MSF vs MBA for IB
Wondering what’s a better play to enter high finance. Graduated McCombs in 2020, ran my business I started in high school for 2 years. Wanted to switch into higher level finance but now I’m kinda stuck out. I’m almost 25 so not sure if a MSF at 26 is a good idea to go analyst to PE or if I should just go for MBA, enter as associate, and then network for PE. Either way I’d need to land a high GMAT for it to be worthwhile so rather put it in the right degree. Working as a supply chain analyst in O&G and while it’s good experience and pay, I only live for prestige and my entire life will shatter without minute crumbs of social approval. But seriously I do enjoy finance and want to participate at a higher level but really don’t know who to ask and how to get there.
bump
MBA
MBA. The MSF is rough because most programs are 1-year and so you can't get an internship which is ground 0 for getting a full time gig. Locking in a summer associate gig in the MBA is the best route to go.
Also, MSF grads are usually in this weird bucket of more experienced than an undergrad but less experienced than an MBA, so in absence of knowing how to gauge your abilities, a lot of firms just don't bother. (Source: I'm an MSF grad).
I’m wondering if that would change at a top program like UT or Vanderbilt? I’m in Texas so UT is a great way to enter. I’d rather only be out of work a year than 2 and not miss analyst exit ops, but maybe associates have the same ops provided you can network. I mainly don’t want to be an MBA associate stereotype and get started developing my skill set immediately. I do forecasting and some automation with python but nothing that would translate imo.
If you're okay with Analyst gigs, then UT and Vandy will do the trick. UT has that IB workshop that does really well I think, but I think most of the placement is in O&G (vs. McCombs undergrads place a lot better in other industry verticals; that may be sample bias though because every UT MSF I know did the Petroleum Engineering or Geology undergrad, MSF combo). Vandy does well with the Atlanta banks and maybe even some Charlotte now. I did the SMU MSF which has deteriorated to the point it's not worth it anymore, but it was alright when I went through the program and it was tough to get into interviews because of the weird grey area of not being a BBA or MBA. I've heard good things about the Tulane MSF as well to get into things like ER and LO if you can get into the Burkenroad program; there are a lot of alums in Houston/O&G so you can make your way back to Texas pretty easy.
Get an MBA.
I was more or less in your shoes at this point in my career and attended a masters program (not an MBA) at a T15 school (Cornell/Yale/Duke). I had BB IB experience but turned down my FT offer to run a business I started with my friends. I knew I wanted to go back to grad school after a couple of years and once growth started to plateau I stepped away from the day to day to network. Ended up convincing a SM HF who I had previously interviewed with coming out of UG to give me a shot and worked there for a year before starting my program.
I applied to both UT and Vandy before settling in on my school, which was a better fit. I don’t know what your experience has been like but Vandy didn’t look at my work experience as a positive and pushed me to apply to their MBA instead. I pushed back on that idea and went ahead with my application to the MSF before pulling out of the process once I was accepted to my program. My experience with UT wasn’t great overall and it didn’t really seem like they had their shit together. In their defense it was during COVID and they are a state school but the lack of communication rubbed me the wrong way (2-3 weeks to answer a basic email). The few times I was able to get admissions people on the phone the whole vision for the program was vastly different than what I expected. Given the growth of tech in the city the admissions people seemed to want to shift the focus more towards corporate finance jobs at large tech companies and didn’t like that I wanted to get a traditional Wall Street job out of the program even if I was committed to staying in Texas (AM/HF). That led me to turning them down even though I fell in love with the idea of living in Austin.
My experience in my program was fairly consistent with the feedback I got from the people at Vandy and as others have alluded to. Despite having relevant experience employers really didn’t know what to do with me and would exclude me from the analyst hiring process because I was caught between UG and an MBA. I still got a decent amount of interviews with my background but they never made much sense or had a pattern that I could exploit to boost my chances. I had incredible relationships at a large lifeco but didn’t end up getting interviewed but then made it to final rounds at several MF’s (KKR/BX/Apollo) with much weaker relationships internally.
Everything ended up working out as I joined a large credit fund out of my program (think Farrallon/Sixth Street/Oaktree), however if I were to do it all over again I’d go get my MBA. The structured recruiting pipelines in MBA programs far eclipse those offered by an MSF at Vandy despite its great placements especially in fields like IB. If I were you I’d go ahead and apply to the MBA program at McCombs given you want to stay in Texas. It will check all of the right boxes, offer higher salary (almost 2X at the median), and a better overall experience + better resources.
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