As we near the "big Money Bonfire of 2008," a number of questions weigh heavily on the nation's mind: Should the federal government receive shares in the banks and companies being bailed out? Is $700 billion enough? Can we have another day to think this over, Mr. Paulson? But most of all the nation has been wondering what will happen to current and prospective Ivy League bankers. This is where Ivygate comes in. Last week we ran a feature where worried bankers told you they were "trying to stay positive." This week we bring you...um, more quotes from bankers.

George, an Ivy-educated pseudonymous banker working as an analyst at Merrill Lynch, describes how he found out about Bank of America's buyout of Merrill:

I was shocked. I was screaming.

One of my friends at Bank of America texted me, 'Hey, we might be buying you guys.'

I was in denial. You see, Merrill has a much better repuation than a commercial bank like Bank of America. I was shocked I would be joining a lower-tier commercial bank. There's a feeling, 'I didn't go through this whole interview process to work at a commercial bank.'

Hopefully, Bank of America won't change too much of Merrill's culture.

Jeffrey, a pseudonymous Ivy grad working at JP Morgan, had this to say:

Lots of people will be jobless in the coming months.

I applied for jobs at Lehman. I could have been that guy with the Lehman job. It's very frightening.

After the jump, George returns to tell us why $700 billion isn't enough and why Goldman Sachs's and Morgan Stanley's decision to become "bank holding companies" is the end of i-banking as Ivy League cash bonanza. Read the rest of this entry »