Investment bank rankings - Do you agree?

I'm a sophomore gearing up for summer internship apps. Been doing my research and came across this ranking. Real talk - how much does prestige actually matter for your career trajectory? Is there a significant difference between landing a gig at a "platinum" vs a "gold" firm?

investment bank rankings

14 Comments
 

Would advise against recruiting purely for firm prestige, most verticals are dominated by different banks, depends more on your sector than anything. Prestige matters in the sense that it will be easier to recruit for MF PE out of Goldman than it will be out of a no name boutique. At the end of the day your career progression following your analyst years is mainly dependent on your deal experience, connections, industry knowledge, and personality. Whichever shop will give you the best opportunity to advance the first three of the aforementioned factors is likely the best spot to pursue, hope this helps.

 

I would not say it's a golden ticket, as previously stated it will likely open some doors that would not be opened for you at a smaller shop. However, the bulk of career advancement in this industry is driven by quality & quantity of deal experience and the connections that you form and nurture in the early years of your career. The ability to advance your career ultimately falls on you, not the name of the bank on your resume.

 
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It's better to start your career at a better "brand name" than not to, but as another user pointed out, your career trajectory depends much more on you than on the brand you start your career at, so don't ever become complacent. Oxford is a better "brand" than UCL, but if your get a third class degree from Oxford and don't join any societies, you'd be in a far worse position than the first class President of Finance Society at UCL. Specifically for recruiting to MFPE (and you didn't say that you wanted that), then it's probably easier to get your foot in the door AT THE MARGIN in the "higher tiers" but of course you need to perform in interviews, etc.

That said, if the above ~20 names are the only ones you're applying to, you're doing this wrong. Get your CV out everywhere and if you have the luxury of deciding between Lazard and Moelis then pop back online and have a chat 

 

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