[jeffreyrogers]

In finance most people aren't going to end up as an MD (Managing Director, not doctor) but that's probably a goal for most people entering investment banking. I don't think it's unreasonable to have becoming a PM a goal, maybe you'll fail but there's lots of things you can do to swing the odds more in your favor.

[mountainofdeath]

If you start as an analyst in Investment Banking at bulge bracket bank (the same hiring pool as for Google APM program and similar), you fall into one of two categories.

1. The coat-rider who sees everyone doing and how can the consensus be wrong. If you read Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis, the first few chapters document his experience at Princeton in the early 80s. It's just the fashionable thing to do.

2. The ones that hope to pivot somewhere in year 2-3 to Private Equity or the Hedge fund space. After a few more years, your hours and stress dramatically improve and you earn life-changing amounts of money (1M+ USD) on a yearly basis if you are good. Very few make it this far though. Many burn out and end up in other corporate finance roles.

Group 1 moved to tech and will slowly move back to high-finance.