I plan to attend a top 15-20 M.B.A. (UVA, Duke, UNC, Cornell) in the fall of 2025.
I will be 25 without any professional leadership experience when the program starts.
Do most of the of the investment banking M.B.A. summer associate roles go to people who are on the older ends of their cohorts (28+)? If so, is it worth it to wait?
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If anyone has anecdotes on this, please comment. I can't find much on this topic on the web.
Many of the "Summer Associates" I see on LinkedIn are usually over 30, and this makes it discouraging.
You see people over 30 because that's closer to the typical age of an MBA student. Banks won't be concerned about your age - you'll be 27 once you're in a full time seat so you'll be older than their A2A associates. If you have prior relevant work experience (e.g., worked at Big 4 or something) you'll be fine.
Thanks
They can’t ask for your age due to discrimination laws (age discrimination laws are tricky tho, technically if you’re under 40 you have no protection but I have never seen nor heard of someone having to list their age or be asked of their age in a professional interview), but they can probably infer from your resume. Unless you went straight into MBA out of undergrad there will be no concern, and even if you did go into MBA out of undergrad, it wouldn’t be that big of a concern, if at all
Thanks for the input. I was mostly concerned if younger 'MBA Associate' applicants would strike out in recruiting more often due to lack of experience. I think I should be decent enough with 3+ YOE
Started my MBA at 24 and started the FT IB Associate gig at 26 (technically I got the IB offer at 25) so it is doable but I was def the youngest in my class to go IB (disclaimer: I also worked at a bank pre-mba)
I am a Corporate Banking Analyst currently in my second year. Planning on going the MBA route once I finish the three year analyst program. Do you guys think I would be competitive enough with my background to go the MBA Associate route for IB?
Bump as I am in a similar position
Wouldn't an A2A associate be starting at 24-25, assuming they are 22 when they graduate and get promoted after 2-3 years? So a MBA associate would have around 5 years of experience + 2 years of MBA and therefore be around 29 years old. Does that not create a weird division between associates? if some are 24/25 and others are 29/30?
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