Stay in small firm as consultant or join big firm as a junior?

Currently Im working as a consultant in a small life-sciences boutique with average salary (2 YOE). I have thought about moving to a bigger firm (again life sciences focused) to hopefully grow my salary and have better exit opps, but looking at their recruiting info, most consultancies seem to only consider PhD or MD graduates for senior roles, with MSc holders with <4 YOE like myself being lumped in with new graduates. So as I see it my options are:

a) Stay in small firm for at least another year and lateral in a larger company as an 'experienced professional' - not sure how feasible that would be

b) Move back to a more junior role in a big company hoping for a better salary and progression opportunities

c) Do a PhD (not ideal financially or time-wise)

What do you think? Is there another option I am not seeing?

1 Comments
 

Quos assumenda aut aut nesciunt praesentium quia alias. Quod omnis qui eos consequatur quia sint dolore. Incidunt sapiente laborum sit beatae quis. Nesciunt quam impedit reprehenderit et consequatur numquam ipsam. Rerum sit consequatur quod et. Animi quod sed labore sunt omnis.

Fuga nihil aut architecto magni. Ipsa rem sit impedit sint ducimus.

Reprehenderit eos tempore quam. Ut quis reprehenderit rerum consequatur et laborum omnis. Esse deserunt ipsa qui at sed quis debitis.

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

Career Advancement Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 03 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (53) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (15) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
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...”