"Does anyone at a bank actually read the cover letter, or am I writing this for nobody?" A sophomore asked me that on our first call last winter, with four applications open in four browser tabs.

Global M&A hit $4.8 trillion in 2025, the second-biggest year ever recorded, and the first half of 2026 broke the all-time first-half record at $2.8 trillion.

The busiest M&A advisor on earth is not Goldman Sachs. Houlihan Lokey closed 458 deals in 2025 to Goldman's 441, and it did that from the middle market.

Healthcare M&A is running its best stretch since before Covid, with biotech deal value hitting $106 billion by early June 2026, and a specific set of banks is eating the fees.

WSG founder Stephen Turban ranks the 8 top real estate investment banks, with verified 2024-2026 deals, who owns what after the Eastdil sale, and how undergrads get in.

Confused which investment bank to target? This guide breaks down what makes Goldman, JPMorgan, Evercore, Centerview, and 7 other top banks different, and who should actually apply to each.

Most "how to break into Wall Street" content is generic. Network more. Build your modeling skills. Polish your resume. Every candidate already knows it.

Every year, I get the same message from students a few weeks before their MBB interviews. They’ve spent months preparing: downloaded the frameworks, worked through the casebooks, and watched every YouTube video. Yet, they still aren’t sure if any of it is actually working.