Should I try to work my way into the FO from ops or keep some dignity and go right to a masters?

Rising senior here from a non-target trailer trash school in Ontario. I expect to graduate with a 3.6 cGPA and have been involved with a couple ECs (student investment club, student association, lots of conferences/case comps). I've completed internships in PWM on the investment research side, AM on the sales/wholesaling side (both at a Canadian big 5 bank), and at a F500 automaker in corpfin. My current and final internship is in internal audit, also at a bank.

Given that I couldn't get into a SA program for IBD or markets/S&T and given the remarkable lack of alumni network and on-campus recruiting at my school, it looks like I'll probably get stuck in an entry-level job in ops/treasury/audit or some other dead-end back office job if I end up at a bank or buyside firm. I'm wondering if I should bother going into the workplace in one of these roles and trying to aggressively network internally to FO, or would it be better to go for a Masters right away in order to get a better brand name on my resume and a better alumni network to leverage? From what I've seen, certain MFE programs send a lot of students to large pension funds and other buyside firms, and some Canadian schools (McMaster, Dalhousie) offer MBA co-op programs that you can do right out of UG, and those programs also regularly send a few kids to S&T, ER and buyside as interns. Would these be better options?

1 Comments
 

Explicabo unde similique laborum nulla omnis. Consectetur est tempore veritatis odio qui harum recusandae minus. Ut sit atque beatae quibusdam suscipit et. Nesciunt et numquam esse accusamus earum dolor.

Nulla consequuntur repellendus architecto voluptas. Delectus veritatis voluptate debitis qui. Eum ea ratione voluptatum vel. Voluptate repellat optio deserunt ut.

Animi quo sapiente dolore eos voluptatem et. Et est illo omnis dolores beatae. Hic totam reiciendis qui et tenetur. Tenetur delectus maiores odit ut.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Guggenheim Partners 02 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 99.0%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 13 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

November 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (29) $183
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (77) $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
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
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...”