 60hrs on regular days and 70 when it’s busy (this INCLUDES travel time). There’s a significant difference between 60-70hrs and 80-100. In consulting, you have time to workout daily and sleep a full 8 hours almost every night. Lets not kid ourselves here. Consulting undoubtedly offers better WLB.
This was meant as a response to the comments above re: comparable hours and “selling the WLB tale”
Yea lol, WSO constantly tries to downplay IB associate hours and drastically round up consulting hours to make it seems like a wash when this convo comes up. I'm not sure why people here act shocked why most people are not jumping to work 80/90+ hours for years vs 50-70 at the max.
the other big thing that I have noticed is that when my consulting friends actually ask for PTO - they are generally allowed to take it. All the bankers are still on-the phone and grinding while they sit in some hotel room.
Not to mention slow weeks in Banking seem much fewer and far between then my consulting friends.
+1 WSO always rounding up consulting hours. I think there's a huge difference between finishing at 9/10pm, going home to dinner to your SO and having a full 8 hours sleep vs getting home at 2am and sleeping 6 hours.
del
Consultants are also very rarely working on weekends. So even if they’re working until 11 or 12 during the week, they know they have 2 days to live and recharge. That doesn't exist in banking
People are understating how much constant travel sucks ass ITT. Correct, banking hours are worse. But traveling sucks and adds unique stress / mental anguish.
you are overestimating the extent to which travel still exists
this is my first year in consulting but seems like you would have to try to travel - default is WFH/in your office
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