Airline pilot planning for an MBA
Hi there guys
I am currently working with an airline , with close to 4 years of experience on the job.
I have a bachelors in engineering but no further finance background.
I've been thinking about my career progression and further growth and really think an MBA would help me extend my reach across various job profiles.
At the moment I make really good money in my home country and plan to get married next year.
Haven't given my GMAT yet but will soon start prep.
My main areas of interest would lie in finance /strategy consulting, and I would be targeting one of the better schools in the USA if my gmat permits.
What do you think of my profile and do you think an MBAwould do me any good considering I have like zero work ex in the industry.
Regards
Exp.
If you want to work in business, especially finance and consulting an MBA is definitely the right degree to go for given your background. One of the purposes of the degree is for career switchers and allows students with no prior experience in a certain field to have a chance at switching.
For example, infantry officers get out of the military and go to bschool then work in finance. The work doesn't directly translate but they have applicable skills. There are plenty of stories of other non-traditional business backgrounds switching careers with an MBA (nursing, teaching, etc.)
Couple of important things to consider:
What type of finance do you want to work in? IB? PWM? It's pretty broad
In order to get the higher-end finance/consulting jobs your best bet is getting into a Top 20 bschool. Top 20 bschool you want 700+ GMAT to be competitive, For a Top 10 or MBA business schools ">M7 school you probably want a 720+.
Need more info on your background/stats to better understand your chances. What's your undergrad GPA? Race/Ethnicity? (URMs get a big boost), Home country? (Bschools like students from unique places), Caliber of undergrad university?
The most important thing in your applications will be explaining how your pre-MBA experience of being an airline pilot relates to your post-MBA goals, let's say consulting for an example. Even though the jobs are different you can explain how your experience of working as a pilot shows you can work under pressure, work as a team, managing ground crew, flight crew, able to analyze information, and make a decision, etc. And then something like "I want to consult for airline/logistics companies and optimize their practices. Being a line pilot allowed me to experience and identify day to day inefficiencies." Something like that, just an example.
You should check out poetsandquants.com, gmatclub.com, MBA subreddit as well. A lot of information to learn more about bschool/MBA. Doesn't hurt posting your profile there either to get more opinions, just be sure to include the stats I mentioned above for the best help.
TLDR: Yes, you an MBA can help you move into finance/consulting. We need more info on your background to help you out
Thank you so much for replying and sorry for my really late reply,
Well to answer your questions, I was considering something towards Investment Banking/ Private equity or M&A, and if not that then I'm really drawn towards strategy consulting.
2&3) So I am Indian, and i guess here is where the problems begin, firstly the Top B schools in America become really unaffordable/ I will have to raise the money with significant debt, which I don't think is a wise Idea. Secondly, I am assuming that my nationality might get in the way of further job prospects/ promotions beyond a certain pay grade. 4) Well one of the reasons i would like to do an MBA is because I feel the aviation industry is getting narrower with jobs being restricted to a few countries,( the rest hiring only their local nationals). I want to broaden my horizon and have a job where i am growing each year, which is kind of stagnant in pilot salary terms.
Regards
exp
I'm gonna give you the good, the bad and the ugly here.
You won't get into a decent investment bank or consulting firm without attending a top tier school (top 10 or top 20). The debt sucks, but first year comp for consulting or banking will range between $150k-$250k all in depending on where you land. If you attend a lower tier school, you're probably looking at making somewhere around $70k to $140k, all in, even in a consulting role (because the types of firms that recruit are different). Your job prospects are nearly guaranteed from top 10 schools, especially if you target IB and check the boxes for everything you should be doing.
Drop the PE aspirations, they're not obtainable for you post-MBA. Even with considerable finance experience these roles are highly competitive. With zero finance experience they're impossible. Maybe at a more senior level if you make a career in deals but you will be less attractive for MBA programs since they will view you as having unrealistic career goals.
IB and consulting would both be very obtainable for you - but only from top tier schools. The person who slips into Houlihan Lokey from Olin is going to be the person who has spent a few years in corp fin/pwm/some other finance related role and can talk the talk in addition to walk the walk.
At a top 7 ("m7") program, pretty much everyone who recruits for IB will get a role regardless of prior background. You'll need to crunch down on your finance topics first semester of bschool but its in the cards. Similar story for consulting. Not everyone who recruits for consulting gets an offer, but an unusual background can be a plus there.
*Working at a top strategy firm (MBB, Deloitte, ATK, LEK, Strategy&, Parthenon, OW, etc) and obtaining experience on commercial due diligence projects. These are 2-3 week projects doing market/customer diligence for M&A deals. Bain is the market leader. Mck & BCG are both strong as well. Parthenon and LEK both do a ton of these projects (known as DD's). Strategy& has a dedicated Deals Strategy practice out of MBA. The other firms all participate. Other consulting firms also do this work but on a lesser scale or they tend to specialize in an industry. Exit ops consist of all normal consulting exits plus potentially buy side roles (due to specialty in analyzing markets) or corporate M&A groups.
*Working at a consulting firm in their M&A integration teams - big 4 all do a ton of work here (EY, PwC (outside Strategy&), Deloitte, KPMG). The focus here will be on longer term projects in human capital (who do we hire/who do we layoff), supply chain/distribution integration, technology (what systems do we keep, upgrade, remove), etc. Usually you'll end up with a specialty in the space. Exits ops include all normal consulting exits plus corporate M&A groups and very rarely investment funds - depends on the level of operational expertise and whether the fund has a need for that expertise.
The firms all listed recruit almost solely from top 20 b-schools for the best groups and take about twice as many from MBA business schools ">M7 schools as the others.
5 years out of a top program, starting as a consultant or banker, you can expect total all-in comp of anywhere from $150-200k (if you are 'counseled out' aka fired after your first year or two in consulting and end up in a corporate role) to $500k+ (very obtainable if you make your VP promotion on time in IB).
Your nationality will not hurt you at all in IB or consulting.
I'd be more worried about whether you can get in to a top school than whether you should attend. Most Indian engineers are IIT etc - did you go to a comparable program? If not, I'd again revise your career expectations regarding PE/M&A.
These comments are well verifiable by perusing the rest of this site and little here would be considered controversial. I'd either revise your career expectations for post-MBA or shift your mindset to understand that taking out a mortgage in student loans is not only doable but highly feasible if you end up pursuing the career paths you seem interested in.
If you don't get in to or are not willing to attend a top 20, then for finance roles you'll be looking at regional firms for considerably less pay. Available consulting roles will be divisional/operational/tech oriented roles that are more based on implementation or pretty much outsourced staffing on a potentially multi-year basis rather than what you are probably think of as 'strategy' roles.
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