MBA Internship Recruiting - Corporate Development/Strategy Q&A
Have received a lot of info off of this site and this forum in particular, so thought I would give back. I know the MBA landscape and CD/BD/CS roles can be a black box at times (they were for me less than a year ago), so hopefully I can clear some things up. Please note I have just started my internship, working in a F100 CD M&A group, so I can't give a ton of background into my experiences and impressions yet. I will try to do an update towards the end of my internship, but I want to focus this on the recruiting piece. First, my background...
-Top 10 undergrad, engineering major (3.5 gpa) along with a speciality minor in the area I would go into
-Worked in a specialty engineering field as a researcher, engineer and client facing project manager over the last 4 years
-Currently attending an M7 program, scored mid-700s on GMAT, didn't know what a balance sheet was 12 months ago
-Goal during internship recruiting was to break into F500 corporate development or strategy for the industry I previously worked in, as I have a real passion for the industry but really enjoy finance and strategy as well
-Had 1st round interviews, 2nd round interviews and/or offers from five different F500 corporate development/strategy groups, and an offer to interview, though declined, with another firm just outside of the F500.
Feel free to ask about the recruiting process, getting an MBA or anything else that I can answer.
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Hey @Pmc2ghy" thanks for this thread!
Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I start at Booth in two months and CD is a field I'm looking into in earnest. My background is commodities trading and I am interested in either staying in oil and gas, or trying to move over to tech and work in CD at Amazon, MSFT, et al.
Very interested to see how this thread plays out!
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Darn, wish I saw this thread earlier! Can't believe it evaded me until now.
Hoping to get your perspective/thoughts on the importance of a Top MBA for someone who is already in Corp Dev and has done it 2-4 years and really enjoys it (aka not looking to switch anytime soon). As you may have guessed, this is the situation I'm in currently. Would greatly appreciate your thoughts on the below:
Do you think it is still worthwhile to pursue a FT Top MBA if the intention is to go back into Corp Dev post-MBA (perhaps the appeal, if one convinces him/herself, is that you can move into a more well known/better company (e.g. facebook, google, amazon))?
Do you think a top PT MBA (e.g. NYU) would make more sense for someone with this profile so that they don't have to forgo 2 years of comp (~$200-300K) and, quite frankly, also 2 years of experience?
Do not pursue at all? Save the time and money and put your energy towards grinding and networking your way to the top in an occupation that you already enjoy?
Did anyone in your class/cohort do Corp Dev -> MBA -> Corp Dev? If so, what were their reasons?
My current Corp Dev shop does not "require" an MBA to move up (my boss told me this), but each time we interview someone for a manager role or higher, the job description always says "MBA from top-tier institution highly preferred". Also worth noting that the top 3 senior guys here (EVP, SVP, VP) all have top MBAs.