<p>MBB refers to the top three consulting companies McKinsey, Bain, and Boston. MD is Managing Director aka "senior bigshot banker" at a financial institution. </p>
<p>I think UChicago is a great institution and probably gets tons of grads into finance, but when compared to HYPW, there is quite a noticeable difference. Also, where does Stanford go?</p>
<p>chicagoboy12 and kyzan, thanks for clarifying these abbreviations. I would have never guessed that BB for bulge bracket and MBB for McKinsey, Bain, and Boston.
What is the D in IBD - investment banking? Division? Department? Thanks again.</p>
<p>IBD = Investment Banking Division</p>
<p>Everyone of the BB (Bulge Bracket) has many many many divisions and contrary to popular myth, IBD is just one among them.</p>
<p>Being recruited for Hedge Funds, Private Equity, and Venture Capitals are probably considered more prestigious than IBD. Analysts (those hired out of college) are known as "monkeys" on wall-street. You don't trade stocks. You don't help people with financial problems. What you do do is sit in front of excel anywhere from 14-18 hours/ day.</p>
<p>Also, analysts are basically ALWAYS let go after 2 years (the contract is for 2 years) at which point some choose to take the money and move on to other careers (law, medicine) or go to B-School after which they can return to IBD as an associate. Either way, getting into Finance is really only a 2 year thing.</p>
<p>Econ rank isn't really that much of a concern for finance recruiters. Most of the elite finance jobs are in New York and Chicago does well, but its not close to a Harvard or even Columbia or Dartmouth for that matter.</p>
<p>Well, actually most people don't go to B-school to become an associate. If they haven't exited their institution, they usually get promoted to associate by the third year (unless you are really bad at what you do, in which case you might be asked to leave). I know McKinsey has mandatory promotions, so if you fail to be promoted with the rest of your class you must find another job.</p>
<p>How does McKinsey compare to a firm like Goldman Sachs? Which pays better salaries and are better for building relationships{Friendships and Dating}? I want a team-oriented environment that strives to meet every challenge as a group to succeed and accomplish the task at hand.</p>
<p>I think you should go to college first before you ask those kind of questions. Only you can find out which bests suite your personal interests so get into an elite school (and judging from your previous posts I think you already have :D) and get an internship. </p>
<p>I would personally take McKinsey over Goldman, but hey, that's just my preference.</p>
<p>McKinsey is a strategy consulting firm and Goldman is a bank. Totally different career paths. One is CEO track the other is high finance track.</p>
<p>Which do you think is the better path guys (and girls?)? McKinsey seems more likely to have manageable hours while Goldman is 90-100 hours per week. Some family friends work at Goldman, they're SVPs, they said if they weren't promoted, they probably be gone because there is no way they can manage analyst hours with a family. Would it be a good idea to get establish in the firm and then pursue relationships or juggle both if you are an analyst at Goldman? Seems like hell compared to McKinsey or Big 4 Accounting were you will get better hours (exceptions like tax season and etc of course). Which would you people rather do for a long term career? Oh yeh, it would be wonderful if you can tell me if the promotion ladder at Goldman is at any way fixed, for instance: if you're a certain race a.k.a, not WASP, you probably will have no chance at Managing Director Position? I've been reading a book on the history of Wall Street and it seems as if I-Banking MDs are either WASP or Jewish, which I hope isn't the case nowadays, although it does say that the diversity has improved greatly but still no to few if any MDs open to anyone besides WASP or Jews. Is that true? Could you elaborate? Thanks to everyone here for answering my questions by the way. My parents are pro commercial banking only because they feel that Wall Street's Promotion Ladder may be limited to an asian regardless of his ability. It would be nice if you could explain or cite anything that would dispel this fact or myth? Thanks.</p>
<p>There are plenty of asians in high finance. Most people who go into banking leave after two to four years anyway to work at hedge funds or in private equity. </p>
<p>Consulting is very different than banking. Its much more strategic and you're working with companies not the stock market. Most consultants end up running companies as c-level executives or in strategic planning groups.</p>
<p>What are c-level executives?</p>
<p>Ceo, Coo, Cfo</p>
<p>That's cool. It seems to be a much more interesting career possibly than I-banking where you will be completely at the mercy of the stock-market. I still got 4 years to go before staying put with a career but will probably decide by my sophomore year in college. No internship this summer =(, because I am going on my first vacation in 11 years :). Going to return to my homeland [China that is, also in time for the summer olympics] for a country-wide tour :P.</p>
<p>It takes a while to get there though!</p>
<p>@truazn8948532, I found that your post (post #23) very interesting and informing. As you said:</p>
<p>Analysts (those hired out of college) are known as "monkeys" on wall-street. You don't trade stocks. You don't help people with financial problems. What you do do is sit in front of excel anywhere from 14-18 hours/ day.
Also, analysts are basically ALWAYS let go after 2 years (the contract is for 2 years) at which point some choose to take the money and move on to other careers (law, medicine) or go to B-School
</p>
<p>If you only have two-year contract and in the end, basically ALWAYS being let go, I dont think you can be financially made (financially secure) in two years. Can you actually make enough (on average/ not the top performers) to pay tuition, room and boards for professional schools, if we take med schools as example (the most costly among the professional schools, plus low pay as residents), that is about $250k for 4 years? What is the point to do the two-years as an analyst if you are going to med school, which would further delay an already very long journey to become a doctor? Is it more common for people to go back to B-schools than med and law schools? Do you see enough examples of the other way round that people quit medicine after say, 20 years of medical practice and then venture into financial sectors? Do you believe those doctors or lawyers have right minds/ right instincts to perform that type/ that level of financial tasks at all?</p>
<p>That's completely incorrect. Mst leave their banks but end up going into hedge funds and private equity, or a fund of funds. I would say 90% of ibankers who don't leave the industry on their own accord get more than enough opportunities. A great majority will make well into the six figures (250-700K) by the time they are 30.</p>