Investment Banking vs Dentistry?

I like both fields. I've shadowed a Dentist but I haven't interned at a bank. I find it weird to ask an investment banker to shadow him/her.

The route to becoming a dentist is an expensive one if one goes to a private school compared to the route of becoming an investment banking. But if you factor in getting an MBA, then it's going to be equal if the dentist goes to a public school. Dental school is $188k for a state school and $400k for a private school while MBA at Harvard is about $200k.

Additional 4 years spent in school studying dentistry can be spent making money and living life

Dentists who are owners can make more than the average 1st to 3rd year analyst and 1st year associate but as the associates reach their 3rd year or above they can make significantly more than a dentist who owns a practice.

Lifestyle plays a role too. A dentist I know made 300k working 33 hours but he may be an outlier and not the average. While it's normal for analysts to work 100 hours.

Path to becoming an Investment Banker can be less straight forward. For dentistry, all you have to do is get a good score on the standardized exam and get a good GPA. Also, have a few extracurriculars here and there. For Investment banking, you will have to do the same, but also network. There is also no standardized exam for becoming an analyst that I know off.

4 Comments
 

Those 4 years will not be spent on making money and living life. They will be spent on making money alone. You will have no life. The way you are approaching this is all wrong man. You need to figure out which job excites you more. Are you more interested in finance and markets in general or are you more interested in healthcare and helping patients? That's the only question you need to focus on. Trust me, how lucrative either career is will matter very little to you in the next 5 to 10 years.

 

Culpa qui aut est rerum deserunt. Sint explicabo pariatur ipsam corporis voluptates aut dolorem. Atque in soluta vel. Illo illo error magni velit. Alias voluptate possimus repellat quam maiores.

Et odio deleniti deleniti qui. Iste harum cupiditate voluptates eveniet exercitationem aut. Quo et voluptatem vero tenetur voluptatum quia tenetur quis. Delectus sed quos hic adipisci.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (80) $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
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
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...”