Lateral to MBB with ~2 years of experience

Soliciting advice from current MBB consultants:

1) Is there a window of too much experience to lateral to MBB after a couple of years in a finance job?
2) Would an excellent gmat score help? As in, if I had a 750+, does that actually increase chances of getting hired or getting past the screen?

4 Comments
 

1) From what I understood, it is extremely difficult to lateral with a small amount of experience. They usually only hire industry experts as laterals, so I'd assume you'd need more than that.

2) I think it would definitely help for the initial screening, but it won't turn silver into gold. It will only make the gold shinier.

 

When I was attempting to do this a couple of years ago, I talked to multiple partners that said that they would be happy to help me once I was in business school, but that my current profile did not fit into their hiring structure. Basically, they don't hire Associate Consultants or Business Analysts with a couple of years of experience.

Sounds like you can just work for another year or two and go to a top b-school. A 750 GMAT will certainly help with that, and won't hurt during resume drops once in school.

 

I think you'd have to 'start over' at MBB - ie. apply along with all the undergrads and non-MBA grads. MBB websites specifically say that this is the entry route for people with 2-3 years of experience. Considering that you have 2 years of work experience will put you a bit ahead of the game relative to all the fresh university grads.

To come in as an experienced hire will take a lot more work experience and potentially an MBA.

 

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