MBB, BB, or w.e.! Am I on the right track?

Hello everyone! I've been reading through a lot of stuff here and other websites, and was curious as to if I am/have been doing things that can add value to any future firm that might employ me.

To give a brief background, I will be a soph at a top-10 undergrad b-school at one of the "public ivies" in the South. I have a GPA between 3.9 and 4.0, with a double major in Busi and Math. I am technically an international student, but I was lucky enough to get a full scholarship (although the foundation is not that well-known). I've competed in a couple case competitions and placed at a regional competition in addition to being actively involved (leadership) in a small portfolio (in the tens of thousands) management club.

This summer, I was lucky enough (again) to get an internship at a locally-prestigious high-net-worth investment mgmt firm (with aum in the multiple billions) within its equity research department. I've been tackling a whole spectrum of tasks with this internship, including modeling companies and building excel files that relate to portfolio mgmt for the purpose of internal usage as well as distribution to clients. Honestly, I JUST picked up modeling and will probably tackle a handful of them during the rest of the internship. But one thing I am sure that I am using a ton and learning a ton about is VBA and FactSet. My boss hired me bc of my mixed background in finance as well as quant/analytics that are useful for coding. With that said, I am using a lot of VBA to automate menial work as well as monthly updating files for portfolio mgmt purposes.

The reason why I am posting here is because I am not quite sure how useful this experience is for a full time job in MBB, BB, or any Corporate Strategy, IT consulting , or even operations mgmt. I guess I can say I have (and will improve on) modeling experience as well as proficiency in VBA and FactSet. I really want to experience a lot of different industries during the upcoming summers through internships (MBB, BB, or w.e. it may be!). Could anyone give me an advice on what kind of "angle" I should take during future interviews based on the description of my experience?

Thanks for the help!

 
Best Response

(recent intl grad here)...

def highlight your investment mgt club competition (exposure to business)..your current internship (techs skills and teamwork) - as long is some sort of experience you are fine..you this to get a 'relevant" experience next summer which would be directly transferable.

i think you are totally fine..you have like 2 more summers.. I can definitely tell you via experience speaking with bankers that BB look for people with experience (does not have to be complete relevant especially at an early stage like yours)...one thing i can tell you is too network with bankers (cold call/emails etc) - not really sure how it goes with MBB though.

btw..do MBB/banks recruit at your school? Would advice that use this experience to get an internship next summer in a Investment Bank. - check their websites for minority recruiting programs and also check out SEO .and apply to it..definitely a great way to break in..http://www.seocareer.org/ (a lot of my friends that are intl students like you got in via this route.)

Hope this was helpful

"Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection demoralizes you"
 

If you are on the right track - no need to worry. If you are not on the right track - why worry anyway? I hate these kind of questions.

On topic though:

You mention a wide range of target sectors, maybe wanna be more specific about what you really want? - MBB: from my experience all that counts is high (at least 3.5+) GPA to get the interview and great case-solving during the interview. - BB: 3.5+ GPA and (more than 1) relevant internship. Also NETWORKING - Corp Strat: as MBB, but less selective - IT consulting: no experience here

 

These are very different industries that you are asking about. At this point, it probably makes the most sense to do more research and ask yourself which of these career paths really excites you and figure out why. This will help you craft a good story to get into one of these fields. You wrote a lot about what experiences you are gaining and how they are helping you grow, but I didn't see anything about what excites you.

At the end of the day, you are going to be spending many hours a week in any of these places, and you will have worked too hard to get there to deserve to be miserable when you do. The best advice I have for you now is to narrow down your focus, then we can have the discussion if you are on the "right track" for that career path.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 
crayb:

(recent intl grad here)...

def highlight your investment mgt club competition (exposure to business)..your current internship (techs skills and teamwork) - as long is some sort of experience you are fine..you this to get a 'relevant" experience next summer which would be directly transferable.

i think you are totally fine..you have like 2 more summers.. I can definitely tell you via experience speaking with bankers that BB look for people with experience (does not have to be complete relevant especially at an early stage like yours)...one thing i can tell you is too network with bankers (cold call/emails etc) - not really sure how it goes with MBB though.

btw..do MBB/banks recruit at your school? Would advice that use this experience to get an internship next summer in a Investment Bank. - check their websites for minority recruiting programs and also check out SEO .and apply to it..definitely a great way to break in..http://www.seocareer.org/ (a lot of my friends that are intl students like you got in via this route.)

Hope this was helpful

Hi CrayB. All the banks actually do recruit with the exception of Morgan Stanley I believe. And all the consulting firms recruit at the school as well. But only a handful get GS/JPM/MS or MBB. Hmm I checked out the website but I don't think Asians qualify as minorities (verify?). Do you think I should aim directly for BB (even lower tiers) or try regional boutiques? Thanks!

You crave what you are not. Dude, your perspective on life sucks.
 
rvdabbee:

If you are on the right track - no need to worry.
If you are not on the right track - why worry anyway?
I hate these kind of questions.

On topic though:

You mention a wide range of target sectors, maybe wanna be more specific about what you really want?
- MBB: from my experience all that counts is high (at least 3.5+) GPA to get the interview and great case-solving during the interview.
- BB: 3.5+ GPA and (more than 1) relevant internship. Also NETWORKING
- Corp Strat: as MBB, but less selective
- IT consulting: no experience here

Haha I am sorry to ask such vague/non-informative question! I just wanted to seek out an opinion as to how relevant/useful my experiences are. Yes, I have listed a wide range of sectors because I don't really know what I want to do. I do read about these sectors, but I'd assume it's really different to actually work in an industry vs. reading about an industry. I personally would like something that produces results, and honestly, one of the big reasons why I am shying away from fully committing to targeting MBB is because it's pure strategy.

-MBB: For case interviews, is there any good websites? I know I should rly go buy case in point. -BB: Do I just network with alumni? I've always wonders if analyst who would be interviewing college students actually give a damn... -Corp Strategy: How is this different from MBB? Are there more implementation aspect to it?

You crave what you are not. Dude, your perspective on life sucks.
 

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You crave what you are not. Dude, your perspective on life sucks.

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