Why isn’t an early-morning schedule ever used?

I’m a student-athlete and have a weird schedule compared to a lot of students. It’s usually lights out by 9 pm, and I’m up by 4am. Obviously I have practice but I love this because, instead of studying until I can’t see, I study until I get slightly tired, then go to sleep and just wake up extremely early. I’ve gone to sleep at 8 pm and woken up at 2 am to study for an exam at 9 am. u get to exams more awake + the info is more fresh (Obviously this part is subjective)

I’m just wondering why this approach would never be taken in banking. Maybe not as extreme, but it seems like it could make sense. I’ve brought this up to like three people, and they’ve all said it could never work.

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I was also a college athlete who had to be up early. I get what you're saying, but that's just not how IB works. You get a bunch of stuff dropped on you as the seniors leave for the night and then you process until it is done. Sometimes it's a deck for tomorrow's meeting that needs to be at the MD's house before they go to the airport. It could be better managed, but it isn't. Often times there is some VP/director that wants to view it before you ship it to print production. The simple answer is that you stay until the work is done. 

 
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The issue is that work goes back-and-forth, and unfortunately, junior bankers are at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of deciding schedule.

Everything you do needs to be reviewed by your associate, your VP, your MD, and the client, all of whom want the "morning review" shift where they get to digest analyses with a fresh set of eyes and have the chance to go home early enough to have dinner with their families. 

But someone has to turn those comments, and it's most often unfortunately the junior bankers that get stuck with those odd hours that no one with seniority wants to deal with. 

Someone reviews in the morning, sends comments sometime between 3 - 6PM, and the juniors turn it over night so the next person can review the next morning, and the cycle continues...

hardstuck in IB
 

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