<p>though its probably not how things should be, Polo is probably right.</p>
<p>Not only women in banking but all women in demanding careers lawyers, doctors, accountants, publicists, etc spend the first five/ten years of their careers concentrating on getting ahead, just as men do. Why would they have gone through all these years of training,and a huge bill, starting with middle school, moving through all sorts of tests/prep/etc to get into a good college, and then to a good post grad program? If a man in one of those careers decided to step back for a relationship, would you think less of him? Of course you would. There is a huge number of former women bankers in their early thirties, married to male bankers in NYC. Those women no longer work b/c their husbands easily support them on seven figure plus comp packages. There are a few that are truly passionate about banking that remain working. There is a large number that are married to other bankers, both sides didnt make it big enough for the woman to stop working, and there are even more of those that stop working and move to the suburbs. And then there are some unfortunate few who are making more than their husbands. The point is that a large proportion of women in banking are married to men in banking. I would bet that the majority of the low level ibankers referred to earlier in the thread, with NYU day circled in their calendars, etc, dont make the cut above analyst. And actually tons of the top guys in ibanks/hedge funds are married to their college girlfriends, who also had early careers in banking.
To whomever said that a banking wife would be emasculating – true, if you dont swing same $ as she does.</p>
<p>^ So why do ibanks care about Ivy brandname so much?</p>
<p>Its not only the ibanks. Look at any profession, and you will see that graduates from Ivys are favored. H…, your aunt Ethel will favor an Ivy graduate for your cousin Susie, rather that a graduate of Rutgers (no slight intended).</p>
<p>
I think that you are correct in general. It is undeniable that graduates of Ivy-and Ivy-caliber schools are prefered all else equal and that includes ibanking. To argue why or complain about it is a waste of time unless you are in a position where you can implement real policy changes. I don’t think that anyone at a school like Rutgers (like myself) would argue that you would have an easier time finding a job compared to an Ivy undergrad in most cases.</p>
<p>However, while this may apply for many professions, it does not apply for ALL professions. There are professions where the barrier to entry is set in stone and if you do not meet certain hard credentials such as licensing and degree level (BS/BA, MS, PhD or some Doctorate) you have no shot at all and an Ivy-brand name can’t help you.</p>
<p>The name buys a lot of leverage. Thankfully, the legal profession won’t consider anyone who can’t pass the bar exam :)</p>
<p>As far as marriage goes, if I’m an associate at a major law firm (already resigned myself to the fact that I’ll never make partner-nor do I want to make partner), I wouldn’t be looking outside my office for someone to marry, I’d be looking far, far away from the office. I’d never marry someone working in the same profession, let alone working for the same employer. Too messy.</p>
<p>That said, I’m not cut out for IB period. Too risk-averse.</p>
<p>My S who works in PE, has been told by numerous colleagues not to get married. Last Friday at 10PM, he and a colleague found themselves still working at the office and his colleague lamented that if he doesn’t work hard, he would lose his job and if he does (=long hours), like going home after 10 PM on a Friday night, he would catch hell from his wife. Choosing an understanding and sympathetic spouse is very important in this type of work.</p>