Why go into investment banking (as opposed to grad school)?

Davos envy and Romney’s income in the last two years (and tax rate) have got quite a few people thinking and talking about the morality and usefulness of the financial sector. The odd thing, however, is that ever more brilliant college leavers (including from my alma mater) continue to be attracted to the financial sector and not the real economy (there was a brief decline after the 2008 recession but it appears that the trend is picking up again?

So why do college graduates want to be on the street or racking up lifetime miles in consulting? The simple answer is that returns are great, as shown in this illustration from theiBanker.

HT FTAlphaville.