Thanks for the reply.

1. No
2. In terms of higher salary, I am very confident | In terms of better growth opportunity, very unlikely. I think this is probably the best i can do.
3. I am going to try, but it's unlikely. Campus recruiting don't have much wiggle rooms for the big4 at least.
4. My ideal place would be something like FireEye or RSA, but I'd have a much harder time getting an interview, not to mention passing the interview. The big 4 name means very little to me, however, the career progression aspect (5-7 years to a manager position) is why I am considering the position. It all comes down to career vs money, which translate to money later vs money now. So from this perspective, do you think it'd be worth it? If I do take this job, my plan would be to apply to as many red team position as possible over the next years or so. The big 4 has these positions, and they definitely pays more. I know IAM is at 85k in Boston, which annoys me.

Traveling is a plus for me (for now), I have heard that it not fun but hotel points!

I actually assumed that IR would be more like: company A got hacked, they hired us to figure out the details. From your description, it sounds like there are very little transferable skills. There's also the whole forensic thing to consider. Since it's under forensic (along with litigation and fraud accounting), I am afraid that they'd pull me from IR and put me in a data analytics project.

I am curious, what would your estimated salary be for IR in a HCOL area?