Thoughts on next steps with the goal of ending in Investment banking.

Hi all,

I'm having trouble discerning what path I want to try and take to Wall Street and was hoping for some input. 

A little about me: I graduated 2022 summa cum laude (3.97) from a good school, but a non-target school with majors in Finance and International Business. I didn't land anything in IB in the initial recruiting cycle. Still, I did an equity research internship at an upper-middle market bank, and my job now is as a TAS consultant at one of the big accounting firms. I've been here for about a year. I have received rapid positive recognition and invites to several national teams, which, from what I can tell, outpaces my peers but still keeps me on the 2-year to senior associate track. 

My two desires in the future are to advance my education with a graduate degree and to spend time on Wall Street, ideally as an investment banker,  which has been my dream since the beginning. I have three avenues I have been debating with myself.

1. Make the jump from TAS straight to investment banking as a first-year associate. 

- I've networked with several folks who have done the jump, showing it is possible. It might not be easy, but I am willing to sacrifice a year and enter as a first-year associate. The issues I see here are I did not go to an elite school, and my company now is good, not great, making it hard to show I can be one of the best associates in the room. Along with the fact I am slightly older now and might not fit the ideal timeline of a bank.

2. Get my MBA abroad, then enter as a post-MBA associate.

- With my study abroad being robbed, I've decided if I do my MBA, I want to do it abroad. The top schools I've looked at are the London Business School, the London School of Economics, and Oxford. (for reference, I speak English, Spanish, and Mandarin - if I needed to learn French or something, I could do it).

3. Get my JD in the US.

- One thing that's always complimented my passion for finance is my interest in law. I view this as an opportunity to take a completely non-traditional approach. The TAS provides an excellent background in accounting, working with clients, and understanding the M&A process from LOI to QoE to close. Ideally, I would attend a top 15 law school with a top 10/15 business law program.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated! Hopefully, this can help me figure things out, as well as anyone else with similar questions.

Thank you all!

1 Comments
 

Qui et dolor voluptates quos aut. Beatae quia minima consequatur vitae alias consequatur similique. Quia minus quibusdam possimus tenetur et quisquam laborum. Et aspernatur consequatur nesciunt quibusdam consequatur laborum.

Corrupti quis natus laudantium nihil molestiae quia. Excepturi veniam vel voluptatem.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $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
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
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...”