What percentage of investment bankers at BB banks pursuing a career in IB make VP?

I've read on numerous threads that anywhere from 40 - 50% of associates make the cut for VP, but I'm curious as to how much self selection (exit opportunities, etc) plays into this. Of the associates who stay in and actually try to make VP, what percentage get promoted?

 

I’ve hardly ever seen someone not make VP who wants it and is up for the promotion. The really bad associates, and I mean really bad get fired or they don’t make it through the entire 3 years and leave on their own. The only associate I’ve seen be fired for performance issues was a complete disaster, so the tolerance is pretty high for low quality work. The Director >> MD jump is the one that is highly competitive.

 
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Are there exit opps at the Director level? Not expecting like PE or anything, but is it common to exit for F500 corp fin at that point? Perhaps with a client?

I'm just a college student, but I am a little curious about this.

I've not seen it too much to clients, and the support from the firm is much less as compared with consulting. At the Director level you've been working as a banker for at least 8-10 years, so the most common thing is to lateral to another bank to make MD (if you are not able to within your own organization). Other exits I've seen at post associate level:

VP - became head of corporate finance at mid level 'client' Director - became MD at industry focused investment firm Director - became CFO at small corporate in the industry

All were done on their own without support from the firm. The Directors were 3rd year and probably not going to make MD given a top heavy structure in my group

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