Despite the financial crisis, investment banking is still a highly sought-after industry. Although the profession involves long work hours, the field interests many not only due to the generous compensation that investment bankers receive but also due to the varied work as investment banks mainly work for larger corporations and institutions and help them raise capital through sale of stocks or bonds for example.

According to a recent article in US News an MBA degree from one of the top business schools is almost a must if you want to become an investment banker at a multinational bank like JPMorgan Chase. According to an admissions consultant that spoke to the U.S. paper, any MBA will support this career path, but the more prestigious the school, the easier it will be to actually get into the profession. “Current and former investment bankers acknowledge that it is possible to get a job at an investment bank without an MBA degree, and they note that investment banks often recruit analysts from prestigious undergraduate institutions,” the paper wrote. These experts warn that it is more difficult if applicants have not gone directly from college to the investment banking industry (this is possible with a business-related undergraduate degree from a college with a strong business programme) or if they do not obtain an MBA.

A former investment banker who now works as a financial advisor told the U.S.-medium that attending a top business school offered abundant opportunities to network with investment bankers and meet investment banking recruiters. To actually meet these "gatekeepers" of the profession would make it a lot easier to enter the highly competitive and selective industry, he said.

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