Why investment banking?
By Michael Song · Wharton MBA · ex-Greenhill · investment banking interview coach
6 min read · updated July 2, 2026
Start with the rule, because it's the one that sinks the most candidates: if your answer to "why investment banking" leads with prestige, money, or "it opens doors," you get dinged. Those things are real, and the interviewer knows you know it. But stating them as your reason signals you're chasing a brand, not the work. The strong answer connects something specific about you to what the job actually involves.
What the question is really testing
"Why IB" isn't small talk. The interviewer is checking two things at once: do you understand what this job actually is, and is your reason for wanting it durable enough to survive the hours? The entire interview, behavioral and technical, is one question wearing different costumes: do you understand the job, and can you do it under pressure? This is the behavioral half of that.
So the answer has to prove you know what a first-year analyst does: build the models, the valuation work, the materials that support a senior banker's advice on how to raise capital or get a deal done. Wanting the title isn't evidence you understand any of that. Wanting that work is.
The dinged answers, in order of how common they are: "the prestige," "the compensation," "it'll open a lot of doors," and the vague "I'm passionate about finance." The first three make you sound like you're optimizing for status. The last is filler that says nothing, because everyone in the room claims it. None of them mention the actual work, which is the tell.
About the money
Let's be honest about comp, because you're allowed to notice it's good. It is. But here's the reframe that keeps you out of trouble: on a per-hour basis, analyst pay isn't the windfall it looks like. It's better than most peers, sure, but once you divide by the hours you actually work, the gap narrows fast. The old joke on the desk was that you're not overpaid, you're paid exactly right for the hours, you're earning every dollar of it.
Which is the whole point. You don't do this job for the money, because given how hard and how long you work, you're clearly earning your keep. So if money were the real reason, the math wouldn't even make it your best option. Say that to yourself before the interview and you'll never be tempted to lead with comp.
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Frequently asked
- Why do you want to do investment banking?
- The strongest answer is the education. In two years you learn how companies are valued, financed, bought, and sold, at a pace no other job matches. Say that, tie it to something specific you have done, and avoid leading with prestige or money, which get candidates dinged.
- Why is prestige and money a bad answer to why investment banking?
- Because every candidate could say it, and it signals you have not thought past the surface. Banks want people who understand what the job actually teaches and will grind for it. Prestige and money are byproducts, not reasons, and interviewers hear them as a red flag.
- What is the best reason to go into investment banking?
- The learning curve. Investment banking front-loads a rare technical education in valuation, financial modeling, and deal execution, and it opens doors to private equity, hedge funds, and corporate roles later. Most people do it for the skills and the exit options, not to stay for life.