Try to lateral or MSF?
Hi all, I am a fresh 2024 grad from a top target school with a 3.5 GPA and mathematics major. I got a late interest in Investment Banking and failed to secure a post-grad FT position. During my time at college, I didn't really know what exactly I wanted to do, but I did secure two investments focused internships. My soph year internship was a fixed income research role at a life co (~100bn AUM) while my junior year internship was at a PE-backed reinsurer also on their investments team. Both were pretty interesting and quantitative (portfolio optimization, hedging, etc), but I realized I didn't want to be a quant and I actually enjoy the business side a lot more. I wanted to escape insurance investments and work on the sell side so I recruited FT for IB and other banking FO roles but was unable to convert (did get some looks though). I think this was a bit of my fault as I did not properly consider small boutiques and other less well-known roles, and my junior year internship only took 1 return due to market conditions as well.
This brings me to now. I am currently working as a portfolio risk analyst at an IBAB, overseeing our lending book. Unlike banks like JPM, my bank does not have credit analysts sitting on the transaction level, so a credit risk -> LevFin jump would be not be as direct here. My role focuses on managing existing credit risk and writing macroeconomic commentary, which has enhanced my industry knowledge but doesn’t involve detailed financial modeling or deal analysis.
Given all of this, I've been attempting to network with alumns, grind technical, and stay sharp for any potential opportunities. But, given my background and current market conditions, has been tough. I have started considering sending an MSF (Vandy or others) to gain another shot at recruiting since I am only a year out of UG, but I am unsure whether this would be worth the potential cost. What do you guys think? Should I keep trying to network or should I gun for a top MSF to break in and get another shot? Or should I sit tight and potentially wait and send MBA? Open to hearing any suggestions and opinions.
Bump
bump :/
I went to Vandy MSF and have only the good things to say about the program. However, I'd probably consider working for a few years in the general finance industry, and try to lateral from my current position, or try to get into a top MBA program in which almost all the IBD have very structured MBA Associate recruiting pipeline. I'm not saying the program is bad at sending kids to the IBD, it's just an expensive option to choose, plus there is really no guaranteed spots for FT roles anywhere. Plus, the experience you can accumulate working full-time is something you just can't get from an academic program, and those experience will help you a lot in the long run.
In a similar situation, did you make a decisoin yet?
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