MBA programs hiring associates at the EXPERIENCED level

Background: ~3 years M&A analyst at a large bank (not ‘BB’) working on big deals… 1+ years now at a young boutique TMT IB firm (wanted more industry and direct client and MD facing exposure)… considering an MBA from Columbia Business School’s January Entry program or Kellogg’s 1-Year MBA.

Should I apply in the following cycle, I will have approximately 5 years of investment banking experience. Say I want to go back to banking at a BB – would they be willing to take me on as an experienced Associate 2 instead starting all over again as an Associate 0/1?

Don’t think I’d need to go through a full training program since I can hit the ground running and I’d be fully Series certified. Have worked on both middle-market and large-cap public and private transactions. Have experience managing Analysts and dealing with firm politics, etc.

Has anyone heard of this happening? BB firms hiring experienced IB associates at an experienced level so that their path to VP isn’t the full 3-years, but maybe more like 1.5 years to make VP.

Thanks in advance

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