NYU’s Stern School of Business is known for its intense culture of coffee chats, technical talk and students wearing suits to class. But at a school wracked with relentless competition, one career dominates the conversation: investment banking. 

Most easily summarized as helping companies make big financial moves, investment banking is the most popular industry for Stern undergraduates — drawing more than 30% of the school’s graduating class from 2021 to 2024. When corporations, governments or other institutions want to buy a company and raise money to pay off its debt, they rely on a team of investment bankers to crunch numbers and prepare the deal. 

For many IB students, the industry’s allure is apparent before they fully understand what investment banking is. Stern sophomore Evan Bunnell, who studies finance, is one of many students in the heat of internship recruiting. 

“Once I came to Stern, the culture here was all banking-focused,” Bunnell said. “Just being around that culture forced me into it. I didn’t know about banking — then around two weeks into school, that’s all I knew.” 

The field is notorious for its cutthroat, capitalistic mindset and long, unpredictable hours, typically requiring near-constant availability. However, this intensity can be what brings students in: Some resonate with the dedication and team-oriented nature the work requires, while others are motivated by the prospect of making over six figures straight out of college. At NYU, investment banking is akin to programs like law and medical school — a structured, selective path that promises status, rigor and a sense of direction. 

Acknowledging investment banking’s cutthroat nature, Bunnell strives to channel this competitiveness into motivation. 

“It’s kind of just natural that when you see someone ahead of you, you’re going to feel behind,” Bunnell said. “You’re going to want to scramble and do as much as possible to catch up.”

This constant pressure accompanies every step of the IB track, starting as early on as your first coffee chat.

First Year

Some seniors don’t get involved in banking until later in their college career. But for many, the work starts their first year, networking at professional development clubs in rooms with enough students to flirt with the fire code maximums. 

Applicants typically coffee chat with current club members, submit written applications and then go through two to three rounds of behavioral and technical interviews to be considered for a handful of spots. These clubs function as informal boot camps and mentorship opportunities, giving prospective members the foundation of skills required by investment banking or consulting careers. 

Prospective members interested in IB quickly learn that internship recruiting is right around the corner, so many work to keep their GPAs at a 3.5 or higher, add leadership experiences to their resumes and secure relevant experience over the summer to stay competitive.

Sophomore Year

The summer before sophomore year is when recruiting prep really starts. Sophomores aren’t applying for full-time employment yet — instead, they’re interviewing for a summer internship that will take place after their junior year, which is their best shot at a full-time, post-graduation return offer. 

Bulge bracket banks — the ones most students aim for given their high prestige — typically recruit in August and September, so students spend their summer chatting with bankers and studying essential concepts. Many use online courses to cover the must-know technical questions for interviews. Still, recruiting continues for various companies through the spring, so the grind continues for many throughout their entire sophomore year. 

Months of networking, mock interviews and applications may culminate in an invitation to a Superday at the firm’s office, which is the final step before a summer internship offer. In many ways, it simulates the job’s high-stakes environment — with hours of back-to-back interviews involving complex problems and behavioral questions. The lucky few will then be selected for internships within the week.

Junior Year

Sophomores who weren’t selected for Superdays or don’t receive internship offers often pivot to off-cycle recruiting. This is generally a slower and less structured process for smaller and middle-market firms, which occurs throughout the fall and spring of junior or senior year. 

When summer arrives, students who secured internships embark on an intense ten-week program that can define their college careers. The competition for a return offer drives everything. Interns strive to be the first to arrive and last to leave, to show curiosity without being overbearing and to absorb every correction to avoid making the same mistake twice.  

A typical workweek can easily exceed 70 hours, often involving late nights formatting pitch books, cross-checking Excel models and providing market data for analysts. Most interns also work on a project-specific assignment that meets their team’s needs, which can range from assisting in prospecting new clientele to building evaluation models for a specific sector. 

By the end of the program, many recount the thrill of working with real organizations on live projects and the impact their work contributed. On a personal level, the ten weeks are a boot camp in what they’re truly capable of under pressure.

Senior Year

After a summer internship spent in the fast-paced environment of live deals, creating pitch books and modeling financials, students wait anxiously for return offers. Those who secure full-time positions often guide underclassmen for the remainder of their senior years through on-campus programs such as clubs, preprofessional fraternities and peer mentor initiatives.

Of course, some may realize at any point in the process that investment banking doesn’t align with their goals, interests or expectations. Regardless of what they pivot to, the skills developed during recruiting — such as networking, communication and organization — are invaluable across any field.