Is Banking Less or More Stressful if You Come in Straight As An Associate?

Ha ha, what are they teaching kids at MBA's these days.

My life's actually become far more stressful since the Associate promotion. A lot more responsibility and correcting analysts' work is far more cumbersome than you might think (oh, I know all the rockstar analysts here will chip in now with how associates are morons and they never make mistakes). But I'm sure they expect incoming post-MBA associates to have something of a learning curve.

less experience, more expectations

Less hours but more stress that stems from added responsibilities. Not to mention that associates have kids, mortgages, balding hair, etc. on top of the job.

Pay aside (and the increase is not as profound as one might hope), being an associate is worse than being an analyst. You may leave 1-2 hours earlier than an analyst, but you're on call for direct MD / client correspondence pretty much 24-7. You need to be intelligent and outspoken during technical portions of meetings when reviewing valuation materials, while your analyst counterpart is likely in a semi-catatonic state at the end of the table, even though you both may have been in the office until 3 AM the night prior.

I have the utmost respect for my associate; the guy knows everything he should know all the time, but the rare times he misses something, he is the one who takes the brunt of the MD wrath. Griping is common for stressed monkeys, but I do not envy my associate's shoes.