Career Path Questions

As a student entering his fourth and final year of undergrad at a respected, but not Ivy league or particularly prestigious school, I have some questions about continuity and possibility of my career path. My first order of business is to maintain or improve my GPA which is slightly 3.5+ for the remaining year. I am going to graduate with a bachelor's degree in finance.

Roughly, I plan to spend the first two to three years out of college as an analyst at the best management consulting firm that will give me an offer, willing to put in the grunt hours, spend lots of time traveling to clients etc. I then plan to study like hell to achieve a GMAT score of 700+ and hopefully be accepted into a top 10 MBA program.

The next stage - post MBA - is where I have my first question. As my goal is to start out as a management consulting analyst, I love pure finance as well and would like to be hired into an IB associate position after receiving my MBA. My question - is it possible to be hired to an Investment Banking Associate position with a top 10 MBA but management consulting experience, rather than IB analyst experience pre-MBA? Has this been done on a consistent basis before?

I also would like to understand the performance structure of IB Associate bonuses - are they strictly based on the number of deals you make? What specific criteria are looked at by management that show that you really shine at what you do?

I then plan to spend a few years at the associate level, then transition to something like Venture Capital, PE, or general executive level at an industry corporation.

Does anything in this career path disjoint? Is it possible to be hired as an associate IB after experience at perhaps a MBB or other elite consulting firm?

Any help will be greatly appreciated,

Thanks

5 Comments
 

If you know that ultimately you would prefer Ibanking then why spend 3 years in consulting? It seems that either you feel that you have a better chance with an entry level job in consulting, or that you just want the pay check from Ibanking...

 
Best Response

If you come from a top MBA program (M7) you could have majored in women's studies in undergrad and then pursued fine art sales for 3 years and still get an offer from a top tier BB as an associate right out of B-school.

PE/VC/HF jobs are more difficult to get without prior relevant experience but not impossible esp. if you are coming from Wharton, Harvard, Stanford, etc.

Not sure why you would pursue MC if you ultimately want to be a banker unless your goal is to skip the analyst phase of the process.

 

Um, its actually not easy to get an offer at MBB out of undergrad. In fact, you'd have a much, much better chance at a BB, especially given the much larger number of entry-level positions available.

If you want go into finance eventually, you're better off getting into finance now. If you're goal is to get into a Top 5 business school quickly, then you should look at consulting.

 

Totam eum natus voluptatibus cumque quo aliquam accusantium occaecati. Officia ab placeat porro id adipisci sit. Qui recusandae ipsum libero voluptas.

Blanditiis nostrum facilis tempora nobis. At earum commodi magni est magni nihil blanditiis. Sunt molestiae neque dolor labore eligendi voluptatem eum. Fugit ut exercitationem praesentium autem minima at. Et rem corrupti voluptatem soluta itaque cupiditate itaque.

Magni non repellendus est modi ratione commodi assumenda eligendi. Esse a qui non ut architecto laudantium. Hic sequi quidem ex. Fugiat hic asperiores omnis in facere in voluptas earum.

Consequatur at est dolores vero. Accusamus enim est quibusdam ipsa odio assumenda natus deleniti. Eius neque commodi ea velit molestiae et.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (65) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”