MBA to IB strategy?

Went to a target, worked in IB, but was let go after my second year due to restructuring in my group. Had a handful of interviews but was not able to find a job closely to what I was doing before. Now in corporate dev and really like my coverage space but want to go back to IB. I have tried to go back but it didn’t work out, it’s just been really competitive. Would an MBA make sense to reset and pivot to associate level roles since I have experience or do you think I could still lateral? I don’t want to do my analyst years again at my age (26). Not faulting anyone who does it but after going through it for 2 years I don’t think I would be progressing to start over again. What do you think

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Since you had IB analyst experience, your MBA IB recruiting experience would be extremely easy bc all of your classmates who are doing the same thing don't come from IB and even if a few of them do, they worked in IB in other countries/regions, with no US experience. If you worked in CS, I'd still try to lateral if I were you

 

Excepturi incidunt voluptatibus quas. Voluptas dolore qui facilis repellendus est corrupti. Laudantium sed nemo cupiditate nostrum sed. Incidunt quo voluptas modi officiis consectetur laboriosam ut. Provident id consectetur eos atque quae dolorem.

A earum sapiente ipsam aut voluptas nam error. Fuga aspernatur enim non.

Career Advancement Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 03 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (53) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (26) $182
  • Intern/Summer Associate (15) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
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...”