Some thoughts

WSO you've been really helpful in many ways, but need to clarify some things after a couple of years working in IBD:

1. Why are there so many whiners on here? Stop complaining about how those Ivy league kids have it "soooo easy". Stop justifying how even though you 2.5 from State U you should get into Goldman because you're "more well rounded" or "hungrier" than the 3.7+ kids from Harvard or Yale. There are plenty of well-rounded, sociable kids out there who also have great resumes. It's not one or the other. If you don't have a top resume, get on the phone and start talking to people

2. Stop generalizing firms. Megafunds/bulge brackets aren't necessarily worse in terms of culture/experience than middle market PE/IB. There are top banking and PE groups where analysts get tons of exposure, and boutique groups where analysts are just supporting the senior guys. There's probably more variation between projects and individuals in the same firm, or even the same group, than between groups and firms.

3. Too much of a boutique bias on here. College kids here keep saying definitely pick Laz/Evr over MS/JPM, etc., but it's really not a hard and fast decision. If you talk with more senior or mid-level team members, many have a top bulge bracket bias even against the top boutiques.

In general, just like any community, online or offline, there's a bit too much of a herd mentality here, and if one person says A about B there's an echo chamber effect going on where it gets repeated over and over again, even though the original post might be completely anecdotal. Take everything with a grain of salt here

/rant