Contrary to most people I don’t think IB is elitist when it comes to school name and background, at least when I compare it with consulting. I see much more non-target people who have made it in IB, even MDs than people who break in Big 3 Consulting.
| +197 | Americas M&A League Table Q2 Updated | 77 | 21h |
| +142 | New Article: Dramatic Slide as UBS #22 (US) & New Leadership Desperately Needed | 38 | 1h |
| +131 | Restructuring: Anti-climactic Experience | 34 | 19h |
| +95 | IB Net Worth / Savings Check | 46 | 47m |
| +86 | Woman who emptied Knicks trashcan on street then stole it was DEI exec, worked at JPMorgan Chase | 22 | 3h |
| +79 | A COMPLETE GUIDE TO SUMMER INTERNSHIP RECRUITING | 15 | 1h |
| +59 | Stop sleeping on UBS - it’s pretty good | 17 | 2h |
| +50 | 2026 VAULT PRESTIGE RANKINGS | 29 | 6h |
| +39 | Investment Banking is Hard | 17 | 2d |
| +39 | AI + Financial Modelling | 12 | 3h |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
Bump
Telling some regular person you’re an “investment banker” sounds more elite than “management consultant”
deleted
I'm just going to ask you this one question: which one does the socialists hate more?
from what I've seen, the BBs are less elitist than MBB but EBs are more elitist. Both will be dominated by ivies/top undergrads.
Agree. EB’s way more elitist, although you will see plenty of lower targets (Williams or IU Kelley) break into top EB’s.
Maybe at the MBA level. From what I've seen for, the most impressive incoming students are all gunning for consulting. People get mostly B4/T2/well-paying boutiques. Not much MBB recruiting but every year a few people get them. I wouldn't call it elitist but they do attract arguably the strongest candidates at the graduate business level.
As someone at an M7 (without a horse in this race since I recruited for neither) couldn't disagree more.
The vast majority of people I know who recruited consulting and wound up at T2 firms and even some MBB people are completely full of shit. In fact, one of the most insufferable/also not smart people in my class is at Bain rn simply because he was good at networking and blowing smoke up people's asses. The sponsored MBB folks are a bit sharper and seem to have actual analytical skills.... But the people who are currently interning at consulting firms without prior experience mostly do not.
Many bankers were not that sharp either, I guess just found bankers more tolerable to be around because they had a lower propensity to make stupid bullshit comments in class or ask obvious questions. And they also weren't kidding themselves that they were "adding value" like many of the consultants in my class. Most of them knew the job sucked and just wanted to make a lot of money and secretly were hoping to wind up in PE eventually (whether or not that's likely). At least they had to learn some level of corporate finance / transaction math to get the job.
A monkey could land a decent consulting or banking offer from my school. The smartest/most impressive people (to be clear I am not one of these either) are doing neither.
Well I'm not at an elite school like M7. Think T15-T25 range. This is also a pre-MBA assessment of what I've seen so I wouldn't be surprised if this changes.
To be fair, the featured students in our P&Q articles that appear to have amazing credentials all went for cool/selective corporate jobs.
Quia maxime aliquam qui dolor aut aut. Quidem saepe tenetur eum quos odit et quia. Velit illum vitae rerum accusamus quos labore sit.
Quae porro alias qui sit totam. Hic voluptatem distinctio ut ea. Dolor necessitatibus quos dolorem aut.
Molestiae sunt et exercitationem deleniti ipsum nulla. Tempora sunt dolore vero et error ducimus laborum. Qui debitis accusantium quibusdam dignissimos.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...