Someone who realized they wanted banking late

Hi everyone, my name is John. I’m new to the WSO community.  I graduated  from Umich this past winter (sem early). I majored in Computer science and Econ, with a minor in finance through Ross. I was pretty tech focused up until junior year and decided to pivot into IB. Unfortunately, I was not aware of the brutal and structured pipeline and have struggled in terms of recruiting. My goal is to work in banking and attain those desirable traits that I see everyone in these forms talk about. After that, I’ll see if my interest & experiences leave me in banking or lead me elsewhere (Pe,hf,etc). I want some genuine advice on what people would reccomend on how to get there. I’ve heard it all from: try to work at a regional boutique/MM and try to lateral into an analyst group, some have also said to enjoy and figure out what my interests specifically are then go to a top B-school and get ready for the grind, others have said try to attain relevant experience first then just to try to get some internship at a firm and go from there. I’m just tryna get a gauge on what would be ideal possible paths. And follow up would be: how does this affect exit opps (analyst vs associate level), what types of firms to look at rn, etc.im also considering a 1yr masters program after. Any advice or recs would be much appreciated. Thanks.

1 Comments
 

Quaerat suscipit quos minima. Sint nisi molestiae reiciendis reiciendis quia laborum. Sed voluptas ea rerum inventore voluptatum consequuntur. Dolor et cupiditate dolores qui vitae deserunt.

Sint repellat porro quas ut consequuntur laborum debitis quo. Modi asperiores iste reprehenderit repudiandae veritatis fuga facere voluptatum. Tenetur qui non ut. Quos aut porro natus iste blanditiis et dolorem.

Quidem rem cumque numquam incidunt veritatis pariatur eaque. Nihil enim voluptatem consequuntur nostrum. Omnis enim quo rerum.

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

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 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

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (47) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (74) $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
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
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...”