I’m preparing to begin recruiting through my MBA program this fall. My school (USC/UCLA) is in Los Angeles and I’m in San Diego. I really want to pursue banking, but I can’t move from SD to LA for family/personal reasons. Would I be able to manage this as an associate?
My plan would be to exclusively recruit for banks offering a hybrid model with 3 days in office, and either airbnb in LA a couple nights a week or take the train up on the in-office days.
For example - for a bank with in person Tues to Thurs, I’d commute up Tuesday morning, airbnb the two nights, and go back Thursday when people are going home to finish the day remotely. The train ride is 2 hours and I could work while riding home. I’d be working from home in San Diego Mon/Fri/Sat/Sun.
I understand not every week might be so straightforward.. but would this plan be possible? Am I way underestimating the load of an associate?
I want to be in I-banking, but San Diego has basically nothing in that regard. This is pretty much my only opinion.
Bump
IMO this will not work at all. It would drive you completely crazy after about a month, and you'd be moving or finding a new job within 6 months. I would strongly consider looking at regional banks or non-IB roles located in SD, or reevaluating if LA is possible for you.
It's really difficult to do IB on a laptop, and it takes a lot of wifi/data - no way could you do every Tues morning/Thurs evening on a train and get the expected amount of work done. You pretty much need at least 1 screen, probably 2, to get any meaningful amount of work done. I've done the laptop/train wifi or cellular hotspot on a Saturday turning quick text comments, or the occasional evening I'm traveling a few times a year, but this will just not fly twice a week, every week. Not to mention an early morning train every Tuesday will freaking suck if you were up until 2 or 3am the night before.
Also I can think of 1 bank between all the BBs/EBs where "in office" is a static Tues-Thurs and you could reliably leave for a long train on Thurs and not show up for several days. As soon as a live deal heats up you will be in the office pretty frequently because the collaboration is just better in-person... or you're there well past midnight trying to get books printed and have to find a last minute hotel in the wee hours of the night... or a certain senior likes the team to be in Mon and Tues when you're on his deal... you really just cannot count on having the days set in stone even if the bank advertises itself as flexible and hybrid
Sorry to be a downer but this is the type of thing that makes perfect sense in college or MBA, where your schedule is very predictable, but just doesn't work out in IB.
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