ER after MBA

Hi.. been reading this forum for while and in need of advice.. hope some of the experienced people can help out.. I'll be starting with my MBA in 2020 in US, international student. Background 2.5 years in bb back office reg reporting, cfa l3 cleared, cpa equivalent graduate degree. Just got promoted as an associate. For post MBA career looking into different paths - have eliminated consulting / IB as would be moving together with family and want something with better work life balance. Looking into ER, have following questions : 1. Is it possible for international students from non- target schools to get into ER? 2.Do they usually have summer internships like ib which can be used to convert into FT? Would I be hired as an associate or an analyst? 3. What are the popular firms / groups? How is culture in ER? 4. What are the major hubs in US? (I prefer Midwest) 5. What are the hours like and comp? (Weekly average, predictability, weekend work; base & bonus at analyst / associate levels and general progression)

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If it’s B.B. the pay as analyst is 85/90/95 I forgot associate base pay as well as the bonus percentage for each class, but just look up “2018 bonus” discussion on here you’ll find it.

ER is usually 12 hours a day M-F, if you want more info on lifestyle, go to the ER forum and and click to see the best discussions and you’ll find lifestyle of ER from sell side to buy side. Search for “Multi Manager” there are good reads under that search as well.

Also don’t rule out AM at a mutual fund, you can start out as a Research Associate(RA) and do well, you already have a CFA so that can make you more attractive candidate since you have L3. Look at “Lifestyle at a Large AM” on here. Post MBA salaries all in can be $275K. Yeah you can take internships along the way, they don’t have to be in IB. Just Front Office roles to show your next employer experience and that you no longer want Back Office roles.

 

Hi.. thanks a lot for the answer.. the AM ones you're referring to would be buy side i believe? If yes, would it be beneficial to get some sell side experience first and then move to buy side? Comp seems comparatively low for MBA grads, considering the debt burden so a bit of a worry.. although I will refer to the bonus discussion threads as you mentioned..

 

Not necessarily on getting sellside experience at the end of the day before starting there. It’s Wall Street if you get in a role and produce and replicate that you’ll find a spot.

Also with AM something I found out is that as you progress and get to managing accounts you can get paid more, under the AM forum you’ll see more how the management fee is split between the people that run the fund.

 

Depends on your mba program but some shops will do on campus recruiting for ER so a summer internship would be an option there. Otherwise most ER recruiting is on an as needed basis.

As far as Midwest goes Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee probably have the most sell side presence. Blair, Baird, keybanc, and piper are the bigger ones with a good amount of boutiques. Some larger banks let some analyst work where they want so you might see some openings from them in the Midwest from time to time.

 

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