Wanting to Change Path Within Business
Hi guys,
So basically, I'm a senior at a non-target graduating this June pursuing a degree in finance. Initially, I was really interested in an investment banking career, particularly in equity research, but after getting some more exposure to that area through my school's group, I've realized that financial modeling isn't as interesting as I thought it would be. What I enjoyed more about the process was the qualitative aspect (i.e., researching where the industry was going, what the business is/how it operates, etc.) as opposed to the quantitative part (i.e. which beta to use, forecasting working capital, etc.). This has made me to a large extent rethink my career path.
I think now that I am much more interested in a career in corporate strategy, but I don't really know how to get there. Fact is, coming from a non-target, MBB and some of the top F500 strat companies like google are almost impossible (I applied to MBB online, got rejected of course). In order to get a good strat job, it seems one must work at MBB to even have a chance, so I'm trying to see if there are other areas that are perhaps the next best thing to corporate strategy or are more qualitatively oriented than just a pure financial analysis job.
I know this post is kind of vague, but if anyone has some guidance or needs more details about what exactly I'm looking for, I'd really appreciate the advice and will gladly try and be more specific.
Thanks!
You can try a one-year MS. Duke and Columbia are decent options. Neither will guarantee MBB though.
Yes, you can consider the Duke MMS, it's a one year program that you can use to get a better name on your resume and leverage towards recruiting into either F500 or MBB, both of which you'd stand a vastly better shot at than with your current background.
+1. The Wake Forest MA program also has very good connections to corp dev (think P&G, J&J), Bain, and BCG through OCR. I have never heard of McKinsey going down there though.
If possible I want to avoid those things because I'll be needing an MBA later on anyway and those are not only expensive, but could lead me to being in the same spot a year later with more debt and no benefit. Are there alternative first jobs I could take besides i-banking/MC that could lead to those positions I want?
Why did you only apply to MBB? There are thousands of consulting shops if that is what you're interested. I would start panicking if I were you and begin working my ass off to find out if any firms are still even doing FT hiring and then begin networking and applying to them.
An honest opinion of your situation is that you are probably an entitled child who chases the prestigious jobs without any knowledge of the daily operations specific to those positions and an unwillingness to put forward the effort in getting the positions.
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