<p>D1 spent two yrs living (until last August) with roommates. Last August she moved into an apartment by herself…</p>
<p>This past "“bonus” season in January, two and one half yrs after graduation, she became an associate.</p>
<p>This month will be three yrs since she graduated.</p>
<p>Congrats to your D. My personal experience in IB at BB is that analysts finish out their year before they are promoted and most BB are lockstep; not after 1/2 years and it has nothing to do with bonus season. Analysts stay 3 years before becoming associates, at least in IBD.</p>
<p>^ cbreeze I agree, congrats to my D1 because she has been, so far, successful. However she has not achieved anything sooner than her BB employer usually awards promotions, etc.</p>
<p>OP, definitely listen to some of the veterans around here like morrismm and cbreeze.</p>
<p>You can’t get into this profession just for the money if your goal is to make VP, MD, etc. You’re not going to last that long if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing.</p>
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<p>This. It’s exactly why I got out of the NJ/NYC area as soon as I could. Work/life balance was important to me.</p>
<p>Uninformed people get so caught up in “gross incomes” that they haven’t taken in the large picture. Another factor you might want to consider. Prestigious schools are essentially the “gateway” for high paying jobs in finance. Unfortunately, there’s a very large possibility you will incur substantial finance debt to attend those schools. I can tell you this much… graduating undergrad with zero debt gives you such a huge advantage in making large asset purchases in life.</p>
<p>You truly need to ask yourself if you want to or can handle working over 55 hour work weeks. If you don’t absolutely enjoy it, trust me, it will take its toll. If you’re not absolutely committed, you won’t make it in finance.</p>
<p>cbreeze-- my D1 just had her associate class training a few weeks ago. The BB brought in, to NYC, her “classmates” from all over the world for training and a whole lot of partying, so I am told! So maybe her official promotion was just a few weeks ago, about three years after her graduation. She might have been told informally about her promotion in January. I do not get into such details with her.</p>
<p>Also, ^Polo has many good points. Do not go into it for money alone. It requires long hours, stress, competition, networking and competance, etc to get ahead. You will not succeed if you do not love it. You may not succeed even if you do.</p>
<p>If you’re good enough you’d do 2 years of banking and then go into PE. Pay is 2-3x as much at junior levels. More at senior levels.</p>