<p>Looking at this board kind of makes me wonder. Lots of people here are obviously aiming for IB because of the money. But we've all heard "do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life." That kind of thing. So is the money worth doing something you don't truly enjoy? There may be some people who DO like the work of investment banking, but that's obviously not the case for the majority. I'm just looking for opinions, not trying to offend anyone.</p>
<p>I’d personally only be in it for the money. But, I think that the majority of being who go into business are mostly people who lack a specific passion so they just want to go into the workforce. This is just from what I’ve seen and judging myself, though, before people start flaming me. =P</p>
<p>I agree with demoz. I was personally on the same track. At a target school, with a very good gpa. But constantly battled with myself of why am I doing this. Long story short, I left the business track for something I will looking forward doing instead. The biggest reason I could think of was the money. Not that I actually loved world of business. From what I seen at my school. Business majors are generally the people who did not want to put in the work required for pre-med. Then again pre-med and business are probably the two most popular career paths.</p>
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<p>Personally I don’t think this is the case at all. </p>
<p>I think most people pursue ibanking for money with the knowledge of the short term in mind. I think the reason that turnover is so high is because people often will enter and leave in a span of 2-3 for exit opportunities and often don’t go back. </p>
<p>Think of it this way: For a student who just finished 4 years at one of the 10 or so best colleges in the country (probably with thousands of dollars in debt to pay off) who worked extremely hard to get a top gpa, a two year stint of boring work (that’s at least a step up from the mind-numbing internships they’ve already completed) that will pay a six figure salary and promise them either a spot at a top business or law school or another six figure salary sounds pretty enticing.</p>
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<p>Hahaha. I have an MBA. The sight of blood makes me passout quickly. I may have had the smarts and grades for pre-med (and then medical school), but not the stomach.</p>
<p>No reason to study pre-med when there was no chance of going med.(or even anything related.)</p>
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<p>God no…anyone who says otherwise has never done banking before.</p>
<p>People do banking for:Money+prestige (which is strongly correlated with money)+exit opportunities (i.e. the chance to make more money)</p>
<p>^Nail on head</p>
<p>I don’t think you could do it just for money. My older daughter wanted to go into it for money initially. I really wondered if she would like it. I don’t think she ever worked that hard before this summer, and she loved every minute of it. I did get a call from her at 1am on a Sat crying about how tired she was, but she was back in the office on Sun all chirper again. I think if she didn’t like her work, it would have been a long summer for her. You could only do it for so long if it’s just for money.</p>
<p>Haha - I have people that say Medicine is actually easy - because once you finish up your school+residency - you just cruise along billing patients for random services they don’t need. There’s no advancement required or performance ratings - unless you work in high profile surgery - most of it’s a joke. A lot of us plan to aim for IB - and if we don’t make it we’ll take an MCAT and head to med school. It’s our backup.</p>
<p>Majority of those in high finance aren’t “business” majors. They studied econ, physics, english - etc at their school.</p>
<p>Generalizations are bad for one’s health.</p>
<p>Money is not the biggest reason I want to go for Investment Banking.</p>
<p>Medicine, Law, and Engineering all pay well, but I would never pursue any of those careers. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoy the idea of Investment Banking after college, for several reasons (money being only one of them). The exit opportunities, the intense work experience, and the exposure to a multitude of high-ranking businesspeople are IMO excellent reasons to pursue IB. I’m one of those people who see IB as a “boot camp” that has longer-term justification. In addition, I am actually excited and interested about the role of IBanks, and what they do. I am actually passionate about business, and the business world.</p>
<p>Some people seem to “drone” themselves towards IB, having no idea what it means. Others are probably too greedy to choose something else, and/or are too boring to have any passion for something.</p>
<p>But honestly? If anyone says that they do the first two years of analyst investment banking because they’re “genuinely” interested in it is either lying or has no idea what it entails. 90 hour work weeks, plus tasks that involve you crunching Excel spreadsheets all day long and coming in at 4AM to modify one small teensy detail on the presentation your VP has to make at a meeting tomorrow? I can see why you’d be maybe “interested” in IB, but definitely not the lower profile where you start out stuff.</p>
<p>I started off dreaming about IB. Then I discovered Sales and Trading.</p>
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<p>I know no people who are pursuing IB and have med school as a backup. In addition I don’t think I’ve ever seen a student pursuing a finance career who had the requirements met to apply for medical school.</p>
<p>Now replace med school with law school and the MCAT with the LSAT, and I think you’re on to an accurate point.</p>
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<p>FACT. 10 char</p>
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<p>Really? In S&T? Wow…</p>
<p>She was in DCM at that time.</p>
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<p>While all that is true, the OP’s question was whether you’d still do banking if you got paid say…$60k and no bonus.</p>
<p>This thread is dumb. Would you gamble if it weren’t for the money? No… that’s the point. You’re not contributing to society or helping anyone. Skimming money off the top is the aim and the end.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t do IB for the money. I’d do it cause then I would do Clinton’s daughter 
hes an I-banker…or maybe a chief of staff (Rahm Manuel)…or maybe a treasury secretary (3 of them have been Goldman boys)?</p>
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<p>The point is that - believe it or not - some people actually enjoy their jobs.</p>