Email MD but got responses from Analyst

Pretty common. I used to followup only once with the MD after a week and kept it very brief (see eg. below). Don't want to piss them off by sending multiple followups. Also be prepared to only ask him questions you should be asking an MD..

I am sure you asked the Analyst to connect you with other fellow Analyst. If not, do that next time.

“Hello X,

”How are you? I highly appreciate you connecting me with X. It was a pleasure speaking him/her. Based on our conversation, I am highly interested in the role and I was wondering if you have 10-15 mins this week or next week for a call?

Have a great week.

Best,

Y”

Generally for networking within firms I’d recommend reaching out to analysts or associates. Above that is difficult to get responses. VP and above, I see people being less willing to help. As long as you have a well crafted message (include your CV also) you should have a decent response rate. More senior people will rarely get out of their way to help.

On your question, indeed uncommon, haven’t seen this before.

MD is trying to help you out in his/her own way.  Many times, the MD will ask the analyst what they thought of the call and then it goes from there.

Sounds like MD is a busy but nice guy, wants to help you out instead of ghosting your email. Take the call with the analyst, and follow up with a thx to the MD for providing the referral, then speak to more analysts at the firm. Once apps roll around follow up with the MD and thank him again, and mention that the an he connected you with led you to speak to so and so. 

Yeah, I’ve had this happen a lot too. Occasionally, 1 out of 15 MDs will hop on a call, which is great, but you have to understand that these people are busy running teams, bringing in deals, and talking with businesses (or trying to). Ideally, they’d speak with every student, but they just can’t manage that. The best thing you can do is follow up, like someone mentioned, and maybe check in again next quarter or once a year. It’s important to keep the relationship warm—that’s what I do.

If they forward your message to an analyst, that analyst will either give positive feedback or remember you when you apply again, and you can follow up with them. Just follow up quarterly or yearly without being annoying, as overdoing it could leave a bad impression if they’ve already done their part.

In most places, analysts and associates handle a lot of the recruiting. So if you’re forwarded to one, chances are they’re involved in recruiting, and it’s worth focusing on making a good impression. From my experience, some MDs can be pretty clueless about recruiting because they’re so high up. I’ve had calls that went great and lasted over an hour, but they still gave generic "apply on the website" advice. A silver lining, though, is that the conversation still helps build rapport but not worth it if your goal is short term like bagging an interview for the current cycle