Prestige is Paradise

You've been grinding all you life - you start off at a non-target, thinking the Big 4 are the pinnacle of finance. Your friend seems content with a life in Big4, but you laugh him off as you learn about the next biggest thing: Investment Banking. 

Suddenly, you develop a "non-target" insecurity, sending out transfer applications to target schools, and end up committing to a non-ivy semi-target. Upon the start of your sophomore semester, you realize you're far behind - no campus clubs, no business frats, no leadership - your campus prestige is close to nothing. You put your head down and spend the next year grinding - finally landing your first offer: MM IB @ Tier2 City

You are extremely pumped until you realize your Tier2 City carries no prestige - so you spend the next few years grinding to land an offer that you think is the holy grail: IB in NYC. Once again, you're extremely happy, until your roommate asks: Are you working at a BB or EB? You spend the next few hours frantically scrolling through WSO, asking "Is [My Firm] a BB?" to no avail. After your first year analyst stint, you lateral to a top EB, smiling and obsessing over the fresh look of your LinkedIn page: Investment Banking Analyst @ EB.

You're finally happy, content with life, until a kid emails you for a networking call. You hop on excited, finally on the other end of the hundreds of calls that you have made. After some small talk - the kid asks, "What Group are you In?". "Private Capital Advisory" you respond - to a silence - you hear back "Oh, not M&A?". Once again, your smile fades, and the call ends in 15mins, you receive a follow-up email asking you to connect him with "anyone you know in M&A". 

Once again, you put your head down furiously, finally securing an NYC M&A offer at a top BB, and you are finally at peace. This peace is once again short-lived as you hear your target school peers talking about their step: "Private Equity". Frustrated with your long hours and pay compared to your EB you once again put your head down and begin your pursuit for PE: "MF or bust" you say. You try your best but strike out, you think back regretfully to your semi-target school as the source of all your struggles, angrily typing yet another "I hate DEI" post. You once again start grinding, ending up as one of the few kids to lateral to a MF. After yet another LinkedIn post, you sit back and drink - you have finally made it: Private Equity Associate @ MF

A few weeks you meet a friend from your BB stint at the bar who asks: "Corporate buyout?" - you feel the insecurity rising as you profusely sweat but you've been through this before: "Real Estate" you say proudly - you have finally made it. You spend your next associate years grinding once again, hoping to secure a promotion or end up applying for a H/S MBA program as the market continues to sour. As the time comes you get passed on for promotion by the Lawrenceville-Princeton-GS kid and the Exeter-Harvard-Evercore kid. Your MBA pursuits come up empty - even Wharton didn't bother accepting you. You go back to your hometown depressed and lost. You have no friends, your family barely talks to you, and no girl to spend all of your money on. As you tuck yourself in your childhood bed, you get your first good night's sleep in over a decade, mumbling "I worked at MF" as you dream of your ideal life that never came to you. Prestige is Paradise.