How does going to a Top MBA program really help you "reset" your career?

The reason you assumptions are incorrect, is that both banking and consulting are feeder industries. People who get into these industries at the analyst level, generally peace-out. IB Analyst go into PE/VC/HF, or say fuck working on weekends, and transition into consulting/tech/start-ups. Consulting has a similar trend, plus many firms have many more associate than analyst positions.

That said, it's generally helpful to have some overlapping skills - e.g. Going from project manager to consulting....but not necessary.

Important to keep in mind, this isn't a hypothetical. Most people in top MBA's successfully transition careers. I went to Kellogg admit weekend, and 10 out 10 of my group leaders were career changers.

There’s never a way to truly hit the reset button. What you’ve done and what’s on your resume is obviously who you are. You will certainly be judged by that.

That being said, the bottom line is that most of the big buckets of MBA jobs (consulting, banking, F100) simply don’t care enough to only hire those with some relevant experience. They figure that between your two years at b-school and their training programs, you will be able to learn the content of the job well enough. Likely, they are forced to do this because there are not enough people at their target schools with relevant experience and continued interest to fill their hiring needs. Note that this is obviously not the case for things like buy side finance.

Now, all things being equal, will McKinsey be more likely to take notice of a resume of someone that goes to one of their target business schools and had consulting experience? Probably, but I would argue that that’s not even because they think they will make better consultants. More like they think that the candidate with consulting experience understands what consulting is (clients, travel, etc.), and is more likely to 1) accept the offer and 2) stay for more than 10 months. Moreover, the 4+ months of networking allows you to convince them that you’re smart, personable, and will do well once you get the job.

I had a McKinsey partner I was networking with a while back say it to me this way: we trust the top business schools to make good admissions decisions. They decide, overall, whether or not you’re qualified to work there, and then we simply do some weeding out by personality and case interviews to see who we want to hire. Basically, for better or for worse, getting into a certain caliber of business school hits the reset button by telling employers that you’re good enough to get in and do most jobs coming out of there. You simply have to execute once you’re there.

Bankers rarely go to B-school to stay bankers. Same for consultants (even the sponsored ones). The "reset" comes in the form of hundreds of firms seeking you out for the last time in your life. The value prop for them is that schools have done a ton of the legwork identifying high achievers.

One time a senior banker at an elite boutique told me he wouldn't hire someone going through MBA associate recruiting if they had been an IB analyst. His reasoning was that if they were good and really wanted to stay in banking, they would have been a direct promote. As it were, that almost never actually comes up as mentioned by the posters above.

One field where I think OP's point is correct is investment management (even for long-only shops). It's harder to career switch into IM than is generally appreciated. Not impossible, mind you, but tougher than you would think just by asking on boards like this one.

A bit old, but in 2007, EIGHTY FIVE percent of graduates were career switchers:'

http://kellogg.campusgroups.com/european/web_page?url_name=career-oppor…

Unless you want a specific buy-side job, career switching shouldn't be a problem from a MBA.

Also, globally last year 64% of MBA graduates (and this includes shit tier schools), were career changers:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-18/more-mba-grads-are-swit…

Most of what people are saying is correct. For traditional paths such as banking and consulting, your background is nearly irrelevant (in terms of getting interviews). However, I've seen people's prior experience hinder them when it comes to less traditional recruiting such as PE/VC, IM, tech, etc. It is important to understand what your goals are and talk to enough people in school to determine if they are achievable. If you go to a good enough school, you have the chance to enter any field you want provided you work hard enough, it is simply a riskier path.

Sometimes, industry (especially small to mid size firms) want previous industry experience. Most large firms just care about passion for the industry and transferable skills.

@"fourwes" is right that buyside positions tend to be the exception. It is pretty tough to go that route without IB, IM, elite consulting, or previous buyside (eg trying to transition from boutique to MF) experience. I know a few people who have done in-school internships or PE/VC/HF labs and gotten positions without, but it's a tough row to hoe.

It pays to get granular with your research. All MBA business schools ">M7 aren't necessarily equal for every career path. You'll have more buyside connections from HBS/Booth/Wharton than from, say, Kellogg. For brand management, Kellogg is tough to beat.

I reckon anyone can forge their own career if your determined enough. for example, if you start in a no name firm as an equities analyst and work hard, perform well, gain a top understanding of investing, and possibly even a CFA. Then if you go to do an MBA, I reckon you stand a chance of getting into a good buyside firm... why not? because your good enough and you have research to prove your quality, plus anything they ask you in an interview you would smash.

what you guys think about this theory?

@UnclePanda you don't really need a CFA to get into PE. Your transaction experience will be far more relevant than a CFA. And getting an MBA from a top school adds to your prestige which in turn adds to the fund's prestige....so in that sense MBA>CFA for buy-side recruiting

@arsolar16, it depends... your correct if your talking about PE. But if you want long only or AM, CFA will more than help if you have the experience to back it up. I think an MBA puts you on an equal playing ground... its just hard to justify whether if the cost ($140k opportunity cost) adds up

Can anyone comment on how important it is to have pre-MBA experience in investment management (hedge funds and mutual funds) to get a job in the field post-MBA? Specifically, can you do 2-3 years of banking then go to a top MBA/JD program (both degrees, not either or) and get internships in investment management relatively easily? Or do you need investment management experience before grad school to get internships at top investment management firms?

There are some industries that even a top MBA cannot help you move DIRECTLY into, but these are the same industries that are hard to move directly into in the first place. What a top MBA can do is help you get into banking, consulting, etc., which can then lead potentially to these much harder to get into industries (PE, for example). In terms of banks hiring former bankers - yes, that will help you, but it's not that challening to get a job in IBD after MBA without former experience. At the likes of H/S/W, you can get a job at a top bank if you want to and don't act like an idiot in your interviews. These places are having trouble hiring talent these days - a wharton MBA is not gonna have trouble finding a spot. Two friends of mine grauduating from Wharton this year are going to BB IBD and MBB respectively, and they illustrate this. One worked in government pre-mba and the other guy in startups. They did have highly prestigious (HYPS) undergrads, but it was the MBA not that which allowed for the transition.

I think it depends on the industry. Some industries are more friendly to top MBAs than others. The more technical the industry the more challenging I think it will be to come in at certain roles.

In my industry, having a top MBA is useless for product management/strategy roles unless you have an electrical engineering background. You simply cannot hope to be able to keep up unless you understand the technical aspects of the products. Someone who does TFA and then HBS simply wouldn't be able to handle a product management role, smart as they might be.

@Laocoon Great post. 100% agree.