MBA impact on career in high finance

Hello, I am currently a freshman at a semi-target for that matter. I figure if I graduate top of my class, network a ton, and land the right internships, hopefully I will get a job (likely in Boston) that provides me with a decent pay and relevant investment banking experience. If all goes well, after working for 2 years, I then want to attend a top masters program such as HBS, or Wharton. Will this type of degree provide my resume with a sufficient enough prestige to land a job at some of the top EB & BB banks on Wall Street, or even make the switch into PE? Or will my undergraduate hold me back?

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A T10 b-school would do the trick for banking. I will not address the PE part of your question because PE recruiting at the MBA level also requires IB experience.

HSW is really hard to get into so I would explore other schools, and , in the aggregate, I emphasize in the aggregate, people there already had elite jobs (blue chip firms and so) or backgrounds (Ivy League) before Bschool so you’d have to already have some of that to be admitted in the first place. Admissions-wise I would put S>H (and most people, if any, at S do not pursue banking mostly bc people there wouldn't need it, are not interested in IB, would go directly to PE, or already have banking background; HBS you have a mix of everything). I wouldn't recommend W given how competitive is to get a job there and personalities… (I expect some push back on this from some users are here) banks don't give substantially more offers to a school with a larger student body just because they have more students.

Also, some schools outside the T10s -may have a robust alumni network in IBD and will allow you to break into GS/MS/JPM/Evercore/Centerview/Lazard/Etc… Student body size matters too, it is extremely different to recruit out of Hass, Tuck and SOM vs W, Booth or CBS, the competition in the last 3 would be greater and less collaborative than in the first 3 I mentioned. As long as you are at a T10-T12 banks see most applicants as target (with some subtle nuances). You'd be surprised how good career outcomes are at some schools outside the schools you listed, so I encourage you to look at T10 schools and speak with the finance clubs on career outcomes and how many people get a job at elite firms (ask for numbers not just anecdotes). Good luck!

 

So top 15 is the goal for the IB BB EB MBB post mba routes. But honestly, there about another 7 schools that can do the trick if you put in the work. Unless you’re going to PE VC or are an entrepreneur the career outcomes post MBA on a 10-15 year horizon between HSW and the next 10 schools are very similar (if you don’t have pre mba experience and want to go into high finance you’re likely going to have the same outcome- end up at BB from Darden/Fuqua/Stern vs HBS and Wharton. The latter might give you a better shot at GS or something, but at the mba associate level, you’re really splitting hairs there when comparing banks. It’s also more about the group within the ibank

 

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