Do rankings even matter? Why do people care?

After combing various league tables, do they even matter? Obviously, if your goal is to go to MBB or a top-tier VC/PE/HF then sure, but outside of the top BBs they don't seem to matter much. Even still for top positions, it seems like a personal network matters much more and that the bank itself seems to be a minor factor.


The way I always viewed it was it was like the NBA/NFL/Any other sports league outside of soccer where what matters is you make the league as opposed to what team you play for, except of course if you are a top player and so want a certain market.


If this is true, why do people care? Why do so many people reneg to move up a few spots? I get a small no-name boutique to a BB but it seems people are just splitting hairs.

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The way I always viewed it was it was like the NBA/NFL/Any other sports league outside of soccer where what matters is you make the league as opposed to what team you play for, except of course if you are a top player and so want a certain market.

Using this analogy there are few things you have to remember.  

1. Some players still care where they go and who they play for. Just like some prospects care who they work for.

2.  Most sports teams are going to be much more limited in size compared to the banking scene. Thus, just making it is more of an accomplishment. 

3. When you join the MLB/NFL/etc. you typically are not looking for an exit to a better opportunity.  I would go to argue that Banking in a sense is "like" the minor leagues for baseball. You hope one day that you can take another step forward in your career.  In banking some look to exit to PE/HF/etc. 

 

It's hard to use these analogies for industries, but it's pretty accurate for individual companies if everyone was on the same IB -> PE/HF career track (which is not the case). GS is still going to be the "NBA" in comparison to lower-MM/search fund PE. Comp depends on the fund-- MDs in BB/EB can make more than partners at small funds, but on average, the ceiling is higher on the buy-side.  

 

Inside the industry league tables don't mean shit. They are used by firms for marketing purposes in a very manipulated a specific way. A firm can claim to be #1 but is that based on number of deals or transaction value and is that worldwide or just the US market; beyond that it could even be more specific, for the US market for deals below $1bn if you're a MM player. Looking at YTD number of closed deals worldwide 3 of the Big4 (PwC/Deloitte/KPMG) are at the top of the table beating out firms like GS/JPM/MS, but if you look at it by value it's a different story.

 

They only matter if you want to break into select MFs that prefer to hire from GS/MS, outside of the finance industry, no one cares if you worked at Citi rather than CS or vice versa. Like the poster above said, every bank can tweak league tables to claim they are #1, and even if you base it on deal value, metrics can be skewed because there are banks who were only mandated to provide financing but still receive deal credit. The only bank that truly gives you an edge no matter where you go is GS

 

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