Is it too late for me to break in?

Hello,

I am a recent grad from a top undergrad B school with a Finance major.  Unfortunately, by the time I was deciding I wanted to pursue I-banking, I was already starting my senior year.

I graduated with a somewhat mediocre 3.2 GPA.  I just took an offer at a large media company on their business dev/operations team because this job market is crazy right now.

Does anyone have any advice on how to eventually make the switch over to finance or investment banking?  Did me accepting this offer ruin my chances?

thanks!

3 Comments
 

Not too late at all, it will just be a less direct path. Some options -

1. Move up within bus dev (operations is less desirable) at the media company, lateral in a year or two as a senior analyst at the MM level. Move upstream from there

2. Lateral sooner to a regional, small IB/PE firm and look to move to MM/BB later on

3. Get 3-4 years of work experience within bus dev (current firm or another company) get a top GMAT score and head to M7 MBA aiming for summer associate roles

No reason you can't do all three simultaneously. Keep an eye out for regional openings, but develop your resume to be attractive for larger opportunities in the medium-term, with MBA as your fallback.

Array
 

Odio at natus a dolores sint reiciendis. Asperiores voluptas omnis magni maiores. Praesentium vero officia occaecati qui quod sunt magni. Sed excepturi qui et in ut.

Eaque asperiores voluptas voluptas asperiores vero. Repudiandae eveniet voluptatibus ut harum aperiam. Sit impedit et aut est commodi sed necessitatibus. Saepe voluptas possimus vitae omnis hic sint doloribus. Cupiditate qui ullam animi.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (50) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $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
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
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...”