I know it’s dominated by Uchicago,NU,Notre Dame and Washu but
1. How is pay/is it more laid back and how is buyside/exit ops after 2 years in ib?
2. COL is definitely lower than NYC and would it make sense to target Chicago straight out of undergrad over NYC, would I lose out on anything career or pay wise?
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1. Generally, pay is going to be identical to NY on a bank by bank basis. However, Illinois state income tax is going to be lower. While hours are group and bank dependent, they are consistent with NY for the most part. I have gotten the vibe that Chicago shops generally have a better more midwestern culture and are less toxic, but I still wouldn't call them laid back by any means. Exit ops are definitely skewed to Chicago which has a lot of great MM/UMM PE (GTCR, MDP, BDT to name a few) but I've also heard of some UMM exits to NY from top Chicago shops like Blair, JPM, GHL. This is all anecdotal and I'm sure there are some people placing to MFs, especially if you're coming from a BB/EB, I just haven't really looked into it.
2. Pay wise you definitely won't. Your salary will take you so much further in Chicago, you can live very very nicely in Chicago on a banker's salary, quality of life will be significantly higher than NY. NY definitely beats out Chicago in terms of just sheer quantity opportunity and you'll have the chance to build a much larger network. If your career goal is to be at a top MF, top HF, or be a finance god that makes people on this forum cream their pants, yeah you'll probably lose out. But if not, I think Chicago is an awesome city with ample opportunity, great COL and great people. Just depends on what you want
Can concur. Lazard RX Chicago places lights out verses Lazard NYC. Recent exits being KKR and Permira to name a few. Greenhill’s Chicago office is their best office for exits, do mostly buyside M&A so maybe that’s why. Mostly MF/UMM exits
Another question: what about non-finance exit routes between ib ny and Chicago. Like how much better is GS ny than GS chic and vice versa. Also, how much easier is it to recruit into Chicago over ny roughly
Not actually sure for the first one so hopefully somebody else has insight bc I'm curious too. In terms of recruiting, I only recruited in Chicago, but will say that its probably slightly easier than NY. It's still very competitive however. Theres less people gunning but there's also less spots in Chicago. It's also very dependent on your school and where you're from. Chicago firms really like to take Chicago kids or people from Northwestern/Uchicago/ND. If you're from the area or go to those targets, it'll probably be easier but if you go to say Cornell or NYU, NY might be easier to place.
Would you say Washu is up there with the first 3?
bump
Lower downside protection.
If your group downsizes or your group sucks, you have less options and coming to NY tends to be more difficult
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