Investment Banking recruitment at Wharton

<p>^lol
70k+40k 1st yr bonus= 110k total comp for first yr IB… And thats not even the big bucks.
2 years of IB then PE/HF which is around 250-275k… not too bad for a 24 year old…</p>

<p>So,my question still stands…
People go to Wharton to become successful and rich, so why are so many people turning down the opportunity to do IB and make 250k as a 24 year old?!
please dont give me the “most wharton grads dont make decisions based on money” explanation bc if that was true then more than 1% of grads would go into nonprofit.</p>

<p>OP- check out wallstreetoasis and you will find some legitimate answers to your questions from people with experience…
or just major in comp sci and make 150k after 5 years!!!</p>

<p>@goblue2018: why wouldn’t more Whartonites go into IB/Management Consulting?</p>

<p>Because some people aren’t interested. I never went to Wharton to go into IBanking. I didn’t even take Finance 100 till my second semester senior year. I knew it wasn’t the path for me, based on interest and more importantly lifestyle, so I pursued other things because my interests where elsewhere. For some people, money is not the most important motivator. Considering how much money undergrads can make at the top banks, it’s quite funny that it still wasn’t enough for me to ever consider it. We all value things differently, so do not assume that the rational decision is to follow the money. 1/2 the class going into IB or Management Consulting is more than enough. The other 1/2 go on to positions with major manufacturers and tech firms, starting their own business or joining startups, and some even go to grad school (and for things other than business!).</p>

<p>That’s a very shallow view. Not everyone defines success solely by the amount of money they make, they want to get fulfillment from their careers. If all you care about is making money, you shouldn’t bother attending Wharton and just attend the cheapest school that sends grads to Goldman Sachs. You should attend a school based on the quality of education not job placement, that’s just an added bonus.</p>

<p>A high GPA and high math scores for a prestigious banking job.</p>

<p>Bankers really like math whizzes.</p>

<p>I see this is a very old thread but figured I’d chime in because of how much misinformation there is flying around.</p>

<p>-In response to the points about “Why don’t more Wharton grads go into banking?”
->I don’t know where you get this impression. Lack of demand is absolutely not an issue. There are way more Wharton undergrads who want to go into banking than there are spots. There are plenty of people with solid grades and resumes who will want to go into banking but fail to get an offer. There aren’t many analyst positions to go around, and IB plus the few buyside roles that recruit undergrads basically skim the top ~20-30% of kids in any given year. They get the best kids from Wharton, best from Harvard, etc. They will not fill their entire analyst class from Penn even though it is the top target school for most firms. The best few kids from other schools are much smarter and better prepared than the median kid at Penn.</p>

<p>->The implication of this is that you need a very competitive resume to even get first round interviews, and the vast majority of the spoils go to the top ~5-10% of students. Unless you have great connections or a hook, you will need a 3.8+ GPA to have a good shot at getting a lot of interviews. The math is pretty simple, because most firms have ~30 interview slots (large banks like GS would have more like 50-60) and will get 300-400 applications [much higher if they are a firm that everyone, even non-finance people, apply to just for the heck of it, like GS]. </p>

<p>During OCR, those top students will often receive tons of interviews, even 20 or more. Ultimately the people in the top ~5% will ace these, end up receiving more second round interviews than they can physically go to, and receive multiple offers. OCR at Penn is ultimately very unequal, with the people at the very top getting many great offers but the quality and number of offers people get tapers off quickly.</p>

<p>->The importance of OCR may be declining. More firms are now doing accelerated recruiting in the fall for summer positions, particularly to attract female/minority candidates. In aggregate this is bad for both students and firms, because there is a lack of information on both sides, unlike in OCR when everyone is recruiting at once. However, it’s a prisoners dilemma situation, where if one firm recruits early, all firms have an incentive to recruit early because they are afraid of losing the top candidates.</p>

<p>->Comp at boutiques/buyside and even the big banks like GS is well above $110K all in</p>

<p>->GS/MS are not the best places to be, the attraction of bulge bracket banks has declined significantly since the crisis</p>

<p>->Banks don’t care about math wizardry, they want very smart people with decent social skills who understand finance/accounting well</p>