Capital One BA vs MBB
Am I crazy for taking C1 BA over MBB offer?
C1 BA starting salary at 106K with up to ~20k bonus. Interested in the tech/fintech industries. And C1 is in a city I would want to be in more after graduation. Also has a faster promotion scheme.
Obviously would learn more at MBB/more prestige. But it C1 is if in a city I want, industry I want to work in, and I’ll be a bigger fish in a smaller pond, does it make sense to take the C1 BA offer?
MBB is so much better…
I would advise against it unless the city is a big deal for you. Having MBB on your resume and possessing the consulting skillset more generally will open a ton of doors for you in the future. It sounds like you're aware of those cons though, so let's look at the three pros you mention
City - How big of a factor is this to you, and you need to be in that city ASAP? I feel like city should not be a big factor for first job out of college
Industry - CapOne is a bank, you can call it fintech if you want but it's still not really a tech company in the sense of a FAANG. Keep in mind you'll have the opportunity to work in tech and fintech through MBB and will likely have attractive exits in those sectors if you want them
Faster promo - How does the promo vs comp change compare vs consulting? My hypothesis would be that you'd make significantly more after promo to post-MBA level at MBB after 2-2.5 years
One other factor to consider - what is the role at CapOne? one of the great things about MBB is that you can exit into a wide variety of roles since you'll have diversified experience, sampling different project types in consulting effectively lets you sample different career paths
BA role is good man. Great pay and like you said faster promotion scheme - some people are VPs in 8 years, obviously you have to be extremely talented by Cap1 promotes if you are good. Also work life is way better. Theres no expectation to work more than 40 hours to week, and if you want to then you're putting in more work and could be more likely to get promoted. There are a lot of good things about MBB, but don't downplay the work. Also at the end of the day the work is different. Cap1 you could be doing credit policy or more detailed work with SQL whereas consulting is higher level
I'll have to double check, but I know they've increased the ADP pay for 2023 from 2022. If I have my numbers right, its; 106K for McLean (DC) & Chicago, 100k for Plano (Dallas) & Richmond, and 113K for NYC. Business Analyst LOBs varies by office; Plano is Auto finance, Chicago is partnership cards (MLB, Walmart, etc.), NYC is primarily retail & commercial banking, McLean (headquarters) does everything (you want to be in Card), and Richmond... I honestly have no idea. The ADP program is the college hire program for Business Analysts, Strategy Analysts, and Data Analysts. Pay-scale is the same for the 3 roles, but I think the Strategy group gets a slightly higher signing bonus. BA signing bonus for 2022 was 9,000 + 1,500 for relocation (Capital One covers taxes on signing bonus). 2022 class was over 200, breakdown was something like 80%+ BAs, ~12% Strategy, ~8% Data Analysts. The vast majority are in McLean, with some in Plano and Chicago, and then a handful in NYC and Richmond. BAs are in all offices, Data is just McLean and Richmond, and Strategy is primarily McLean with I think a few in NYC. Business Analyst role is broken down further, where you are working in either a credit role, product role, or marketing role (you get a fair amount of input for your first rotation and a lot for your second).
Source: Business Analyst ADP hire for 2022 (ignore CorpStrat need to change that to something else). Took offer over a T2 & CB offer. Personally would probably have gone with MBB.
Its a great program, but MBB does a lot for your resume and offers wider exit options. That said if; you're planning on getting an MBA in a few years regardless, know you love finance/tech (CapOne is not fintech but BAs seem to exit a lot to FAANG and FinTech), you aren't interested in Private Equity, or if you know you want a career at Capital One (ADPs get promoted faster than external hires and get better LOB placements), I understand going with CapOne over MBB.
I interned at Capital One and re recruited for consulting full time, ending up at a T2. I now work in media and entertainment.
Capital One is good, but the exits are far more limited than MBB as others have said. Exits are basically to big tech, other consumer finance companies, or business school. Exits from my T2 included PE, VC, CPG, big tech, etc. Your aspirations can change a lot in the first few years out of school and I’d recommend taking MBB to keep your options open and potentially avoid having to go to business school.
Also worth noting that the McLean office is really the center of activity for Capital One, and my impression was that your career trajectory can sometimes be more limited in offices besides McLean.
Capital 1 is MBB pay for a <40 hour job. My friend pulled in like 125 his first year averaging maybe 20 hours of work per week. All he did was watch South Park, play Halo, and go on dates every day. He even spent a whole month skiing 7 days a week and would take like 1 30 minute meeting at the lodge.
Cap 1 is cool because you can do strategy work, data analytics (friend spends most of his time in python), and finance work. Easy to get promoted. Lots of former MBB because WLB is off the charts.
MBB is really about getting the name in the resume and having that alumni network. You do two years at MBB and you're always going to be a former MBB employee. Personally my view is it's always useful to do something like MBB if you want a generalist business job or a bulge bracket/EB if you want a finance job for 2 years and then you can go elsewhere as desired.
MBB is also one of those things where it's hard to lateral into at a good position. Like you can have 8 years work experience elsewhere and they'll still make you a senior associate at BCG (which is subordinate to ppl who've spent 2 years internally and gotten their first promotion). Industry doesn't work that way so it's always better to switch out of consulting vs into it IMO.