What does day-to-day investment banking in the US actually look like, and is the salary worth the lifestyle for Indian students pursuing a US MBA?

Investment banking at a major US firm is financially lucrative and professionally demanding at a level that many people underestimate before entering. A base salary at the analyst level at a prestigious IB firm can reach $110,000 immediately out of graduation, with total compensation including bonus reaching $140,000 or more. The hours are consistently extreme: working from early morning until midnight is not an exception during busy periods, it is the standard. The work is high-stakes, detail-oriented, and client-driven, which means the pace is determined by deal timelines and client needs, not by normal working hours. Many people leave within the first year because the lifestyle does not match what they expected, regardless of the compensation.

• The honest calculus is whether the money and the credential, which is genuinely valuable for future PE or entrepreneurial roles, is worth the sacrifice of personal time, health, and outside interests over two to three years. For someone whose long-term goal is building their own firm or returning to operate in India's deal ecosystem, the IB credential and network can be useful.
• But if the goal is the business building itself, the direct path of building in India may serve that goal better than spending two years in a New York IB role.