Road to M7 MBA: top corporate finance vs. strong MM ibank

Also wondering about the EXACT same thing. By top corporate finance position, do you mean a FLDP program?

What are your post mba goals?

Raptor.45:

The way MBA recruiting is you're placed in "buckets." IB and Corporate work are in separate buckets. Your best bet is to be at the top of whatever bucket you're coming from. In that sense being at an elite corporate leadership development role (GE, J&J) is more competitive than MM IB most of the time. If you are only interested in maximizing your MBA chances therefore I would go with your corporate role assuming it is a top one. Also as a side benefit corporate roles are much more likely to let you go get your MBA with a guaranteed offer once you graduate and possibly pay for some or all of it.

But aren't there more 'spots allotted' to people from IB background? I might be wrong though.

DoctorAndre:

Raptor.45:

The way MBA recruiting is you're placed in "buckets." IB and Corporate work are in separate buckets. Your best bet is to be at the top of whatever bucket you're coming from. In that sense being at an elite corporate leadership development role (GE, J&J) is more competitive than MM IB most of the time. If you are only interested in maximizing your MBA chances therefore I would go with your corporate role assuming it is a top one. Also as a side benefit corporate roles are much more likely to let you go get your MBA with a guaranteed offer once you graduate and possibly pay for some or all of it.

But aren't there more 'spots allotted' to people from IB background? I might be wrong though.

I have no idea for sure but I've always heard the opposite. I've heard that lately bankers/other finance guys are a dime a dozen and that MBA adcoms prefer LDP people because they're more well-rounded and are more likely to become corporate leaders.

my ultimate dream goal is probably to get to c-level of a top company or director within a top pe shop (aka, still shooting for the stars, tho believe i still have a decent shot). i see pe as a shorter path tho than trying to go through the entire corporate ladder (correct me if i'm not mistaken) in order to get to the top rung

from my prev experience, i do see the high value of having a good couple years (say, 3-5) of ibanking exp under your belt, in terms of technicals as well as experience in negotiations / deal management

any1 out there can spare 2 cents to contrast raptor's view? points are solid and concrete, though still feel like at the end of the day, most ppl would say going banking to corporate is taking a step down, whereas going corporate to banking is seen as a step up. i do partly buy into this view, since generally, you see more corpfin people pushing to try to break into wall street, while bankers generally get welcomed in by corporates. devil's advocates, i know ur out there... (my hunch would be that 90% of members of this forum would have a view directly opposite of raptor's)

Raptor.45:

The way MBA recruiting is you're placed in "buckets." IB and Corporate work are in separate buckets. Your best bet is to be at the top of whatever bucket you're coming from. In that sense being at an elite corporate leadership development role (GE, J&J) is more competitive than MM IB most of the time. If you are only interested in maximizing your MBA chances therefore I would go with your corporate role assuming it is a top one. Also as a side benefit corporate roles are much more likely to let you go get your MBA with a guaranteed offer once you graduate and possibly pay for some or all of it.

raptor, thanks for the insights - i would appreciate though if you could speak broadly on your source, such as mainly via internet browsing, friends applying/in/finished bschool, advice from counselor/adcom, etc.

If you have any PE aspirations then take the IB job and don't look back. I was talking purely MBA admissions wise. I definitely think the IB job is better overall but you weren't asking that.