<p>I assume that you're a HS junior trying to get a head start on his career. I'll be the first of many to tell you, its a bit too early to be thinking about that kind of stuff. Go out and have fun and don't worry about investment banking or any career that you might be interested in, mainly because many, MANY people always change their minds.</p>
<p>Regardless, I think that its good that you have an idea of where you want to go in life and what you want to do. I also find it very admirable for somebody of your age NOT to ask any questions about the compensation of investment banking. With that being said, you are just about in the same boat that I was in. In HS, I was leaning towards doing law/banking after graduating college. I was a decent enough student with decent EC's and I got into a couple of T20 UG schools. Unfortunately, I wasn't good enough to get money from scholarships, and too well off to get financial aid. Moreover, I didn't want to burden my parents by going to a school that was more than 30K per year, and that was out of state. </p>
<p>Instead, I decided to head up to UTexas in Austin, which is only a mere 9K per year for tuition (I'm a Texas resident). While I know that I would've had much better connections at a top school, I'm really loving being a standout at UT. So, my advice to you, is that if you can't afford, or don't want to afford, the top schools, (IMO, only HYPS and Wharton are worth the money, if you're looking at IBanking), try and go to a big state school. You'll have a ton of fun, and if you were an Ivy candidate, you'll be a superstar in your state school, so long as you bust your butt. </p>
<p>IMO, the smaller state schools (Think Texas A&M, UCSD, UIlliniois, etc), schools that play a smaller role in their state's education system, are going to be a lot harder to break into banking. They just aren't target schools for NYC. I've posted otherwise about working in areas other than NYC, and you should search around for that.</p>
<p>Sorry to drag on for so long, but, all in all, my advice to you is go to a big state school that is a semi-target for banking, if you're really set on that path.</p>
<p>EDIT: And the smaller banks in NYC that you're thinking of breaking into are just as difficult to enter into as the Bulge Bracket banks. Some people just don't want the huge atmosphere of a BB, so they stick with a MM bank. Definetly not an easier route to take, I'd have to say. Those MM's take much less than the BB's and are tough to break into unless you go to a target or have some major connections.</p>
<p>PE, VC, and HF are three of the most prestigous exit opps for bankers. Middle market and BB analysts both leave their banks to go to these respected fields. Granted, the hours are better for those three than banking, w/ the exception of your analyst years at a top tier PE shop (I hear their hours are absolutely brutal, worse if not the same as IB), and the pay is also a lot higher. But, of course, these shops usually recruit from BB's and you've got to be a star at the MM banks to enter the conversation of PE/VC/HF. Right now, everybody is gunning for those fields b/c they're so hot, and likewise, the level of your peers rises exponentially. Of course, after you progress through the system, hours do get better (MD's at IB's work <60 Hr weeks, on avg.), but the traveling at PE shops really increases. I'm not too sure about HF/VC, but I'd assume that you definetly wouldn't have to work as much, but rely more upon your people skills.</p>
<p>As for HF though, not to burst your bubble, but, I've heard breaking into a HF is incredibly hard. They take ridiculous quant guys (Think upper echelon MIT guys), guys with incredible backgrounds, or people that are incredibly well connected. To be honest, I've never even heard of a guy breaking into HF from a MM bank. I remember a while back reading a list of lower-tier HF guys at DE Shaw and I saw nothing but Harvard/MIT UG, HBS, and just a couple of Wharton kids. It is really, really hard to break into.</p>