Masters Degree -- better placement?

Do BBs grant some sort of advanced status (eg, 2nd year/senior analyst status) to people who come in with a Master's Degree? Or are they treated exactly the same as people with Bachelor's degrees?

Anyone know banks that definitely do/don't do that?

12 Comments
 

I know a bunch of people with very well regarded masters degrees, who will all be starting as first year analysts at BBs.

 

Wish they did, then I'd be a second-year analyst...

I didn't do my masters to get a "senior analyst" position - it will help me get jobs in the future after I've left IB and that's the value I get from it.

 

I would say it depends upon your background and connections. . .

I've seen a couple of people with banking experience get associate positions. Also saw someone with good connections (family high in the bank) who got an associate position as well, but everyone else who landed a banking job was placed as an analyst.

Masters programs can be tough for IBD because they are generally not target programs.

 

Is it not true that, among all the college students who want to work in IB, the best batch gets job offers and the second batch goes to some master programs? Of course, I am talking about normal years, not the bad years like 2008.

Since IB compensation is so good, it would be strange to me if one top student refuses an IB job offer and goes for a master degree instead. If he/she is not able to get a job, then by default, he/she shouldn't be a top student.

I don't want to offend anybody here.

 
Best Response

Applications for masters programs are done a year in advance, so in most cases people have decided they want to do a masters degree well before their final year and well before recruiting season. If you are going for top masters programs, then your energy needs to be focused on your grad school applications, and you aren't even paying attention to the job market.

Furthermore, many who do a masters only began considering IB well after final year recruiting, or even in the summer before the masters program. A lot of people studying economics, engineering, compsci, etc are scarcely aware of the IB recruiting circus at all during their undergraduate years. I, for one, had only really warmed up to the idea of banking in August before my masters, and then applied in Sep/Oct. I also know of people who have turned down regional BB summer positions to do pre-masters boot camp during the summer, since it was a requirement for their top masters program.

For these reasons, the "first best, second best" argument appears to be pretty weak, except possibly for people who attended a totally career-oriented business school where virtually everyone is trying to get an IB job from day 1 year 1 of the program. Outside the business school bubble many people are actually far more interested in their academics and research than padding a resume or jobhunting or "networking". There are even bound to be some who attended the career college type university program but found they were genuinely interested in the academic material they were learning and felt inclined pursue an advanced degree.

 

Dear Alcman,

I can only speak about Germany but maybe it is similar in other European countries as well. In Germany many companies are sceptical towards people with ONLY a bachelor degree.

This has to do with the tradition that orginally saw 5-year diploma programs as THE right way of academic education. SInce the 1999 Bologna reform, Europe has changed the 5-year diploma into 3-year bachelors and 1, 1.5, or 2-year masters. Now many firms see bachelors as less qualified for the existing firm entry positions.

Specifically companies in face-toface-with-your-client service industries such as consulting firms also have the problem that Bachelors are too young to be sent to clients.

On the other side, firms understood that they need to adjust to the education system. Therefore some of them developed entry programs expicitly for Bachelors, sometimes as a "bridging" system for instance offering them a contract that includes the support during a later Master program for the exchange of a long-term commitment to that company.

A good advice may be: Choose your 3 or 4 favorite companies and ask thjem (or their competitors) directly.

Best wishes Pepe

 

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