Fellow MBA associates, anyone else surprised at how bad it ksy
I just joined a few weeks ago as an associate post MBA and didn't expect it to be this bad.
Just wanted to make sure I wasn't alone in this.
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Aren’t most banks still going thru formal training?
Here’s your sign
MBA ASSOCIATE
Don't worry you are an associate.
yeah, interning this summer and it is nuts how bad the lifestyle is.
don't think I will return to a job that expects you to subsist on 5-6 hours sleep 95% of the time.
this is on your school / finance club for not telling you the realities of the job.
people acted like you work till 12-1 typically, and start 9-10. felt like i could handle this.
in reality this is about the best it gets in my group
Let us know if you decide to accept your return offer. Have known people with similar attitudes that just didn't have the energy to re-recruit nor the willpower to turn down the $$$ once they saw the formal offer. I have a lot of respect for people that are introspective enough to understand what they want out of life and walk away from the money.
understand this, it feels pretty demoralizing to be thinking about recruiting again in a month after how brutal this summer has been. but I think it is unavoidable, I am pretty confident it will damage my health severely if I take this job full time
Not sure where you work, but this isn't normal. You're basically saying you work until 3-4am on a regular basis?
At a group that's routinely described here as a giant sweatshops and not a SINGLE one of our analysts or associates work these kind of hours on a regular basis. I'd say I get 7-8 hours of sleep 75% of days and my hours are worse than most.
people in my group regularly send emails all night. not uncommon to see analysts, sr assoc. sending emails at 4,5,6 am. the emails start back up at 7:45-8 and people are answering them, altho no one has complained if I don't answer till 9. has been like this all summer.
just checked last nights chains for an example, and my assoc last responded to me between 1-2, was sending out more emails this morning before 7. Analyst was up till at least 3, answering emails before 9. and this is not like a big push the day before a book goes out either
not gonna offer any identifying details
for me midnight-1am is an early night. probably 2-2:30 on average, 3-4 25% of the time
Unless everyone exaggerates hours then I find it implausible you're getting 7-8 hours sleep most nights. That is of course unless everyone here inflates their hours massively
Don’t worry, it gets much better starting ~6mo in when you can begin directly forwarding VP requests to the analyst with a “lmk if questions, thx.” No need to actually answer any analyst questions though.
You’re then allowed to sleep at least 9hrs while the analyst grinds all night. If you get any static from your autistic nerd monkey analysts, just threaten to let the MD know they’re “lacking motivation and have an inability to properly prioritize workstreams” and things will sort themselves out. This is all critical to being a top bucket associate, so you’ll get the hang of it soon enough. Good luck!
I pray to the lord and savior that my associates wont do this. They were quite chill for my SA
I pray to the lord and savior that my associates wont do this. They were quite chill for my SA
What does KSY mean?
Summering at baml and hasn’t been like this at all. Usually logging off around midnight.
Team seems like they are making sure to not overload us with work and nothing on weekends.
I'm an analyst at BofA and just wanted to let you know that the reason we protect interns is because we're all already working 100+ hours every week. The last thing we want is to re-do the work of a summer intern and tack on some extra hours. Enjoy your freedom while you can because it all goes downhill once you sign the return offer!
Source: An overworked BofA Analyst.
The hours haven't gotten better over the summer?
I’m fully aware of this but seems like different firms have varying guidance on how much to work the interns so thought I’d share that here as a contrarian point to the OP
Heard TMT retention is higher & also less sweaty
SPENDING $250,000 K ON A MBA.. CHECK
NETWORKING YOUR ASS OFF FOR A JOB.. CHECK
FINDING OUT INVESTMENT BANKING SUCKS AFTER DEVOTING 2 YEARS TO RECRUITMENT
PRICELESS
Can confirm it's like this in most top firms right now - for associates and even VPs. Candidly, I don't see this being sustainable and is more a function of the market right now... which is more than "white hot" to say the least. I recall cranking through similar hours as an associate in 2018 when my firm was having another record / crazy year.
Remember, this job is about investing in the grind now (while still getting paid really well) to make the "big bucks" down the road... when the lifestyle is considerably better.
I fully empathize with you though... as I'm a "lifer" that's all about the grind but have been questioning my resolve for the last 10 months.
Have banks not already reinforced their teams with more lateral hires or has that not helped reduce hours
BLAME J POW .. HE PRINTED CASH FASTER THAN A LAS VEGAS STRIPER
Markets are hot as a result. Deal activity is hot.
If DOW was -50%, you wouldnt have a SPAC, IPO, equity boom.
but no.
What jobs down the road that print money and have a chiller lifestyle are you referring to? IB/PE or different
Yeah would like to know as well because frankly I believe it’s a myth.
Pretty much any career gets you to 6 figures once you hit manager level at the below. yes in IB you hit 6 figures at 21, but the rest of world will catch up to you in 6-8 years.
At what level do you make the big bucks and the hours get better?
Experienced MD lol
My group is fucking horrible. I literally can’t stand them but I like the work. Debating if I should do Corp. dev to avoid the toxic culture but don’t want to miss out on the IB skillset and attention to detail. Sucks that ppl try so hard to be dickheads but guess its similar to frat hazing in that it’s hard to stop the trend
If it's the people then you can try going to a different firm. Not all groups are filled with horrible people, though most have at least one.
Just starting out now as FT associate and half of the associates in my group have left in the past year. Most of them to Corp Dev at small random companies, probably making around 150-160 all in. I don't see the point of that exit at all unless you're truly desperate. I mean you just spent 250k on an MBA and are going to back to make something close to what you were making pre-MBA 3-4 years earlier..why bother with all this headache
I mean either way when you exit from IB you are most likely 100% taking a pay cut
Of course. The point of my comment is that those exits seem like taking several steps back after all the work and investment (of money and time) that was put in trying to get into a good business school, networking, and then grinding as an associate only to get into a job that was paying roughly what you were making before b-school.
But who knows, probably in 12 months I'll be joining them too.
I would venture to say that the vast majority of people going to Investment Banking post-MBA were making less than 6-figures prior to business school.
Last bonus cycle, 6.5 years post MBA I basically made 10.75x pre MBA (was at a Big 4 consulting post undergrad). 20% of my MBA class still at banking and has been kind of same group after first 4-5 years. It’s not for everyone
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