Rant on Black Professionalism Expectations in IB. Am I wrong?

To start, I'm a generally conservative guy who hates victim nonsense, but does anyone else think the professionalism expectations for black men in IB are a bit unfair, specifically for hair? Essentially all black men in IB are expected to get a military buzzcut or super super short fro and anything outside of that is not accepted. Yeah white guys can't have really long surfer hair, but they get way more variety in their choices, and they even have a Patrick Bateman type hairstyle which is kinda long and badass. As a black student vying for IB, it is a bit offputting that I'm expected to cut my hair to military length while my straight hair peers can have longer more stylish hair. I know it's a kind of trivial thing to complain about, but straight-haired people, imagine if you were also expected to keep your hair length below an inch. I imagine you would be kind of pissed off too.

3 Comments
 

Blanditiis culpa enim deleniti. Id voluptas vel magnam occaecati. Expedita quia consequatur maiores quisquam veritatis possimus. Sit nesciunt fuga voluptates eius non.

Necessitatibus doloribus ad laboriosam dignissimos nihil ut. Adipisci quo dolor ea provident.

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

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (46) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
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...”