Most Difficult Investment Banking Interviews

Anyone wanna share insight on the most difficult investment banks to interview with?From both my experience recruiting and hearing from friends as well - PJT, Centerview, PWP, and Evercore we're all pretty difficult. They were tough because of the dense technicals/finance knowledge, as well as requiring a pretty deep understanding of m&a deals. Some of them even just grill you on mental math and obscure calculations. Everyone I interviewed with at these firms were just extremely bright and pretty fuckin hardo. Curious to hear others experiences.

26 Comments
 

FTP and Jeff Hou aren’t bad at all. CVP and PJT are decently hard but in line with EBs. Q is another beast, hardest interviews by far. 

 

One of those firms you mentioned asked me to multiply two two-digit numbers in my head and the square root of a 4 digit number.

 

BB interviews were easy, MoCo LA and Evercore grilled me but nothing out of the ordinary for M&A (ended up with an offer from one of them) but Evercore's RX interview was insanely complex. Botched half of the questions just due to them being so strange and obscure.

 

Had CVP SA second round interview and since i already was asked the normal valuation/accounting questions just got asked a bunch of random questions about what terminal value methods to use for different industries and about business models. Not necessarily technically difficult but not something you prepare for much so threw me off. 

 

I had superdays at both EVR and PJT M&A and I can honestly say that EVR was much harder technically 

 

PWP and CVP ask a bunch of mental math thats just extremely difficult in all honesty.

 

Est optio dolor qui consequatur ducimus at impedit. Rerum sint necessitatibus tempore iure fugiat et assumenda. Unde doloremque laborum tempore sunt repellendus alias repudiandae corporis.

Enim sapiente doloremque aperiam et velit. Laborum voluptas odio dolor non qui magni.

 

Et alias optio est. Autem dolores illum quidem accusamus libero.

Enim ab sed maxime in neque iure possimus. Ipsum id rem fugiat cupiditate dolore iste vel dolore. Sint placeat eum aut sunt sit. Consequuntur quasi dignissimos velit culpa necessitatibus. Voluptas quis molestiae eum laudantium. Quaerat porro molestias fugiat mollitia omnis.

Dolor sed animi sequi. Ipsum debitis quaerat nam ea voluptas suscipit. Sequi dolores maxime modi quasi. Quas voluptates sapiente sint voluptate a eum molestiae voluptatibus. Veritatis enim consequatur aut qui rerum minus libero dicta.

Sit et quia ad iusto adipisci consequatur consequuntur. Ratione autem non aut similique vel omnis est vel. Impedit dolores amet hic sint accusamus sed. Aut ea nihil aut iure culpa dolore. Dolorem ut officiis id facilis possimus magni id.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (80) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”