Um.... one thing you'll notice in your first year in M&A is you'll do quite a lot of office work (namely photocopying, baby sitting the ppl at print room, putting files together, taking notee, tidying up powerpoint presentations). Yes you will still do some valuation stuff, but since you'll be the most junior person on the team you will be the one doing all crap work.While these tasks do not involving exercising your investment banking knowledge, they take time to 'master' and getting these stuff done without delay will go a very long way in impressing your boss.

Enjoy the thrill and happiness because they never last (sounds a bit like the wise senior broker in wall street but anyway...), and in your case it won't last more than a week. Having gone through the same shit myself, I've always been puzzled at why people starting off in M&A are called "analyst", as they might do anything apart from analysing stuff. I believe "janitor" would be more appropriate (btw, by starting off I mean the first 3y+). I don't want to scare you saying that it's the most uninteresting field in finance but I really think it is. During my (brief) experience I've met the most frustrated and unimaginative people ever, unable to think for themselves and completely submissed to the guy with the slight higher grade (who in turn was the muppet of somebody else and so on up to the MD). The hierarchy was stiffer and more annoying than the one characterising the Chinese army, the job didn't require any brainpower whatsoever, nobody had a slight appearence of a life outside the office (ain't easy if you spend there 18 hours a day, 7 days a week) and the luckiest got to get laid with somebody working in a nearby cubicle (and given the average looks in the industry I wouldn't call that "luck"). Forget about your friends/girlfriend/boyfriend/parents/fuck buddy/pets ecc... u won't have time for all those little things.Anyway maybe it was just me. Or maybe not. One suggestion: read "Monkey Business". That's great little revealing funny book.Hope you'll post here in 3 months time with your impressions about the dream they sold (or the nightmare you bought).

QuoteOriginally posted by: RFMontrazEnjoy the thrill and happiness because they never last (sounds a bit like the wise senior broker in wall street but anyway...), and in your case it won't last more than a week. Having gone through the same shit myself, I've always been puzzled at why people starting off in M&A are called "analyst", as they might do anything apart from analysing stuff. I believe "janitor" would be more appropriate (btw, by starting off I mean the first 3y+). I don't want to scare you saying that it's the most uninteresting field in finance but I really think it is. During my (brief) experience I've met the most frustrated and unimaginative people ever, unable to think for themselves and completely submissed to the guy with the slight higher grade (who in turn was the muppet of somebody else and so on up to the MD). The hierarchy was stiffer and more annoying than the one characterising the Chinese army, the job didn't require any brainpower whatsoever, nobody had a slight appearence of a life outside the office (ain't easy if you spend there 18 hours a day, 7 days a week) and the luckiest got to get laid with somebody working in a nearby cubicle (and given the average looks in the industry I wouldn't call that "luck"). Forget about your friends/girlfriend/boyfriend/parents/fuck buddy/pets ecc... u won't have time for all those little things.Anyway maybe it was just me. Or maybe not. One suggestion: read "Monkey Business". That's great little revealing funny book.Hope you'll post here in 3 months time with your impressions about the dream they sold (or the nightmare you bought).Cheers for that rather uplifting diatribe on my future years. Yes perhaps all I will be analysing will be the existential despair I have clearly wished upon myself but hey....Ill be the most well paid janitor I know! Id have to disagree with your view that Its the most boring area of finance, a matter of opinion my dear. Graphs, codes, and other computer geekness c++ and the like (dont get me wrong - very interesting and upmost respect for the those capable of the very quanty stuff) its just not my bag baby!! - The people Ive met have been the most dynamic and visionary people Ive come across in the indusry (if a little pale from lack of exposure to daylight!!!).I do understand your point about the life draining, social life-butchering, nature of my career choice and I console myself by the fact that Im working for a boutique. I will not be one of the minions in the large hamster wheel that is a "Bulge Bracket".

QuoteOne suggestion: read "Monkey Business". That's great little revealing funny book.What a great classic!

"Ill be the most well paid janitor I know!"Not too sure about that. I pay my cleaner 9 pounds an hour. An entry level M&A Analyst (hope this won't apply to you, but it's just to make an example) will make about 27k a year in salary plus 5k bonus if he's lucky (2ys ago he could forget about the bonus). He will be exepected to put in say an average of 14 hours a day 5.5 days a week. If he was paid like my cleaner is he would be making 9*14*5.5*52 = 36K a year. On the top of that my cleaner is free to decide wheter to work a fraction of that time (say just 6 hs a day) while the our junior analyst can't. And you being human and time being a particularly scarse resource (just 24h in a day) I'd be very careful on how to price every additional hour. Anyway, enough about cleaners for now."Id have to disagree with your view that Its the most boring area of finance, a matter of opinion my dear"Yup. No doubt. And IMHO that is the most boring area of finance. But again I love markets so..."Graphs, codes, and other computer geekness c++ and the like (dont get me wrong - very interesting and upmost respect for the those capable of the very quanty stuff) its just not my bag baby!!"Not mine either. Still there's nothing I hate more the power point presentations. I'm sure you know that already, but u'll to spend long nights correcting docs because the VP told you to put that chart on the right, then the MD said that it's better on the left, that something should be red and not orange and so on..."The people Ive met have been the most dynamic and visionary people Ive come across in the indusry (if a little pale from lack of exposure to daylight!!!)."Well you are lucky. The people that I've met were just ridicolous ass licking zombies doing what they were doing 'cos somebody told 'em to."I do understand your point about the life draining, social life-butchering, nature of my career choice and I console myself by the fact that Im working for a boutique. I will not be one of the minions in the large hamster wheel that is a "Bulge Bracket". "Good. Still I've seen a lot of people that started off ages ago with that enthusiastic drive, ready to be high flying bankers negotiating mega deals convinced to get to be the new Bruce Wasserstein in a matter of years ending up losing friends, interests, drive,.... u got my point right?Anyway that was my impression based on my personal experience. Your story will be a different one. Time will tell and probably prove me wrong. Just let me know, I'm only curious...

QuoteOriginally posted by: Dancer...I console myself by the fact that Im working for a boutique. I will not be one of the minions in the large hamster wheel that is a "Bulge Bracket".Working for a "boutique" in M&A simply means (to me) that you work 16 hour days instead of 14 hour days without the luxury of seeing the prestigous "Bulge Bracket" name on your business card. Being the new person at work, I doubt they will give you a cut on every deal they close but again I might be wrong. Have fun at the sweat shop dear.

May be this is a minority view but surely there is more to life then working 16 hours a day for someone else...I mean working that long how do you ever enjoy the life's beauty outside work....

QuoteOriginally posted by: playerMay be this is a minority view but surely there is more to life then working 16 hours a day for someone else...I mean working that long how do you ever enjoy the life's beauty outside work....Agreed. I can work really hard on something that gets me excited (and that cannot be counting peanuts or amending/photocopying/ecc.. anyway) but that's not my routine. I love to take time off, week-ends, holidays, leave the office before the night comes down, going to the gym or whatever, not having to reschedule 10 times a dinner with friends/girls and so on. But that doesn't make me a slacker. People that give up all these pleasures to stay up all night putting together some crap nobody will ever read (that's what analysts do), just do it 'cos they hope they gonna make a lot of money soon. Usually they don't. Or at least they don't make enough to justify all that grief.

QuoteOriginally posted by: RFMontrazQuoteOriginally posted by: playerMay be this is a minority view but surely there is more to life then working 16 hours a day for someone else...I mean working that long how do you ever enjoy the life's beauty outside work....Agreed. I can work really hard on something that gets me excited (and that cannot be counting peanuts or amending/photocopying/ecc.. anyway) but that's not my routine. I love to take time off, week-ends, holidays, leave the office before the night comes down, going to the gym or whatever, not having to reschedule 10 times a dinner with friends/girls and so on. But that doesn't make me a slacker. People that give up all these pleasures to stay up all night putting together some crap nobody will ever read (that's what analysts do), just do it 'cos they hope they gonna make a lot of money soon. Usually they don't. Or at least they don't make enough to justify all that grief.That is the exact reason why I think the turn over rate is so high if I take a look at the accounting and/or internal audit departments(especially entry level consultant positions at those "big 4" firms).

What I've decidedGraduateTake 2 weeks offGo for the M&A job in the foreign country / foreign language for a couple months - learn how to rip through financial statements as well as speak the languageTake 1 week offStart my graduate trainee program in derivatives trading, where I hope the banking will give me an edge (will be trading credit), without having to suffer through being an "analyst" for 2 years