<p>Ramses,</p>
<p>You're wrong. Avg starting salaries for the Wharton UG class of 2004 was $52K (the last year I saw statistics for); 2003 was $50K <a href="http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/undergrad/faq.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/undergrad/faq.html</a>. Wharton MBAs obviously start out a lot higher, but most of them already have had significant work experience.</p>
<p>Ok, so I guess i was wrong.</p>
<p>Mahras: What you're talking about has nothing to do with analyst-level positions at investment banking firms, aka the jobs most Wharton grads choose in the financial industry. traveling around to raise VC or any sort of investment is part of starting a company, or some sort of investment fund.</p>
<p>Its called capital raising. The bank may underwrite an equity, bond offering. You will need to travel to raise funds for that. Bankers are not just limited to advisory work. As I already noted, you might also have to do due diligence. You might also have to pitch a business.</p>
<p>Look, bankers are middle men. Forget all your misconceptions that its some glamourous job where you are titans of finance. You are a salesman. Salesman travel, they schmooze with clients so they will give them some business where they can collect a fee. Say a company wants to sell off a part of it, he would go to the banker and then the banker would travel and find buyers who are interested. The banker collects a fee from the sellers because they found their buyers.</p>
<p>Simple as that.</p>
<p>Edit: BTW I am not putting down the job or anything. Just removing some misconceptions people have about it.</p>
<p>I'm looking into a few years of consulting after Wharton. Then, I'll probably pursue an MBA, and who knows where I'll go after that?</p>
<p>juicyfruit writes: "50k's pretty low..."</p>
<p>Hey, we're talking American dollars here, not Canadian!</p>
<p>For the Wharton Class of 2005, 54K was the average starting salary. However, most people are concerned with total compensation rather than salary alone. A 54K salary plus an average 8K sign-on bonus and a 21K year end bonus indicate an average of 83K in total compensation for the class of 2005.</p>
<p>that doesn't sound too bad for me...</p>
<p>80k+ a year is NOTHING to sniff at for starting compensation.</p>
<p>wait is that a negative post aimed at me? I'm confused. My post was positive although its meaning is hard to decipher. I meant to say basically that it sounds good.</p>
<p>No it's not negative</p>
<p>
[quote]
Hey, we're talking American dollars here, not Canadian!
[/quote]
LOL :P Long live Canada!</p>
<p>Long live our peaceful neighbor.</p>
<p>100+ hours a week is ridiculous... No matter how you look at it 100 hours a week is so so so bad. Would you really be willing to work 14+ hours a day 7 days a week 51 weeks (assuming that you get (and use) one week of vacation) a year? If you sleep 5 hours a day you get 5 hours to take care of your basic necessities such as eating and travelling and shopping and grooming and showering etc...</p>
<p>Now I'm not sure if the time is ACTUALLY that bad, but whoever thinks it's realistic that they'll enjoy continuous, never-ending 100+ hour weeks is fooling themself. I find working 50 hours a week is draining enough, and I am NOT looking forward to doing 100.</p>
<p>It's all a balance. Wasting away your 20's for some later payoff doesn't seem worthwhile nor fun. Balance!</p>
<p>The reason it's only 50k is because they're not including bonuses as part of your salary. My bro got 55,000 as an analyst right out of Wharton, and at the end of the year a $75,000 bonus. In the surveys, though, they'll only count the $55k.</p>
<p>75k bonus as a first year analyst? HAHAHAHAHAHA</p>
<p>at my school, we have to go to school by 8am and have to stay until 11pm.
Working 15~16hours a day is not that bad u know.</p>
<p>I could say that I had school for 50+ hours a week in high school, but that didn't mean I was anywhere near prepared for my first full time job. Likewise, I still don't think you grasp the concept of doing *****-work all year long. Having only 7 days off a year (14 hour days at 100 hours a week mean you work every single weekend) is just insane.</p>
<p>I don't know whether you are really just superhuman, or if you are forgetting that you get no weekends off, no summer vacation, etc etc etc</p>
<p>75k bonus for a first year is possible but it is on the really high end...
<a href="http://www.ibankingoasis.com%5B/url%5D">www.ibankingoasis.com</a> for all you banking freaks they have a compensation database and other info in the forums
...freaks :)</p>
<p>75K...that's why I want to be him when I grow up (keep in mind that the past few years have been giving the banks record profits)</p>