So what are the total salaries like?

I'm still hesitating between career paths, M&A or hedge fund - very different I know. I love M&A (my current job), but I'm a bit daunted by the 80 - 90h a week potential. Working in Belgium, I do 60 - 65, and I can only imagine how difficult it would be to add 20 hours to that.

What kind of major should I do in schools such as Chicago and Wharton? Is finance ok for hedge funds?

I guess the courses you'll take though are pretty different. Would like to have your input...

Well, depends on market, business etc. If you end up on the 45hr desk, you picked in the direction of some business where your job might be gone soon anyway (my guess on a 45hr desk - cash equities) - I really don't buy the 45hr job thing. But then again, it normally is thrown from the macho world of working long hours = kool.

I think you are looking at desk time of at least 60 on most desks (6am-6pm) and then the reading and worrying out with.

I was wondering, are your hours for IB positions in NYC? Or would this be similar for IB positions in Los Angeles?
Also, do all or most IB positions work on weekends? If so, when do bankers find time to actually have a social life?

Thank you in advance,
KK

The hours are for positions based in NY, though keep in mind things could vary a lot depending on whether you are with a coverage group or a product group, the people you work for/with, how busy your sector is, the culture of each firm, etc. My sense is that hours in LA are similar, but perhaps slightly better on the fringes. Most if not all bankers regularly work weekends, though on the west coast you might be able to work from home more often and perhaps have a little more flexibility on Fridays.

A lot of bankers have very little time for a social life, and what free time they do have is often spent watching a blackberry or dreading a call recalling them to the office (even if they are on vacation on another continent). There's definitely some truth to the joke that a lot of bankers spend a lot of time at strip clubs. Many people go into banking for a few years for some quick cash or as a career stepping stone (a VP title with a well-known firm after 3 years is pretty sweet); the few that stick it out for the long term make millions (or tens of millions) of dollars a years, but it's definitely a sacrifice getting and staying there.

Thanks for your response. So what areas in IB work less, and not work weekends? And do these sectors get paid on a different scale? Also can you name some so I can research the different areas of IB?

Thanks,
KK

Is this "where can I earn the most money per hour post MBA?"

I suggest you contact Spitzer if so.

I think no matter where you work in Investment Banking, if you don't like the job the hours are going to suck. If you work West Coast S+T, you are in the office for New York opening. If you work there for IB, the hours may be better than NYC, but you are at a hub and get less love when the bonuses and promotions come in (I have a friend in Chicago considering coming back to NYC, even though it kills him, for that very reason).

I am sorry if I sound a bit rough on this. I get really tired with the apparent want to earn as much as possible for as little as possible mindset, and it raises my ire.

kudos for spitzer reference

I think IB is one of those fields where if you ask the question "what can i do go make the most money with the least hours?"...IB is not for you.

RVD.

No, your response is understandable. I am actually originally from LA, and was wanting to make my way back out there, but everyone tells me that if I want to do IB or finance sectors, things will be on the slower track if I am not in NYC, which I am fine with, but I was wondering if the hours are just as bad out in LA, then even location would not suffice enough as a good reason to move back to LA over going to NYC and suffering the cold and the hours. So no, my post was not intentionally meant to ask that, but rather, do the IB branch offices in LA work less because they do support work for NYC headquarter offices, and if so is it different sectors in LA offices? I am wanting to do my own research, but didn't have any idea on what to search for.