Hey everyone,
This site has a lot of information available for prospective analysts but lacks a lot of content for prospective associates. Since we are in MBA application season, I thought it may be helpful to create a mega thread that discusses investment banking as a post business school career.
Here are some existing sources that may be helpful:
General:
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/ask-me-anything-post-mba-ibd-asso…
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/investment-banking-2014-6-things-to…
Recruiting:
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/90-conversion-rate-for-front-offi…
Compensation:
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/post-mba-ibd-associate-compensati…
Exit Opportunities:
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/post-mba-ib-exit-ops
Life in Post-MBA IB:
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/post-mba-ibd-associate-hours
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/post-mba-associate-life-consultin…
I will be attending business school starting fall of 2015 and had some questions that I thought the above posts didn't answer.
1) With no finance background, what can a prospective associate do before attending business school to prepare themselves for IB? How common are pre-MBA IB internships? Are there any introduction to finance books that would be helpful?
2) How many years of experience do you need in IB before you can land a good corporate development role? What are some other common exit opportunities?
3)Do M7 IB associates get placed in industry groups or M&A groups? How common is it for them to enter other product groups?
4) How much does the workload change as you progress from A1 to VP year over year?
Thanks!
M7 MBA to IBD - How to prepare (Originally Posted: 01/25/2016)
I am headed to an M7 MBA this fall, from a background in consulting (Deloitte S&O), followed by Corp. Strategy at a F500 retailer. I am still weighing a few options, but I think that I want to do an IBD internship during the MBA. I don't know if IBD is right for me, but it seems like a fairly low-risk way to test the waters. My understanding is that if I hate IBD, I will still have a fair shot at MBB full time and plenty of other options if that fails. I also have heard that BB IBD is pretty impossible without a summer internship or pre-MBA IBD experience. A few questions to the community as I think this through:
1) Are any of my assumptions above questionable or flat-out wrong?
2) Since I enjoy my current industry (retail), how likely is it that I would be able to continue working in that vertical from the IBD side? Would my prior industry experience help me get into a Consumer/Retail group as a summer associate? What about for full time?
3) What can I do to prepare for recruiting? I am planning to do some accounting/finance/modeling self-study over the summer, but what else would help? Is networking useful at this point, given the many opportunities that will be available once I start school?
4) Related to #3, what separates the MBAs who get the offers from top-tier BB and EBs vs. those who end up at lower tier BB and (gasp) MM banks? Is it interview skills? Finance knowledge/grades? Networking effort? Pre-MBA experience? I imagine the answer is kind of "all of the above", but any guidance on how to differentiate myself is much appreciated.