Ignore title. I am currently in my second year in the US Army. I had always been interested in the military so I decided to do this and I’m thankful I did.
I know many people do MBA -> IB Associate, but is it possible to go from military -> IB Analyst?
I went to a top 15 university, studied Econ (3.6 gpa) had 3 finance internships back then.
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The thing is that a number of the hire veterans type initiatives place into associate roles. I know you probably found that already and it wasn't the answer that you wanted, but that's how the system works for those types of programs. The alternative would be to go MBA and then go associate, which is what I did to have more "at bats". I didn't know if I would land something in one of those programs at the exact time of my ETS, whereas MBA would be more of a pipeline that I'd eventually land something through campus networking and recruiting, which I did.
Is there a particular reason why you want to go analyst instead of associate? I suppose you could go the MSF route and maybe do it that way, but you're also leaving money on the table by not going associate. Is the desire because analyst to PE is a more common pipeline?
Appreciate the reply. Please tell me if I’m wrong, but from what I’ve read on this forum (i) analysts receive far better training (especially with excel), (ii) I feel like the opportunity cost of further education is very high, and (iii) other students in the MBA will be less inclined to befriend me because my career has barely started while they are already on a trajectory and want to meet others on the same path.
I’m gonna be honest you just do a job right now get in the market and start working and get trained through working. If you’re concerned about Excel in your formatting skills, you’ll get that training and any other job doesn’t exactly have to be finance irrelevant but you’ll get some training. I’m in consulting right now before breaking and die and I got all my training there because I did a lot of modelling, valuation work, etc before breaking in via the mba associate program. I credited a lot of my training to my previous jobs - not IB. You’re gonna learn through working, and I’d recommend you to work and then go back to business school and take advantage of the associate pipeline. As the other user said you’re leaving a lot of money on the table by not going to business school and you’re gonna be better off in terms of your age and career to be an associate because 30+ year old post mba associates are considered a norm in the US.
Edit: misread this realize you’re currently in the military. Just do the MBA. MBA associates who are veterans will be well respected and trained through more handholding so I wouldn’t worry too much about the training part. You’re a veteran who serve the country they will respect that first and foremost and help you. Thank you for your service.
To add about training, I really don’t think anyone should be relying on training in 2024. I think Banking has gotten more cutthroat since the layoffs in 2022 and onwards. They expect these kids to be good at Excel through self teaching as well as pitching through their school clubs. Most of the time I could be wrong they just throw you into the wolves without little to any training. I worked at mostly mid markets in my analyst years and I really didn’t get any training.
The actual training is just the two years (really just the first year, you are expected to be highly productive the second year) as opposed to some month long bootcamp outsourced to TTS. Breadth and reps you get in a relatively risk free environment (the expectations for AN1 is really low + a bullpen to dick around in) is the real training. Everything is learned on the job. Also I would agree to the other comment that most kids are expected to be good at excel by the time you hit the desk. I personally self-taught most of the short cuts during school for pitches and projects. I would say the majority of the kids are the same.
The comp upside (100k --> 250k) and minimal cost (GI, TA, tons of awards for veterans) more than make up for this, you'll be fine.
We had a handful. They were the most loved people in my class by far.
You'll get good training. A stub associate is basically an overpaid analyst anyway, like how a new 2LT is an overpaid E-5.
I had no such problems socially at MBA...people aren't coming to MBA fresh out of undergrad, and even then, some of your colleagues will be married with kids and aren't exactly looking to pop bottles anyway. You go to MBA to network and to learn. Yes you'll make some friends also, but this isn't undergrad party rage mode part 2. Just take a Vegas vacation for that.
Another concern I didn't mention is the price. How frequently would the military pay for the MBA, if so what percentage? Do MBA programs set aside a few seats for army/navy candidates?
I can’t comment on the military, but I have friends who have done military services and gotten their degrees paid for.
A lot of it depends on what path you've taken through the military. Hopefully you still have your full GI Bill available to you. If that's the case the military subsidizes most of the MBA for you. There's several schools that you can go to completely free (Booth, Wharton, Ross, etc) that have strong Yellow Ribbon programs.
And MBA programs love veterans. They're all vying to have top veteran programs because I'm sure it helps DEI metrics and it's a good way to market the school. Beyond that, classmates at MBAs always find veterans super interesting. We're some of the only people that have actually gone out and done shit, most of your classmates spent their first 4-5 years sitting behind a computer in some analyst role.
I would just go for the MBA, rather than go network super hard to maybe land an analyst role.
As military, you're in one of the most privileged recruiting cohorts even with DEI today. However, caveat is that an MBA is usually required.
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