Track to Becoming an Associate

You can certainly become associate with an MBA and without any prior analyst experience.

It happens often for those coming out of Harvard, Wharton and Stanford MBA programs.

I would suggest definitely having that 2 year analyst stint before because if you have that and maanged to get an MBA from one of the top schools, they are familiar with you and know that you are now even more experienced for the associate role.

This gives them all the more reason to take you and not some outsider.

does it feel like a waste of your MBA education to go back and become an associate if you've already had a 2 year analyst stint prior to that though? because you could have become an associate straight up after your analyst stint (provided that you are good i guess)?

for those currently working at BBs, what % of the associates at your firm would you say are 1) MBAs with analyst experience, 2) MBAs without analyst experience, and 3) promoted straight from being an analyst?

Regarding the wasting your MBA experience if you just want to go back and become an associate.....

You will not be wasting your MBA because if you want to reach VP/Director levels and possibly up to Managing Director level your MBA becomes crucial.

There are always exceptions to the rule and I know someone who is a director at Morgan Stanley pulling down seven figures per yaer with no MBA, but a BA from Columbia.

Most MDs have MBAs and at the Bulge Brackets a LOT have them from elite (Top 10)MBA programs.

^Thats weird because my cousin who is a 2nd year associate at Lehman Brothers told me that most MBA graduates who sign on to become associates do NOT have prior ibanking expereince and came from other fields ex. engineering, management etc.

I'm only a first year so i don't have ibanking experience either but I agree that if you were a former analyst than you will have a much easier time landing an associate gig.

They might have come from other fields, but I can bet you that they got their MBAs from Top 10 programs.

I don't see why you wouldn't have an advantage coming from a good MBA program and having prior analyst experience at that same bank. You have already been there for 2 years. They know how you work, you know them, and they see you are even more qualified now than you were before.

A 2 year analyst position and Top MBA gives you the best odds of reaching the associate level at the same bank.

i guess the real question is: if you've already worked 2 years as an analyst and then gotten your MBA degree, are there other jobs out there that are better than going back to being a banking associate? what % of people go back to being an associate vs. say, PE/VC/HF/whatever else there is?

Here is a list of the schools where all of Summer 2006 ML Summer Associates were from (I don't think I left any out):

Wharton Yale Harvard Dartmouth Cornell Columbia UVA Duke North Carolina NYU UCLA Stanford Vanderbilt Texas Northwestern Chicago

As you can see, there are 16 schools, and some of the "top-10" are not represented (Michigan, for instance). This list is going to be almost identical at all of the other BB banks (Goldman is probably different, but otherwise . . . .)

Bottom line, cutting through all of the other crap on this website, if you want to be an associate at a BB bank, you can either a) be a rock star analyst who gets to stay for a third year and then gets an offer to be an associate, or b) you can get an MBA at a program listed above, or one that is similar. Banks have "target schools" and "core schools" where they recruit (for instance, Vandy MBA is a ML target, but not a "core school" - this means that they'll let you interview, but you have to go to NYC yourself, they don't come to the school, do a presentation, and conduct on-campus interviews) so go to one of those, and if you're a good interviewer, you're in. And, if you're someone who could get a job as a BB analyst coming out of college, you should have no problem getting into one of the above MBA programs three-or-so years later.

The directors at my bank (regional office BB) said they are starting to trend away from HBS because the MBA's coming out of there are too cocky and not as impressive as other top MBA programs.

Just food for thought.

HBS will always be HBS. It will always be the best b-school to attend. There is just something about Harvard that Wharton and Stanford dont have, and that is the H-bomb.