Strategy and Analytics background looking to break into finance

Hi everyone,

I have a very different background. I was pre-med in college so I am a biology major with a minor in business administration and public health. I decided medicine is not what I wanted to do so I decided to go into the corporate world.

Honestly, I was so naive in college. I didn't know about these elite jobs and the exit opportunities that come with scoring these jobs. For me, the only dimension finance had was corporate finance and after taking a course in college, I wasn't the biggest fan maybe because of the way it was taught.

I didn't even know finance could be so lucrative and had so many branches. I am strongly thinking of going into finance and I am here to explore viable options for my next move.

Here is my background:
1. Graduated from a public ivy (top 10 public schools), unfortunately, my gpa is sub par for banking standards (above a 3.0 but barely),
2. Recruited to be part of a rotational leadership program for a top company in the transportation and logistics space (promoted twice, learned about all aspects of the business, then served as a project manager/functional consultant for an oracle system implementation, then got a coveted role as a planning manager my last year there, stayed there for 2 years)
3. I wanted to explore more analytical positions because I served in a more general operations capacity at the previous company, so got a role as a corporate strategy analyst at a fortune 50. Lots of exposure here, worked with amazing people: ex-consultants from Bain and (who were my managers/directors), data analytics teams, market research firms. Served an internal consultative role to marketing, sales, pricing, contracting, finance and other stakeholders in the pharma space with experience in marketing mix, drug retailers, payers, insurance companies and so on. I had the opportunity to build some complicated, forward looking models that were used as the base company wide. My work went to VP's and higher teams. I would also do a lot of equity research on retailers and present the research as insights. (Chicago)
4. Moved to NYC, recently started working at a syndicated market research firm (top 3, think Nielsen and the likes). Again analytics and insights in CPG. Just started a month ago. Took the job because I recently got married, and wanted to move here and took it because it was a decent opportunity but not my ideal opportunity, which would be a mix of strategy and finance.

I used to think is for me and I still think it is an option, but I want to explore finance as a viable option. I want to know what are my options? What can I do? I have a lot of hard and soft skills that ibd/Equity Research Analysts use: communication, modeling, handling stakeholders, marketing campaigns and so on. I want to utilize these skills to make direct impact on the revenue generation. I have a lot of varied experience but nothing purely finance. Also, after my second stint as a strategy analyst, my director (from HBS) told me that a lot of doors would be open on Wall Street after the knowledge II have acquired. Money is not the only motivation, but definitely part of the motivation to get into finance. I have been brainwashed to have a nice corporate job and climb the corporate ladder and benefits will follow, but I want to take some risks, work really hard when I am in my 20's and truly pave a path for my future career and make bank in the process.

I don't think I can break into, but potentially equity research. I don't even know the different routes I can go so I am here to seek advice! I am also considering a MBA very strongly and will most likely apply, but I don't want to drop 150k for something that I could potentially get into right now (if i try hard enough) or, on the flip side, have minute chances to getting in even after the MBA.

This is a lot to take! But hey...I have been a lurker on this website for a while and wanted to dive right in.

Thanks! :)

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