Commercial banking to MBA
Hey everyone. First time poster here. I've been working as an analyst at a BB commercial bank since my graduation from a non-ivy target school in 2013. Overall it's a great analyst training program that included a formal 10-week credit course. While I've enjoyed my time at the bank, I eventually want to pursue an MBA from an MBA business schools">M7 school and I was wondering if anyone has had success transitioning from commercial banking into a top MBA program. How long did you work in commercial banking before you applied? Any tips? Thanks.
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Getting into a MBA business schools">M7 B-School from Commercial Banking? (Originally Posted: 11/14/2012)
Hey guys I have three questions about B-school that I was hoping for some clarity on:
I still don't completely understand the criteria for entry into a top business school. It seems that work experience and your interview are most important, followed in no particular order by undergrad school and gpa, gmat score, and personal essay. Is this right?
If I work in, say, commercial banking or a lesser-known boutique investment bank, does that make my chances for getting into a M7 school slim, since I am competing with i-bankers from bulge brackets and MBB consultants?
It seems that how you contributed in your job matters a lot. Will the b-schools seek verification from your company for all the claims that you make in your application?
Thanks for your help!
1) The order is: Work experience, GPA X Undergrad pedigree, GMAT (sometime this is #2 depending on your undergrad), gap, essays, interview 2) Slim? Depends on the rest of your profile. Work experience pedigree can be mitigated by a convincing story that you did very well and achieved interesting things with lasting results. 3) B-schools will not call your boss and ask if your new project management idea actually increased productivity 10%, but they have been doing this a long time and are pretty good bullshit detectors. They also look for your claims in your resume and essays to be validated by, or at least consistent with, your recommendations and the answers you give in an interview.
Not at all. Your place of employment has a little bit to do with your application, but it doesn't drive it. As you mentioned in #3, it depends on what you do and how much influence you have had on the organization.
A quick answer on #1, a combo of GMAT and GPA will be the biggest drivers. Especially on the downside. At a selective school, they do need to figure out who is going to cut it and who isn't. If your GMAT is out of the range on the downside, you are at a tremendous disadvantage. GPA will matter on the downside too, but on the upside it depends on where you went and what classes you took. By that I mean, if you got a 3.6 and ranked in the top 25% of your graduating class, they will not weigh it as highly as if you got the same GPA in chemistry and graduated in the top 10% of the class.
And agree with BoothorBust's answer on #3. Many times your recommenders will see your application, and you certainly don't want them to see you exaggerating. Bad career move.
Maybe someone can validate or nullify my assertion here, but I am thinking that you are actually in a good position.
Why? M7 schools likely get hundreds of applications from IBD analysts and tens of applications from commercial bankers. If we assume they only accept 'x' candidates with IB experience, there's a slight change you'd have a leg up. They might group everyone into a general 'finance' group, though.
Of course, the work experience in IB would likely better prepare you than commercial banking. There's no guarantee, though. I'm in corporate banking and am getting a tremendous experience.
of course BB front office is preferred but i can tell you from experience that there are plenty of commercial bankers in MBA business schools">M7 schools. there are also plenty of people from boutique investment banks and plenty from middle office/ops type roles at BBs.
maybe not so much at HSW but definitely true for the rest.
Commerical Banking MBA Placement (Originally Posted: 02/04/2017)
Hello,
Given there isn't too much out there on commercial banking MBAs, I was curious what adcoms think about the industry. While I'm happy where I am right now, I do try to periodically take stock of my options. How do you think this profile would be viewed:
3.2 GPA (Finance Major) from a well respected regional university ( Think Gonzaga, Bentley, Butler, Santa Clara) ~710 GMAT, CFA Charterholder
3 years in formal Analyst training program ( Top Tier bank, in my case Wells Fargo) 6 months in "Internal MBA" credit program, very competitive admittance 2 years Relationship Manager (Roughly associate tier)
What's your goal with the MBA? I have less experience than you but I can tell you CB is one hell of a better lifestyle than IB. I've done both.... actually hoping to switch back to CB very soon. I was in IB just for the money and needless to say, that shit doesn't work.
Profile is a projected future for myself. If I wanted to move around in banking I'd do so within WF, they make is fairly easy to do so if you network internally. I've seen people go from ABL to CB, CB to IB, CRE to IB. Its all very doable.
The reason I ask is if I wanted to leave banking and work for a company doing strategy or switch into a consulting role, an MBA seems like the best way to do so.
My profile is fairly standard for many commercial/ corporate bankers with a decent but not blowing you away GPA from a good but not elite school, quality test scores and a few promotions in the first couple years. I'm curious if anyone knows how adcoms look at this sort of profile.
Interested as well since my background is similar; I'm in corp banking and considering doing an MBA.
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