“My mentoring session with Andre was extremely valuable and gave me the clarity and direction I needed at an important stage of my application journey. He was kind, approachable, and generous with his time, creating an atmosphere in which I felt comfortable sharing my experiences, asking questions, and discussing my doubts openly.
One of the most helpful aspects of our conversation was his guidance on how to organize and communicate my personal story. Andre helped me understand how to connect different experiences into a coherent narrative, identify the elements that matter most, and explain their significance more clearly. His perspective was fundamental in helping me see how to present my background with greater confidence, purpose, and authenticity.
I particularly appreciated his advice on what to avoid. He helped me recognize that including every detail does not necessarily make a story stronger, and that being selective can make a message much more effective. Our discussion gave me a clearer understanding of how to avoid unnecessary repetition, keep my narrative focused, and ensure that each part contributes something meaningful to the overall application.
Andre also provided valuable guidance on how to organize the application process itself. He helped me think more clearly about priorities, how to approach the different components, and how to make the work feel more manageable. Having a clearer structure has made a difference to my mindset: instead of seeing the applications as one overwhelming task, I now feel better equipped to approach them through specific, achievable steps.
Another important takeaway was his advice on how to use the coming days effectively. Our conversation helped me understand where to focus my energy, which tasks deserve immediate attention, and how to establish a realistic plan. I left the session with a stronger sense of direction and a better understanding of how to balance thoughtful preparation with consistent progress.
What made the experience positive was the combination of practical guidance and encouragement. Andre offered suggestions in a considerate and constructive way, helping me reflect on my choices while also making me feel supported. His kindness made it easier to engage honestly with the process and to see areas for improvement as opportunities to strengthen my applications.
Overall, this session was fundamental in helping me understand both what I want to communicate and how to move forward. I now have a clearer approach to telling my story, organizing my applications, avoiding common mistakes, and planning the next few days with intention.
I am very grateful for Andre’s support and for the care he brought to our conversation. His advice gave me useful tools, renewed confidence, and a more focused approach to the work ahead. I would highly recommend a session with him to anyone seeking thoughtful guidance, practical direction, and a supportive space to develop their application narrative. The session helped me turn uncertainty into a clearer plan, and I feel much more prepared to make the most of the time ahead and present my experiences in a meaningful and convincing way.”
A good associate is underappreciated. From my experience, it typically takes an MBA Associate one year to get to this point. A good relationship between the analyst and associate is key for high quality work with less stress.
I agree. I always think it's funny when 2 or 3-year analysts are blasting stub-year MBA associates for how useless the associates are currently compared to them as if that's a fair comparison. Like sure, someone that's most likely making a career switch and is in their first few months on the desk is definitely going to be shitty until they have the first 12 months or so to get up the learning curve, just like those analysts were shitty when they first started.
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Finally some appreciation god damn it
Why don't you take them out to dinner or get them something nice instead of posting anonymously on WSO?
Shut up pledge
Because asking your associate to dinner would be very gay. However, if an analyst bought me a Hawkeye, Colt 1911, AR, or Benelli, he'd get top bucket reviews no matter how shitty his work was.
Cringe.
Sign of a great culture right here
Go on
Even if you simp for your associates, they still aren’t going to fuck you
And here I thought Analysts got fucked by their Associates, VPs, and MDs, all day every day
Agree! I'm a summer analyst and my MBA associate has been super helpful throughout the summer. They're always willing to check my work and answer questions before I send it up to the actual associate
Nice try MBA associate
Thank you associates, for constantly telling me you're "absolutely jammed" every single time we get work and responding "we will get started on this" to the thread while emailing me "You can handle, right?". Thank you for going to sleep at midnight while I'm working until 3am and never actually creating an output, but strictly just checking my work once the entire deck is done.
You're welcome. Plz fix my last request. Thx
I’m not defending your associates but if you decide to become one you’ll understand that VPs and above working with us a lot of the time also demand is to start creating stuff rather than doing the grunt work. Hence sometimes we spend less time in excel or moving logos and a bit more time thinking about structure of the deck, of the slides etc
again just giving you another perspective and not defending people who slack off
Thinking about the structure of the deck ? If you’re genuinely spending significant time (that would prevent you from participating in other activities) thinking about the “structure of the deck”, you either recently joined and don’t have previous materials for reference, or are inefficient...
It is funny how this tends to work out... as an Analyst, I loathed most of my Associates (A2A and MBA guys) because it seemed that they were either lazy or would never provide value. As an Associate, you understand that there are a lot more things going on that require attention instead of hopping into PPTs and pushing pages. Sure from time to time I will help out Analyst and take on my fair share of work or turn my own comments for efficiency sake but it is really not what Associates should be spending most of their time on especially in process type roles (i.e. M&A). In the current environment (at least in my group), it seems that Associates are expected to play VP and quarterback processes while also having to play down and pick up slack when Analyst are unable to properly allocate their time to specific deals.
Long winded way of saying that Associates also get F*****.
Don’t think that’s what people are failing to recognize here - it’s not like Analysts are waging a full on war just because somebody is a Associate. Everyone has different responsibilities. I think what’s infuriating a lot of folks is the Associates - who tend to be MBAs - who are incompetent and mean, logs off by 10pm, forwards requests to rename PDFs when you’ve told them you are swamped (and they know it based on the staffing sheet) and forces you to outline the page, do the page, and check the page countless number of times while incessantly checking in and provides comments that end up being outright wrong or useless. It really doesn’t help all that much if they are busy brown nosing seniors while berating you separately.
If your job is to manage the work stream and communicate upwards and downwards, the least you can do is do your own job at a competent level.
A good, well-respected (up and down) IB associate makes deal teams run super smoothly, and as efficiently as possible. Everyone’s lives are easier. The analyst goes to bed earlier, the VP and MD think, “oh, XYZ’s got it” and don’t check in as much, and the client knows/likes him or her.
A bottom quartile one provides negative value by providing misleading, unnecessary, or outright wrong guidance. This is especially the case when they deem themselves too good to do the grunt work and provide zero value there as well
I still miss my old Associate, but he left for a better position so nothing against him. That guy was everything I aspire to be if I ever make it to Associate one day. Hard-worker (many more hours than I was putting in), detailed and pointed in his requests, very understanding and never one to lose his temper. He managed upwards very well too - being on a deal with him was a breeze since the MD would barely ever to drop in to check on our work. Also can't recount the number of times I'd missed something in my notes and he swooped in to save my ass because he had all the information memorized anyways.
Associates have been much, much more of a net positive than a negative in my experience.