Is IB still an MBA’s World?

Already have the A2A offer at a BB and open to doing IB long term, though couldn't help but wonder if it's still necessary to get an MBA at some point.

Everyone knows MBA associates suck and don't pull their weight BUT bottom line is - at the end of the day, nothing gets done about it and nothing ever will. I've never seen an useless MBA Associate get paid less than 2x top bucket analysts. They also come in at a higher political standing by default. Most importantly, the vast majority of VPs and above in my group started as post-MBA associates from the same few schools, which I did not attend for undergrad.

Hoping to get some feedback from more tenured folks on WSO, would you say it's still an unspoken rule that an MBA is necessary to make it long term? Do people nowadays still go IB > MBA > IB (Aso1 again)?

Might be open to going to BSchool after one or two more years as an A2A if possible to not come back as an Aso1.

17 Comments
 

Good to know. Was the EB open to some sort of tuition assistance/reimbursement? I know that’s uncommon, just wondering if this person was able to negotiate it.

 
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Most people who go to a top B-school (T10/T15) from IB background have little/no desire of going back to banking. Usually people do it because they are burnt out but also because they want to leverage their past IB/B school network to get into a career they want to go into.

Having said that, banks typically value MBAs mostly because of their networks at post VP level. Its far easier to make those connections with people in industry when you went to school with them/have the same alumni network. At the end of the day, IB is a service oriented career and networks and access is what makes you stand out.

But this also presupposes a number of things, two of which being that 1. The MBA grad is willing to stick around for 6 years or so (very few do); and 2. The person is competent enough to perform well at the bank (majority of them do, but not all). I've seen most competent post MBA folks leave after 2-3 years for lifestyle reasons and I've also seen few post MBA associates/VPs get culled (usually at VP level) because they just can't perform well/are out of sync with the swing of things.
 

 

You're mixing up correlation and causation. Most of the senior people have MBAs not because the MBA was a prerequisite to get them there, but because most of the analysts have left, The attrition before even reaching associate level means most associates are MBA hires, subsequently most people who get to VP have an MBA, etc. If you came in as an analyst, you're not at a disadvantage at a senior level without an MBA (in fact, you're really at an advantage), and the MBA won't directly help much to get you to a more senior level. 

 

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