DealMaven versus Wall Street Prep (comparing financial training solutions)

Hi everyone,

So I know a bunch of people on this board have questioned whether DealMaven, Wall Street Prep or Training the Street (TTS) is better. Having seen the TTS material through a close friend of mine, I think that the program is best suited for liberal arts candidates who have no finance background. The materials are excellent as an academic review of basic finance or accounting, but do not really help with modeling skills. I took a bunch of accounting and corporate finance electives at my university (and counted the credits towards my econ major), so I found the program of little value. So, for me, the decision boiled down to DealMaven or Wall Street Prep. I actually took the (expensive) decision to do both, so here's my take. In my job, I'm frequently building all kinds of models (Accretion/dilution, LBO, M&A) so I check back to these materials frequently. Of course, your background may differ from mine.

Admin Update: this thread (and packages) are old --> WSO now offers financial modeling courses - click on Courses menu up top to learn more

DealMaven:
Pros
- Offers a lot of guidance into Excel shortcuts which is highly useful
- Assumes a very basic understanding of finance and accounting (useful for lib. arts grads)
- Offers a great overview of all kinds of different modeling, which is very easy to understand and learn

Cons
- Material expires after 3 months which is annoying because I need to refer back to the material for work/interviews
- Excel formatting guidance is questionable, at best
- Can be a little slow at times, especially if you already know the basics of finance
- Program crashes frequently if running on a slow computer

Wall Street Prep
Pros
- Excel formatting guidance is in line with "industry practices"
- Having materials on paper (i.e. course not delivered online like DealMaven)is way more convenient and less straining on eyes
- Offers a great overview of all kinds of different modeling, which is very easy to understand and learn

Cons
- Assumes basic knowledge of finance and accounting (lib. arts grads may have trouble here)

I personally thought Wall Street Prep is the way to go, especially since I have a basic understanding of finance and accounting already. Also, I found learning something delivered through an online course very difficult to accomplish. I like having my materials on paper because I find myself less distracted. But in terms of overall learning, I really think the outcome from both the courses is the same. I just think you get the upper hand with Wall Street Prep because of their industry standard formatting and you get to keep the materials for future questions/reference.

 
Best Response
  1. How is DealMaven presented online? Html, flash, video?

  2. Can you print the webpages (and therefore create a PDF of everything)? Or is it very interactive where printing won't help?

  3. Can you give an example of how DM's "excel formatting guidance is questionable, at best"?

  4. Did you do both DM knowledge base I and II? What about WSP: premium or basic package?

Thanks very much for the info, very valuable

It just seems to me (not that I know anything) that FactSet/DealMaven would be more well known than WSP, as the certification is only a small part of their product line. Also, the name "Wall Street Prep" seems a bit amateurish... at least that's what I thought when I first read the name. for some reason "DealMaven Certification" sounds more "professional"... as we all know, it's all about the presentation.

 

Is completing a program like Wall Street Prep or DealMaven really necessary if you are going in to banking? It was my understanding that most of the modeling/excel/accounting/finance work you do as an analyst you learn on the job. Personally, I am a finance/accounting double-major so I'm not as concerned with learning that before I start as a summer analyst, but how necessary is it to know the modeling that you learn in one of these programs prior to starting the job?

 

thats true, why do you guys think senior bankers know so little about the technicals/modeling? Is it because at the MD level its been so long since they were excel monkeys, so they just simply forgot? Or maybe the standards of getting into the business were easier back when they were starting out?

 

Ok, TTS Does NOT teach MS & GS. I was an analyst at MS, and AMT did all training programs. It COULD be that TTS did the incoming interns, but this was a few years ago, and I think MS had since cut out intern training.

So that's it. Anyone that tells you otherwise they're lying(and I know TTS says they do it, but I am proof that they don't)

 

thanks for the posts guys..

im going to get back to the DealMaven vs WSP thing again..

i agree that a 3 month course could be frustrating in the sense that you cant refer to the material later on..which i believe is very important..

however one can buy the liftime subscription to offset this..it costs 599 bucks (student)

as for WSP, one can add on the excel tips and tricks course for an additional 39 bucks making the entire package worth 538..

in light of this , and as a brand , which training is more well recieved at the BB firms?

thanks

cheers

 

After carefully reviewing the content of many service providers, I finally registered for Wallstreet prep. It is the best - hands down! WSP's content is clearly more applicable when it comes to being interviewed or even in the industry. I doubt it adds any value to the CV though, or certification from any other service provider.

 

Is anyone interested in Training The Street's five day training program in New York from August 17th thru the 21st OR Sept. 21st thru the 25th? The five days typically cost $5,000 if you register early but they now have a 2 for the price of 1 deal - hence $2,500 each which puts it closer in price to some of the other programs out there. However, both parties have to register at the same time.

 

actual analyst training..u know, the nights where its 5am Monday morning (Sunday Night) and your dumbass is trying to figure out why it takes one hour to save the file and why Excel keeps recalculating the tables and why it keeps #REF'ing out everytime you delete a row and then hit CTRL + Z.

nothing beats this.


I'm making it up as I go along.

------------ I'm making it up as I go along.
 

does analyst training teach you the ins and outs of excel? I do not have a good understanding of excel and I'm wondering where to pick it you. Do I do it on my own or will I be trained?

 

BACK FROM THE DEAD

Hey forum,

So i'm reading this thread and I'm kinda torn over what program to pick for financial training.

I'm a level 2 candidate and just took the level 2 exam. I have all the theory down, but I would love to be able to take this theory and apply it to real world applications. I'm an engineer by day and would love to learn how to properly forecast, model possible M&A deals, LBOs, etc.

All these courses you guys have posted is great and the course on the wallstreetoasis site looks legit to but which one is good? When I read all the financial jargon, I totally understand it. I understand WACC, FCFF, enterprise value, etc. I understand relative valuation and absolute valuation, I just want something that can teach me how to take the financial statement analysis I've learned, pick the information from the statements and properly value a company and or model corporate transactions.

I love how the wallstreetoasis one performs a fake M&A between YHOO-MSFT. That's awesome cuz that's some real world stuff right there.

ANy suggestions guys?..TIA!!

 

I went through Deal Maven and I thought it was pretty comprehensive. It teaches you the basics and, from what I understand, how things will be done on the job. It is a good synthesis for all the concepts you learned in finance courses and its a good introduction to using excel more efficiently. The case study in the end was good because it even built in a few mistakes that you might encounter on the job and they require you to catch them. I can't speak for Analyst Exchange or Wall Street Prep but I would recommend Deal Maven.

 

WSP has a 3 month vs 2 yr license to access the info, if you only want to do the course to learn, not as long-term guidance, you can do the 3 month license and pay 399 over 499 or 599. Plus you might email them and ask for student rates, sometimes they have them (by them I mean this for both WSP and DM).

 

I'm doing WSP now, the full program, even though I'm not done yet, based on how long it has taken me, I would say 60 - 70 hrs is more than enough. However, I am proficient in excel and can navigate well, so if you lack this skill I would add some hours for just simply the time factor in building out all the models.

 

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