How to get into investment banking

Investment bankers advise companies that want to buy another company, sell themselves or raise money. As a junior analyst you build financial models in spreadsheets and the slide decks, called pitch books, that senior bankers present to clients.

At large New York banks, first-year analysts make about $165,000 to $225,000 including bonus, on a base of $100,000 to $125,000. Associates make $285,000 to $500,000 and managing directors $1 million or more, according to the Mergers and Inquisitions 2026 pay report. Smaller banks and other cities pay less.

The cost is time. Analysts commonly work 70 to 90 hours a week, and some banks now cap juniors at 80.

Banks fill nearly all first-year analyst jobs from their own summer interns. The internship that matters is the one in the summer before your final year of university. It lasts about 10 weeks, and most full-time offers come out of it.

Here is the catch: applications for that internship open about 1.5 to 2 years before it starts, which for most students means the second year of university. If you start thinking about banking in your third year, you are already late for the big banks.

So the practical plan is: in your first year, join the finance club and learn accounting and spreadsheet modeling. Start talking to alumni. By the start of your second year, have your resume ready and know every bank's deadline.

Banks call the schools they recruit from most heavily target schools. They include Penn's Wharton school, Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, Yale, Cornell and New York University's Stern School of Business, plus large public business schools such as Michigan, Virginia, the University of California, Berkeley and Texas at Austin.

The advantage is real. At these schools banks hold events on campus, alumni already work on every team, and the recruiting calendar is common knowledge. A student with the same grades at another school has to find all of that on their own.

If you are still choosing a university, two things help. Elite private schools often give generous aid, so compare the net price, not the sticker price. And the large public business schools give you target-level access at in-state tuition, about $11,000 a year, if you live in that state.

Plenty of bankers came from schools banks do not visit. The routes they use are well known.

Start smaller. Regional banks and boutique advisory firms hire from state schools near them, and many recruit later and less formally. A first or second year internship at a small firm makes the big one easier to land, and some people go straight from a boutique to a large bank after a year or two as an analyst.

Transfer or go back to school. Some students transfer into a target school after their first year. Others earn an MBA (Master of Business Administration) and enter as an associate, usually in their late 20s or early 30s, which is the classic second chance.

Come in sideways. A few years in corporate finance, valuation or consulting can lead to a banking job as a lateral hire. The routes below cover those jobs.

At most banks, someone on the team vouching for you matters. That is why networking is not optional, especially from a non-target school.

The usual method is short calls, often 15 to 20 minutes, with alumni from your school who work at banks. Find them on LinkedIn or through your career office, send a brief, specific email, ask good questions about their work, and follow up with a thank you. Do not ask for a job on the first call. Ask what they wish they had known, and whether there is anyone else you should talk to.

Finance clubs and investment clubs are where most students first meet bankers. On Reddit's r/FinancialCareers and Wall Street Oasis, students share recruiting dates and interview questions, which helps if your campus has no one to ask.

Bank interviews have two halves. The behavioral half asks why banking, why this bank, and to walk through your resume. The technical half tests whether you can do the work.

Expect accounting questions, such as how a change on one financial statement flows through the other two. Expect valuation questions about the main methods: comparing to similar companies, comparing to past deals, and the discounted cash flow model, which values a company by its future cash. You may be asked to walk through a merger or a simple LBO (leveraged buyout).

The best preparation is to build a three-statement model and a valuation from a blank spreadsheet before your first interview. Accounting courses beyond the minimum help a lot here.

Bankers who advise on deals must be registered with FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority).

The first exam is the SIE (Securities Industry Essentials). Anyone 18 or over can take it for $100, without a sponsor, so passing it as a student is a small but real signal that you are serious.

After you are hired, the bank sponsors you for the Series 79, the investment banking representative exam: 75 questions, 2.5 hours, $395. Most banks also want the Series 63, a state law exam run by NASAA (the North American Securities Administrators Association). The bank pays for both.

A financial analyst job at a company finance team, an asset manager or a regional bank teaches the same core skills: reading financial statements, building models and valuing businesses. The median pay is $102,740 a year, and first jobs pay about $64,000 to $85,000, with much shorter hours than banking.

Some people move from these jobs into banking after a few years, especially from corporate development teams that buy and sell companies. Many others find they prefer the hours and stay, which is a fine outcome.

Accountants at large firms do audit, tax and advisory work, and the advisory side includes valuation and deal teams that check a company's numbers before a sale. That work is close to banking, and people do move across.

The pay is steadier and lower, with a median of $83,680 a year. Passing the CPA (certified public accountant) exam is the biggest pay jump. Busy season runs from January to April, and the rest of the year is usually far calmer than any bank.

Consulting firms recruit the same students as banks, with case interviews instead of technical ones. Two or three years of consulting is a common route into strategy and finance jobs, and a few private equity firms hire consultants for operations roles.

The median is $101,860 a year, and the large strategy firms pay new graduates well above that. If you like solving business problems but do not want to live inside spreadsheets until 2 am, apply to both and see which offer you get.

For some people, yes. Two years in banking pays very well, teaches you how companies are valued and sold, and opens doors to private equity, hedge funds and company finance teams.

But be honest with yourself about the hours, the bonus that shrinks in slow years, and the fact that most of the job is careful formatting, not deal glamour. Many analysts leave after 2 or 3 years, and they planned to.