Hey guys..had a quick question.
So I graduated from a large state school in the South with a BBA in finance and a 3.94 GPA recently. Interned on the sales and trading side junior year (school is a pretty big feeder to trading side of business), found out that I didn't like it, and wanted to make a switch to IB for full time. Unfortunately, pretty much all the banks had filled their FT classes with interns, and being at a non-target didn't help get me a interview at the few banks with 1 or 2 spots left.
A big part of why I didn't go back for S&T full time was the culture and environment, so with that, I decided to hunt for places where I feel like I'd fit in the most. This ended up at a Big 4 in their consulting practice..but my heart still lies in banking. Game plan right now is to still work and apply at year 3 so I will have 4 years of experience upon matriculation to school. So a few questions for the community:
1) I hear it is very hard to switch both industry and function after MBA. Since I'm in the Houston area, a majority of the work that I am doing is in the oil and gas industry. I would like to gun for NY banking, but I fear that there is no oil and gas groups up there. So I would effectively be switching from Energy Consulting to (Not Energy) Banking. How would this be viewed during recruiting? I don't have any intention to stay in Houston for the remainder of my working career.
2) During the business school application process, would it just be easier to say that I want to do consulting instead of banking, and go for banking AFTER I get in? I would imagine it makes more sense to say "I want to go for MBB because I'm looking for more strategy work as opposed to operational/implementation type work that I get at Big 4." Correct me if I'm wrong, but this takes the switching function out of the equation, and adcoms might view me as a safer bet to actually land the job that I am "looking" for.
Right now, my goal is to go and kill the GMAT. I'm going to be studying for a full year (taking it Jan 2017), and will be volunteering as much as I can during the next 2.5 years.
What do you think guys, is this doable? Any input would be greatly appreciated!
It would be super easy to go for Houston IBD via McCombs or Rice but if you are determined to do non energy, it should be doable via M7 pretty reasonably
No ad-com will blink an eye about your chances of getting into IB if you have the other credentials to get into a T10 / M7 business school. IBD as an industry is having more issues filling slots than they have in the last 10 / 15 years, any adcom would be happy to get folks at a top school that want to do IB in a different industry (regardless of industry / product preferences).
As a side note, the rules about switching industry + function don't really apply to IB or management consulting, assuming you're at a top school with OCR. All those companies just want "top performers" out of business school that check all the boxes and can interview / perform fairly well.
Good luck studying.
Thanks for the input! Had a few follow up questions.
I guess I just don't understand a ad-com's thought process very well, but the big reason as to why I'm uncomfortable talking about my passion for banking instead of the more logical career jump to MBB is because there is a very low correlation between the type of work that I am currently doing vs. what a banker would do. Sure, there are transferrable skills (PPT skills from helping create pitches, excel skills from data modeling/migration), but helping a commercial trading organization optimize their commodity supply and creating KPIs/best indicators for a crude trading business is quite far from building DCF/lbo models.
I'm just not really sure if "I read dealbook everyday and am extremely interested in understanding financial modeling and the deal making process" is a stronger argument than "I've worked in the trenches, got my hands dirty with client employees, understand the technical operations of the business, can work for 65-70 hour weeks while traveling coast to coast, and am looking to take on a higher level strategic view as opposed to one that is focused primarily on day-to-day operations."
I will try my hardest to get projects that are heavier in financial modeling/due diligence for M&A transactions to help my story, but as depressed as energy prices are, I'm not sure if I have a load of lee-way picking and choosing as a first year consultant.
Thoughts?
You kidding? It's going to be a lot easier for you than a lot of the people who succeed...especially given that a 3.94 GPA at a state's flagship school is pretty competitive for top programs.
Let me put it this way: I know someone who got in that was a professional musician before finance. Your transition will be peanuts by comparison.
I will share my experience as we are/were in exactly the same boat...
I am a big4 consultant also focusing on O&G clients. I had the same career aspirations as you (get out of O&G, into banking in NY) and decided going to top MBA was the way to enable the switch. I have just been admitted to two M7 Rd1.
Question 1. Can't really comment as I haven't attempted to make the switch yet.
Question 2. I spun the "get into MBB" story you described basically word for word and I would definitely recommend this route. Ad-coms cherish "logicical goals" over anything else apart from maybe leadership experience and the "use top MBA to get into a better consulting shop" path is so common it makes them comfortable you will be employed and happy upon graduation. To put it simply nobody from the school is going to hold your application in front of you when you graduate and scold you for not following through on what you said.
If you kill the GMAT as planned and obtain some quality leadership and volunteer experience you should be able to create a very competitive application. Only other recommendation I would throw in is to try and get as much international experience under your belt as well.
Good luck1
I know this was a while ago, but can you explain your answer to question 2?
Wouldn't it be better to use something different that would differentiate you from others?
Which Big 4 Group > MBA > BB (Originally Posted: 02/05/2015)
I'm looking to eventually break into IB at a BB institution as an Associate. At the moment I have some relevant CF experience but am transitioning to a BIG 4 group at the moment. I plan on getting a few years of exp here before leaving for a top MBA/Banking. However, I'm unsure which group to target. I'm thinking M&A, TS or a valuation group.
I've heard conflicting viewpoints and would love to hear your input. My main concern is which will be viewed the best by a top MBA program and also which would be the most applicable to banking down the line.
Thanks guys.
Man if you have to... try to get into their corporate finance department, which is separated. If that isn't possible, TS is your best bet, and more specifically Valuation, which is a subgroup within TS.
Thanks, appreciate the advice!
Deleted - repost accidentally
Living in the accounting world and having many friends who are in it, my suggestion would be as follows:
1.) corporate finance/I-Bank group - Each accounting firm does M&A, basically a middle market IB. Within Big 4 this group sits in different departments (I believe EY is with in TAS, PwC - corporate finance is within Advisory etc.)
2.) Transaction Advisory Services/Transaction Services - Due Diligence working on deals. I've seen some exit from here to IB.
3.) Valuations - very rarely have I seen anyone exit from valuations to IB. They do overlap on a lot of skill sets (modeling) but for some reason seems to be pretty rare without going back to school. I've seen one who was right out of school work in valuations and quit within 3-4 months to take an analyst role at an IB but thats about it. This group also sits within different departments depending on the firm (EY - TAS, KPMG - Tax)
Yeah the only reason I said Val over DD is because he said he wanted to enter banking as an associate, which I presume would be he'd go to B-school before going into banking. So with that I'd think at least having a background doing some sort of valuation/modeling would be more beneficial. Overall edge is minimal between the two though.
Thanks guys - appreciate the input. I'm going to target the corp fin groups and see what I can rustle up and but good to know that there's guys who've gone from Transaction Services into IB from there also.
It's definitely a long route in but hopefully it'll pay off.
Definitely the corporate finance groups would be the best bet since they are actual M&A groups. However, in the US they are generally very small, 50-75 bankers at all levels, compared to to transaction services which is 2000+ at each firm.
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