ATAR Notes: Forum
Uni Stuff => Faculties => Commerce => Topic started by: Gekko on July 31, 2013, 10:42:45 pm
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Hey everyone,
I'm a first year bcom student at UoM. I'm interested in pursuing a career in IB and I thought that I would post a thread here reaching out to anyone that possibly has the same aspiration or someone that has received an internship or full-time offer. I'd love to get some tips from you guys on how to maximise my chances of getting an offer and being a very well rounded student.
I managed to do pretty well in sem 1 and hope to keep up and maybe even increase my average. I have multiple part time jobs that sound impressive and I'm a member of a few clubs/societies at uni.
Hope to hear from you guys soon
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Asides from having good grades; networking is key. The value of melbourne uni over other unis is not the stuff you learn (it is similar across all aus unis); but who you get to meet during your time there. Melbourne is one of several keystone uni in the asia-pacific region; which means that not only do the smartest choose to study here, but also those who are somebody (or relatives of somebody) in the corprate world. Your ability to get to know these people and become good contacts with them will exponentially boost your chances of scoring an interview. (You have to remember that 75% of these openings are not offered publically; and the remaining 25% are sought after by some of the brightest kids in the nation).
Best way to start networks is to join the varoous orgainsations/student associations melb uni has present. Not only does it look great on your cv, but you get a chance to be able to start networking with like minded and ambitious commerce students.
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IBD is one of the most competitive areas. If you are aiming for the top firms (JPM, GS, CS, DB, MS etc) you need really good grades to separate yourself from all the other high achievers out there. That said, you also need to be extremely up-to-date regarding market events as the majority of the interview will be based on that. All in all, try to rack up as much scholarships/awards/maintain at least HD (H1) GPA throughout your studies and you should be extremely competitive for pen. year internships.
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Does your degree/university matter that much for ibanking?
could you get a goldmans offer if you did arts at melb or like business at monash? or is melbourne and commerce key?
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The rigor of the university would matter to an extent, although you'd definitely have a competitive edge if you attended either Monash/Melb or any other G8 uni.
Your degree (and major) will matter alot. IBD/FICC/S&T/Equities are now hiring science oriented grads, atm the 2014 summer internship offers are just coming out, alot of the people who got offers were science, engineering and mathematics students. That said, there were a few finance people who got offers too.
For this years internship apps, you can follow the news here: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2120442&p=18
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Thanks for the responses guys.
TT, Just asking on behalf of a friend that also wants to break into IB: He got a respectable ATAR (99.xx) but dropped off in sem1 and didn't come to any lectures etc thinking he could just wing it as it's sem 1. He says he's going to pick up the slack in sem2 (hopefully he does!). For internship applications next year, they'll only have access to year 1 (sem1+2) marks right? How would he stand given his 65 average for sem1 if he manages a 85-90 average like he says he will?
Some questions on my behalf:
How do you recommend I go about staying upto date regarding market events? Would reading the big articles on the AFR and Bloomberg every day or every other day at this stage suffice?
Also, do you think I should do a JD after BCom to increase my chances of getting an offer? I met a few Analysts in IB at some events in sem1 and most of them had done comm/law at monash or melbourne (when they offered the undergrad degree).
Also, is there any way I could get an offer from a London/NY office? I want to live in the US eventually
Thanks a lot
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TT, Just asking on behalf of a friend that also wants to break into IB: He got a respectable ATAR (99.xx) but dropped off in sem1 and didn't come to any lectures etc thinking he could just wing it as it's sem 1. He says he's going to pick up the slack in sem2 (hopefully he does!). For internship applications next year, they'll only have access to year 1 (sem1+2) marks right? How would he stand given his 65 average for sem1 if he manages a 85-90 average like he says he will?
I assume he is also doing BComm (3 year course)? Although most IB firms say these internships are for pen. year students, the reality is, alot of honours/masters/PhD students apply as well, the competition is REALLY tough. It's not only the GPA/WAM that will count, because there are so many strong candidates, you need lists of awards/scholarships etc to stand out. Most of the strong honours/masters/PhD candidates will have this, they will have publications, alot of scholarships and awards (duxes etc), research scholarships etc, when you are in pen. year, you only have your grades to make you stand out. Compare this with an honours/masters candidate who has duxed their undergraduate, the latter will stand in a much more competitive position than the former. Lifting your WAM to 85-90 will make you competitive but it is nowhere enough to ensure a position as almost all the other top candidates will also have a similar WAM, so what separates these people?
1. List as much awards/scholarships you've received, especially if you've duxed units/courses.
2. If you're applying for quant positions (FICC, equities, markets etc), consider doing summer research projects in mathematics/statistics to show that you have a strong quantitative background.
3. Many of the people who get these top quant positions study mathematics/physics/computer science/engineering etc, so consider doing some mathematics units as part of your BComm breadth so that screeners can see on your transcript that you have the mathematical abilities.
4. Work experience/Extra curricular activities matter to an extent, but this is only after considering your academic results, without having a solid academic background, screeners will most of the time disregard your work experience/extra curricular activities.
How do you recommend I go about staying upto date regarding market events? Would reading the big articles on the AFR and Bloomberg every day or every other day at this stage suffice?
Yes, read AFR/Bloomberg, you should also follow business spectator and stock markets review and remember to copy and save any important articles for future reference. A friend of mine who has gotten into IBD has read over thousands of articles to prepare for his interviews.
Also, is there any way I could get an offer from a London/NY office? I want to live in the US eventually
Yes definitely! You can select to apply for US/London offices during your application process, check up on the due dates though, I only really know the Asian Pacific dates lol
Also, do you think I should do a JD after BCom to increase my chances of getting an offer? I met a few Analysts in IB at some events in sem1 and most of them had done comm/law at monash or melbourne (when they offered the undergrad degree).
Because I am only knowledgeable in the quant positions, I'd say a MSc in mathematics/statistics or double degree in Science/Com or replace Sci with any mathematically related fields will put you in a good position for quant roles.
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I know a little bit about this because a significant number of my peers are going into IBD (and junior recruitment here starts in a month, and I'm *completely* undecided as to whether I'll apply or not because the applications are a lot of effort and I don't know what I'm doing with my life...).
I can only comment for Wall St and what things are like in the US. But here are some thoughts.
1) Prestige matters. Prestige matters a lot. In the US, the universities which are regarded as top targets are Wharton (the business school at Penn), Harvard, Yale and Princeton. It's even questionable whether MIT is regarded as a target because the ethos and curricular requirements don't develop students in areas aside from science. In the US, students from other universities who even want to stand a chance have to network like crazy. Even most Yale students I know have informational interviews and so on with alumni.
2) Be strong quantitatively. Take more math and logic classes than what's required. Make sure you can do that. If you want a quant role, you really should be able to code fluently with C++ and python and be aware of the data structures. Also, keep up your mental math.
3) Know the finance backdrop. That goes without saying.
4) Make sure that you can demonstrate people skills and leadership skills. Being in a club is not enough; being highly involved in a club is an experience worth putting on a resume. I'm really unsure of what I'll do after graduation, and I met with someone at the careers center today and his advice was that simply being in a club is worthless; being president of a club is worth noting. The standards are high. One of my friends has been president of one of the biggest organizations here and has also served in the military in the middle east as a translator. He's doing an internship at a mid range BB but not at a top BB.
I'm honestly not sure how much the academic background matters in terms of grades and awards (IBD seems to care less about academics than MC). Maybe it's because if I apply, I'll be applying through Yale and everyone has a lot of awards from high school graduation and external scholarships. But only put on awards for things that are relevant (did you top an investment or a modelling class?) or something that's interesting (at my meeting today, my adviser said that I should keep my hobbies section because of some of the people I'd performed for). All of the academics said, over here, Ivy League students generally need to maintain a 3.5/4.0 GPA to even be considered, and to be considered for a first round interview for larger banks, you generally need a 3.7. Apparently it doesn't matter too much beyond there.
5) You need to create a story. If you do investment banking, you'll be working 90 hours a week so your coworkers will be around you a lot. They need to like you at the interview, so you need to be interesting and easy to get along with. In addition, you need to have a convincing reason for why you want to do investment banking and why the path that you have taken has led you to this in terms of skills and experiences.
6) Think about where you want to work. Which offices support which industries? If you're fluent in an Asian language, it might be worth considering locations such as Hong Kong, as the sector is more vibrant there than in Australia.
To whoever asked about whether they can get a NYC offer from Australia, the answer is that it's very unlikely from Australia (though it may be possible to transfer branches), at least for a top bank. This is for a few reasons:
-Many of the positions at top tier banks are filled with former interns. As someone on the Australian academic calendar, these will fall during your semester. In addition, firms are unlikely to pay to fly you across the world for the interview even though they fly American candidates across the country.
-It's harder to network from the other side of the world.
-In the US, and especially in banking and consulting, pedigree counts for almost everything to break into the industry. Melbourne University and Monash University are barely known in the US (though they're better known in Asia). These firms barely recruit outside of the Ivy League, and when they do, the students are absolutely extraordinary and have the odds stacked against them. The banks recruit here on campus - there are information sessions, bankers take out promising students to restaurants, the interviews are held on campus, you wine and dine with interviewers. Most of the hiring is through on campus recruitment, and even so, most of the hiring is from a very select number of schools. Prestige matters a lot when breaking into Wall St. It's harsh, but it's true. Things would probably be different if you're an established professional, but I assume that we're talking about entry level hires here.
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Thanks so much for your responses, guys.
It looks as though I'm going to have some difficulty getting into IB straight out of commerce.
I am pretty hard-working though so hopefully I can achieve and maintain and 85-90+ average during my degree. I'll henceforth start reading articles on a daily basis. The Australian market is infinitely niche on a global scale so should I aim to have an in-depth working knowledge of the major players around the world? American, Asian, European markets etc.
A guy in my course is claiming to have secured the only cadetship available at GS. What's interesting is that he mentioned that he got it like 4 weeks into the first semester of our first year. I haven't been able to find anything on the internet about cadetships at GS and have never heard of them offering that. Do you know if there could be any truth to this?
Also, what would you guys suggest as a back-up plan? I'm going to be applying for the Melbourne JD because I kind of want to go to law school anyway. Then perhaps if I still can't get a full-time IB offer straight out of IB I could (among wondering why I couldn't get an offer again) go into M&A law and then try to jump ship into IB.
I'm just really confused at this point.
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IBD is super competitive. However, you seem smart, so there's no reason why you don't have a chance. I don't know how recruitment works in Australia, but I can't see why a 90 average would be too low. It wouldn't be the top commerce grade, but it would show that you're smart enough for the job, and beyond there, I'd assume other things matter more.
I spoke briefly to a friend who was doing a banking internship in Australia and the sectors in Australia seemed pretty small (mostly real estate and resources? I don't really remember). At the very least, make sure you understand those. Australia is pretty closely integrated into Asia, so you must understand the Asian markets at the very least, but that would also require an understanding of the American economy because China and Japan (and some other countries) are major stakeholders in America's current account deficit. In addition, China is trying to switch from an export oriented economy to an import economy (so that it can be more sustainable) and a large part of that relates to the EU's economic crisis, given that the EU recently overtook the US as the largest market for Chinese goods. I think you get the picture; the economies around the world are connected.
I'm certainly not one to give career advice about back ups, but think about why you want to do IBD. What about it sounds engaging? Which skills do you want to use? What about it would be fulfilling? If you can figure this out, you can figure out what back ups would be acceptable.
In terms of careers, my own case is probably very different but it might provide some insight. Until about a month ago, I was 100% sure that I was going to pursue academia in experimental physics. However, I then realized that I don't enjoy working with my hands or heavy machinery and that this work doesn't come as naturally to me as theoretical work does. I also don't enjoy pure mathematics, so that restricts me to applied physics in a computational sense, which is OK. Unfortunately this work is a lot more competitive than experimental work, and while I feel confident that I could be in the <20% of computational physicists who do actually get a job, I'm not sure where that job would be (middle of Iowa? no thanks) or when I would get it (three postdocs? no thanks). Academia has some wonderful features that I think I'd love (the flexibility to be creative once you reach a certain point, to ask questions if funding permits, to teach others) but also some drawbacks (horrible remuneration for the 6 years of your PhD and mediocre pay for your postdoc, as well as lack of geographic flexibility).
As a consequence, I'm now considering a range of professions that fit with my skills and interests. I have strong quantitative and analytical skills, and enjoy this type of work a lot. In addition, I've been doing lab work, tour guide work and tutoring work over the last few weeks, and the work I enjoy the most is the tour guide stuff and tutoring. I've interpreted this as the fact that I really want to work with people - be it teaching, collaborating or presenting.
So now I'm considering a range of different things and am open to exploring all of them to get a better idea of what might fit me well. These options include a PhD in computational geophysics (probably seismology), consulting, IBD, trading and tech business (including start ups). My suggestion for back ups would be to look at what type of work you enjoy and consider industries that seem to be a good fit. Consider the possibility that you might never get into IBD even if you try (I'm not saying you won't, but it's good to have options!). In that case, what would you like to do?
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IBD is super competitive. However, you seem smart, so there's no reason why you don't have a chance. I don't know how recruitment works in Australia, but I can't see why a 90 average would be too low. It wouldn't be the top commerce grade, but it would show that you're smart enough for the job, and beyond there, I'd assume other things matter more.
I spoke briefly to a friend who was doing a banking internship in Australia and the sectors in Australia seemed pretty small (mostly real estate and resources? I don't really remember). At the very least, make sure you understand those. Australia is pretty closely integrated into Asia, so you must understand the Asian markets at the very least, but that would also require an understanding of the American economy because China and Japan (and some other countries) are major stakeholders in America's current account deficit. In addition, China is trying to switch from an export oriented economy to an import economy (so that it can be more sustainable) and a large part of that relates to the EU's economic crisis, given that the EU recently overtook the US as the largest market for Chinese goods. I think you get the picture; the economies around the world are connected.
I'm certainly not one to give career advice about back ups, but think about why you want to do IBD. What about it sounds engaging? Which skills do you want to use? What about it would be fulfilling? If you can figure this out, you can figure out what back ups would be acceptable.
In terms of careers, my own case is probably very different but it might provide some insight. Until about a month ago, I was 100% sure that I was going to pursue academia in experimental physics. However, I then realized that I don't enjoy working with my hands or heavy machinery and that this work doesn't come as naturally to me as theoretical work does. I also don't enjoy pure mathematics, so that restricts me to applied physics in a computational sense, which is OK. Unfortunately this work is a lot more competitive than experimental work, and while I feel confident that I could be in the <20% of computational physicists who do actually get a job, I'm not sure where that job would be (middle of Iowa? no thanks) or when I would get it (three postdocs? no thanks). Academia has some wonderful features that I think I'd love (the flexibility to be creative once you reach a certain point, to ask questions if funding permits, to teach others) but also some drawbacks (horrible remuneration for the 6 years of your PhD and mediocre pay for your postdoc, as well as lack of geographic flexibility).
As a consequence, I'm now considering a range of professions that fit with my skills and interests. I have strong quantitative and analytical skills, and enjoy this type of work a lot. In addition, I've been doing lab work, tour guide work and tutoring work over the last few weeks, and the work I enjoy the most is the tour guide stuff and tutoring. I've interpreted this as the fact that I really want to work with people - be it teaching, collaborating or presenting.
So now I'm considering a range of different things and am open to exploring all of them to get a better idea of what might fit me well. These options include a PhD in computational geophysics (probably seismology), consulting, IBD, trading and tech business (including start ups). My suggestion for back ups would be to look at what type of work you enjoy and consider industries that seem to be a good fit. Consider the possibility that you might never get into IBD even if you try (I'm not saying you won't, but it's good to have options!). In that case, what would you like to do?
Thank you very much for your replies. I really appreciate your insightful advice.
What draws me to IB is how heavily embedded it is in finance. I love finance and financial modelling in particular. I took part in the UBS IB Challenge with another friend and the people from UBS were visibly impressed by how good our presentation was and that almost everything was correct. My friend and I didn't get later year friends to do it for us and present it as our own, either! Even though I slept very little during that week, I found the work genuinely interesting. It was a formidable challenge to research what I need to do, scour through all of the available documentation and then make it happen in excel. Obviously in the junior levels there is very little/no client interaction but that also appeals to me. If I never get into IB, I guess I would like to work on M&As in law as I will still effectively be part of the IBD process, I'll just be the legal-eagle in the process as opposed to the number-cruncher.
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Thank you very much for your replies. I really appreciate your insightful advice.
What draws me to IB is how I can be a multi-millionaire before 30 if I work hard enough.
Fixed your post for accuracy.
I only know one bloke in IB, he often sleeps at his desk and begins when he wakes up at his desk. He was athletic, attractive and happy before he started IB. He's now fat and takes several sorts of pills to calm him down. Having said that, he bought a $2,000 bottle of wine when we last ate out.
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Investment banking
150k p/a + bonus
....which then works out to roughly $16 per hour at the end. ^_^
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Investment banking
150k p/a + bonus
....which then works out to roughly $16 per hour at the end. ^_^
Honestly, I know nothing of what IB actually involves because I'm not in commerce, but my friends who are 25+ keep making jokes regarding to how heartless IB's are. Could someone explain why this is?
Like, one time we were at soccer training and one of my friends was on the floor (and we all thought he was faking an injury for a laugh), so I kicked the ball into him for a joke. He then faked the injury further to comical proportions and said, 'shittt, with a heart like that we could make an Invesment Banker out of you'. Never really got him though.
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Investment banking
150k p/a + bonus
....which then works out to roughly $16 per hour at the end. ^_^
816, this is completely right haha. Before I looked into the industry and started talking to people in it, I thought that the constant 80-90 hour work weeks were an exaggeration.
There are lots of other jobs that you can make more money than an IB analyst if you work the same number of hours.
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but pretty much no jobs in the world give you the exit opps of IB and even if the hourly rate is low most places wont have enough work to justify you doing overtime until you hit 150k
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but pretty much no jobs in the world give you the exit opps of IB and even if the hourly rate is low most places wont have enough work to justify you doing overtime until you hit 150k
The exit opportunities available are another reason I want to go into IB. Yeah I wasn't actually suggesting that you could just decide to work 80 hours another job, I just wanted to make a comment on the low hourly rate once you break down your salary.
Edit: There was an article I read on M&I some time ago that looked at IB remuneration and from memory the hourly rate was comparable to a McDonald's employee.
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The hours reduce from an average of 14-16 hours a day in your first year to about 10-14 hours a day in your second year. The hours get better as you get on, and within a few years, you're making a lot of money, doing some really important work and have the time to have a life. One of my friends who just finished his first year actually maintained a relationship, which I find admirable.
The exit opportunities in IB are good, but mostly if you want to work in the financial sector (HF, PE etc). I'm sure it's possible to go into industry and work for a FT500, but that depends on how you network. A lot of people also do an MBA as a point to transition between careers. I'd say that the exit opportunities from management consulting are a lot better as they're broader, but they're not as good if you're trying to go over to the buyside in finance.
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This is just my opinion, but earning 100k when you only have time to spend it between 12am and 7am is a big call. I know a lot of people out of high school don't think of this know, but realistically, is that amount of money (which when you work it out on a per hour basis, isn't that much higher than grad roles where you work 8-9ish hours a day) worth the severely reduced social and romantic life? I do commend your friend appianway for maintaining his relationship as a first year IBanker.
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This is just my opinion, but earning 100k when you only have time to spend it between 12am and 7am is a big call. I know a lot of people out of high school don't think of this know, but realistically, is that amount of money (which when you work it out on a per hour basis, isn't that much higher than grad roles where you work 8-9ish hours a day) worth the severely reduced social and romantic life? I do commend your friend appianway for maintaining his relationship as a first year IBanker.
Pretty much 100% agree with you here. Your 20s are a unique period and ostensibly the pinnacle of your life. I find it hard to believe people when they say they genuinely enjoy this kind of stuff. If you took away the pay packet, I doubt even 10% of the people would consider IB.
Personally, my goal in life is t need to work as little as possible to support my interests in life, like music, sport, friends, opposite-sex, reading, recreational maths and dancing.
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The hours in investment banking aren't unique. Many entry level positions, especially in competitive fields, require a lot of work. Want to do a PhD and then get a good postdoc? My boyfriend goes to MIT and the PhD students in his group were told off by their adviser for not spending longer hours in the lab on a Saturday morning. When I worked in Germany, I was told by my adviser to run experiments at 2am on a Sunday night/Monday morning. Want to do medicine? Enjoy the hours as an intern and as a registrar. Want to do management consulting? You'll be working 60 hour weeks, in addition to travel as you'll probably be on the road from Monday until Thursday. Most upper-middle class jobs require a lot of hard work at the beginning to get established. Investment banking is brutal, but certainly not unique.
If anyone wants to read some articles about investment banking from the Yale Daily News, I've copied a few in below. There's been a lot of outrage on campus over the last few years about how many students go into finance. That said, we have a lot fewer students going into finance than the other top Ivies, probably because we're less preprofessional and less preppy. The comment sections are interesting.
http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2011/12/01/jones-engaging-occupy-yale/
http://yaledailynews.com/weekend/2011/09/30/even-artichokes-have-doubts/ (RIP Marina Keegan)
http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2011/11/16/gidado-stop-demonizing-finance/
http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/09/17/revesz-a-harmful-career-fair/
http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2013/01/24/alumni-discuss-investment-banking/
http://yaledailynews.com/magazine/2005/10/06/i-banking-for-dummies/
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The hours reduce from an average of 14-16 hours a day in your first year to about 10-14 hours a day in your second year. The hours get better as you get on, and within a few years, you're making a lot of money, doing some really important work and have the time to have a life. One of my friends who just finished his first year actually maintained a relationship, which I find admirable.
The exit opportunities in IB are good, but mostly if you want to work in the financial sector (HF, PE etc). I'm sure it's possible to go into industry and work for a FT500, but that depends on how you network. A lot of people also do an MBA as a point to transition between careers. I'd say that the exit opportunities from management consulting are a lot better as they're broader, but they're not as good if you're trying to go over to the buyside in finance.
Precisely. The way I see it, IB for a few years is a good sacrifice to earn some good money (to pay or help pay for an MBA from a top B school), gain lots of experience working in the finance sector and open up different exit opportunities and do something I enjoy. If I happen to stay in IB post-MBA, then I'll stay in IB post-MBA. I'm quite interested in other fields though, particularly PE.
Pretty much 100% agree with you here. Your 20s are a unique period and ostensibly the pinnacle of your life. I find it hard to believe people when they say they genuinely enjoy this kind of stuff. If you took away the pay packet, I doubt even 10% of the people would consider IB.
Personally, my goal in life is t need to work as little as possible to support my interests in life, like music, sport, friends, opposite-sex, reading, recreational maths and dancing.
This is just my opinion, but earning 100k when you only have time to spend it between 12am and 7am is a big call. I know a lot of people out of high school don't think of this know, but realistically, is that amount of money (which when you work it out on a per hour basis, isn't that much higher than grad roles where you work 8-9ish hours a day) worth the severely reduced social and romantic life? I do commend your friend appianway for maintaining his relationship as a first year IBanker.
IB is like working in the mines for a few years for the greater good later on. Sure, it will consume your life for the period you work there (because of the geographic location for mines and hours worked in IB) but at the end of it, you can do whatever you wanted to do (exit opps) and have a nice bank balance to help fund that.
I'm not going to insult the collective intelligence of ANotes by saying that I'm not motivated to work hard and earn good money for doing so.
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A few people getting way ahead of themselves here.
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This is just my opinion, but earning 100k when you only have time to spend it between 12am and 7am is a big call. I know a lot of people out of high school don't think of this know, but realistically, is that amount of money (which when you work it out on a per hour basis, isn't that much higher than grad roles where you work 8-9ish hours a day) worth the severely reduced social and romantic life? I do commend your friend appianway for maintaining his relationship as a first year IBanker.
I share the same line of thinking. I've worked at an investment bank before, but in finance and not IB.
I won't divulge specific pay rates because there are some people on here who know where I worked, but the IB grads were getting paid significantly less than every other department (even the back office staff) when you broke it down to an hourly rate.
Hours of work... it's perfectly normal to start at 7am and finish somewhere between 10pm and midnight. It's also considered a normal amount of overtime if you work until 2am or 3am, or start at 5am. Working Saturdays is pretty normal. Sundays is for catching up on all the sleep your missed during the week.
IB has an overwhelming tendency to destroy everything about your life except for your income. And you don't even have a chance to spend your income, because pretty much all you're doing is working, eating and sleeping.
Some people are willing to sacrifice their early- and mid-20s on this sort of lifestyle, in order to financially set themselves up for life. That's a personal and calculated decision, but I implore each of you to realise the full weight of this decision. Family, friends, significant others, sport, hobbies, sleep... they all drop off the radar almost completely. The fact that appianway's friend still has a boyfriend/girlfriend is something extraordinary and admirable. It's definitely not the norm though. Don't be under any delusions or misunderstandings here.
If you've thought long and hard about this and you're sure you're making the right decision for the right reasons, then go for it.
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I share the same line of thinking. I've worked at an investment bank before, but in finance and not IB.
I won't divulge specific pay rates because there are some people on here who know where I worked, but the IB grads were getting paid significantly less than every other department (even the back office staff) when you broke it down to an hourly rate.
Hours of work... it's perfectly normal to start at 7am and finish somewhere between 10pm and midnight. It's also considered a normal amount of overtime if you work until 2am or 3am, or start at 5am. Working Saturdays is pretty normal. Sundays is for catching up on all the sleep your missed during the week.
IB has an overwhelming tendency to destroy everything about your life except for your income. And you don't even have a chance to spend your income, because pretty much all you're doing is working, eating and sleeping.
Some people are willing to sacrifice their early- and mid-20s on this sort of lifestyle, in order to financially set themselves up for life. That's a personal and calculated decision, but I implore each of you to realise the full weight of this decision. Family, friends, significant others, sport, hobbies, sleep... they all drop off the radar almost completely. The fact that appianway's friend still has a boyfriend/girlfriend is something extraordinary and admirable. It's definitely not the norm though. Don't be under any delusions or misunderstandings here.
If you've thought long and hard about this and you're sure you're making the right decision for the right reasons, then go for it.
You can apply this to medicine as well and a fair few jobs. The question is mainly, is this what you thoroughly enjoy and can you think of no better way to spend your 20s? For some people, that answer is yes. But if the answer is no, I think a lot of people would regret 'prostituting' the pinnacle of their youth for the dollar.