The path to enter Wall Street has changed radically since then.
Those who wait or don’t learn the recruiting game quickly enough risk being left behind.
Even willing participants recognize the absurdity.
So why are they doing it?
And do they understandhow crushingan entry-level job on Wall Street can be, with stories of peoplecollapsing from exhaustion?
They asked to be anonymous to protect their future careers.
The students we talked to expressed complicated feelings about their chosen career track.
(It also offers the most entry-level jobs in finance.)
“If I like it, I can stay with it.
If I don’t, there are other opportunities out there,” he said.
“I think working at a job like investment banking keeps those doors open.”
The junior banker lifestyle can be so grueling thatentire businesseshave spawned to poke fun at it online.
Bank of America andJPMorganlater announcednew guardrailsmeant to prevent burnout.
“Who are the decision-makers?
It’s people who are 20, 30 years older.
They don’t care.
It’s just the generation they were raised in,” a junior at New York University said.
“I feel like it’s a culture of giving back, but in a negative way.
Back in my day, you slept at the desk.'”
Finances also ranked highly when it came to long-term goals.
When asked about their future careers, the majority rated financial freedom as the most important quality.
What students really want could also be gleaned from their write-in answers to other survey questions.
Notably, just 15 answers about long-term dream jobs in finance mentioned banking.
Some said they welcomed the grind.
Other students seemed to see Wall Street’s hard-charging apprenticeship model as the price of entry.
“My dad was really worried,” she said of her sibling’s early banking career.
“It does scare me, but that’s just part of the job.
We already know that.
You know this going into it.”
Of course, few undergrads have actually experienced 80- or 100-hour workweeks, as another Georgetown student noted.
This student avoided the traditional investment banking route specifically because of its reputation for grinding down young talent.
“There’s just certain things I won’t compromise regardless of outcome.
I think dying is one of those things.
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