Hail Mary

Hello all,

I’m currently in a F100 FLDP and it’s not what I had expected (accounting heavy with a sprinkle of finance). I’ve recently been obsessing over exit opportunities as a way out of this situation and am confused as to what doors are open and what doors are closed. I was hoping some of you might be able to answer some questions and help me out. As it stands now I’m currently considering

  • MSF at Vanderbilt/Villanova and attempt to leverage that to break into IB or DCM/ECM. Problem here is the program is 80k all in for one year (Vandy). That’s steep.
  • Apply to other programs such as BB&T LDP (Capital Markets) or Wells Fargo Financial Analyst Program (Corporate banking). Corporate banking is something I could really see myself doing well in for the long term, although I doubt another company would accept me for a training program considering by this time I would have just graduated from one (although slightly different industry).
  • Apply for Credit Risk Analyst / Credit Analyst positions at investment banks, hang in there for two years, score high on the GMAT and fight to get into a top MBA>IB associate.
  • Investment Analyst at a REPE. Real estate has always interest me although I’m not sure if I’m qualified. Linkedin search implies mostly ex IBD analyst and Big 4 TAS people, although forums on WSO suggest that they also recruit non-target undergrads.

Admittedly, I’m really not sure what I’m qualified for or how to move forward. I don’t feel challenged in my current position and simply have no interest in what it is that I do. I went to a non-target with a major in finance, and would like to work in the south (Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Richmond). If anyone reading this has been through a similar situation or has information I might find useful, I would really appreciate your input. Thanks.

 
Best Response

My thoughts:

  • MSF would probably be a mistake unless you could secure a pre-MSF internship in IB/ECM/DCM. Even at a great program like Vanderbilt/Villanova, you would have trouble recruiting there without prior IB experience.

  • Corporate banking would be a challenging but plausible transition. Just make sure to network hard and make sure theres someone inside pushing your application

  • Credit Risk is another great choice - similar to corporate banking, going to be challenging but with the right amount of networking definitely possible. Could even find a way to transition to FO without MBA if you get lucky/play your cards right

  • REPE is going to be virtually impossible from your background.

The only other thing I would add is a lot of this is dependent on how many years you're out of college. If you're more than a year out a lot of this is going to be more challenging because banks are reluctant to hire people with lots of FT work experience for entry level positions (analyst positions). In that case, MBA would probably be a good choice for you and then you could recruit for Associate positions and have a chance at internship.

 

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