RX Recruiting/Interview Color

I’ve heard that RX is generally considered more selective due to the extreme limited spots compared to a “traditional” IB role like M&A. Why is this? Does it pay slightly better? Any perks or cultural/systemic differences b/w M&A and RX that should be considered which path one should go down?

Secondly, I’m under the impression that RX tends to skew more heavily towards recruiting from targets. I go to a semi-target and could barely find any Alumni at top shops (HL/EVR/PJT/PWP), so I was wondering if it’s necessarily more difficult to break in. Are non-alumni more responsive due to the niche field? Additionally, when it comes to the inherent nature that arises due to the complexity/niche sector of RX, I’m curious as to how many kids are just throwing applications into RX without truly understanding, which would artificially deflate acceptance rates into these lean teams. Would, therefore, mastering RX technicals for RX recruiting provide a greater marginal benefit than mastering M&A technicals for M&A recruiting?

 
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Currently an RX SA at an EB. When I was networking, I found the RX bankers to generally be more nerdier and the work to be more techincal which fit my personality better.This probably depends on the bank though. RX and M&A pay the same as far as I know. I was personally interested in rx because credit interested me but I still wanted the option to do PE later on. Additionally, on a per capita basis, top rx groups probably place the same if not better into MF PE if that's something you're interested in. 

Hopefully an analyst in rx can confirm the above. I can speak more to the recruiting side though. Don't worry about the acceptance rates for the groups. There are fewer people gunning for RX but also fewer spots and not all banks do RX specific internships. And you can interview for both. I personally interviewed for both M&A and RX at multiple EBs so speaking from personal experience here. As far as your last question goes, I do think mastering RX technicals provides a greater "marginal benefit" but at the same time, you'll have to apply to M&A as well simply because there aren't that many RX-specific internships. 

Lastly, I'm at a semi target as well and didn't have RX alumni at a lot of these banks so I practically only reached out to non alumni.

 

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