The Real Skinny On Wall Street Pay

Average Total Compensation In Private Equity/Venture Capital

 

Job Title	Target School	Semi-Target School	Non-Target School	Not Specified
Analyst	$103,700	$66,800	$64,100	$106,800
Associate	$177,900	$116,200	$99,300	$124,100
Senior Associate	$207,100	$108,300	$127,600	$211,200
Vice President	$261,700	$184,700	$179,000	$440,400
Principal	$656,700	$254,200	$216,800	$369,700

Source: WallStreetOasis 2014 Compensation Report

The most reliable data in the WallStreetOasis 2014 Compensation Report is on investment banking where the results are based on 3,401 reports. The averages for private equity and venture capital are based on 782 record, while hedge fund data is the result of 283 participants. Curtis says that more than 80% of the data for associates in investment banking is from MBA graduates. Some 1,111 employes in consulting contributed to the report as well.

Average Total Compensation In Hedge Funds

 

Job Title	Target School	Semi-Target School	Non-Target School	Not Specified
Analyst	$91,100	$67,800	$85,100	$74,900
Senior Analyst	$125,400	NA	$112,100	$128,900
Associate	$81,900	NA	$105,700	$98,200
Senior Associate	$228,600	$163,800	$105,700	$148,900
Vice President	NA	NA	$217,000	NA

Source: WallStreetOasis 2014 Compensation Report

One surprising result in the WSO study showed that graduates of target schools were also paid considerably more by management consulting firms. Associates reported total pay of $98,300 when they had a degree from a “target school” compared to $78,300 from a semi-target or $72,700 from a non-target school (see table below).

 

Average Total Compensation In Management Consulting

 

Job Title	Target School	Semi-Target Schol	Non-Target School	Not Specified
Business Analyst	$79,100	$75,200	$64,200	$69,600
Associate	$98,300	$78,300	$72,700	$85,900
Consultant	$119,000	$122,700	$98,400	$104,300
Manager	$147,700	NA	$172,100	$134,500
Principal	NA	NA	$390,000	NA

Source: WallStreetOasis 2014 Compensation Report

Another less-than-comforting discovery in the WSO study has to do with GPAs. If you goofed off during your undergraduate years, you may very well pay for it–literally. The lower your GPA, the less money you tend to make in investment banking (see table on the following page).

“GPA is a pretty good indication of the bonus that the analyst will receive,” says Curtis, a 2010 Wharton MBA. “That seems to be true up until you get to about the high, high end and the low, low end. I doubt it’s because any employer knows the GPAs of its employees. No one is thinking of your GPA when they are deciding your bonus number. It’s more about how hard you worked or whether you are a team player. Some of it has to do with selection bias. Higher GPAs tend to go to the higher paying firms. Lower GPAs may be at regional banks.”