How competitive is IB recruiting in M7 MBA Schools? Is it similar to MBB or harder or easier?
I am hearing that Consulting/Tech are much more preferred out of MBA Schools nowadays. Is that true?
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Depends on the school. Typical “finance” schools (Booth, Wharton, CBS) get a lot of people recruiting for IB but also are core schools everywhere which translates to more opportunity. Would estimate 80-90% place. Would argue it’s more competitive at MIT / Kellogg which are sometimes core, sometimes not depending on bank. Very few recruit from HBS/GSB.
Got it, thank you. I am starting soon at one of the ‘Finance’ schools you mentioned. 80-90 percent - wow, that’s really high! Are these ratios because less people are applying to IB post-MBA? Just for my own curiosity.
I would say a combo. Yes, the number recruiting for IB is less than MBB/consulting. A lot of that is because of what recruiting requires. Its very time intensive vs. consulting where some just resume drop ahead of interviews with little to no networking done. The schools listed are also target schools so they place very well. Look at any top bank and you’ll see more Booth kids than a given non-core. To caveat the 80-90% includes all banks, would still say top banks (MS/GS/JPM/EVR) are pretty competitive. % going to those 4 is probably closer to 20-25% of recruiting class.
Was ~70% placement from my M7 this year (one of Wharton, Booth, Columbia). Definitely not 80-90%.
how was it last year?
How much of the 30% that didn’t place recruit seriously and do everything right yet not get anything?
Was also ~70% from my T15 program this year. The previous year it was about 80%-85%.
M7 “core school” headed to EB this summer. I’ve posted this before, but if you are a non international non diversity male, and you take the process seriously, I estimate you have a 75%+ chance to place at one of the banks recruiting on campus in a normal year (which are entirely BB/EB and some strong MMs). It’s way more random than you think. I know a few sharp and sociable people who struck out at first but networked their way into banks a few weeks after recruiting ended. That estimation assumes that you don’t fuck around and try to recruit for 3 different groups and that you are not a complete weirdo on informational calls/happy hours.
Beyond that, I would prepare yourself for the attitude of “any bank recruiting on campus is a bank I would work at”. The banks recruiting on cycle at the M7s are strong. There is definitely room for you to focus on either BB/EB/MM, but even then it’s expected that you throw your hat into the ring for basically every bank.
At the end of the day it’s a matchmaking process.
+1 on the randomness. It all comes down to networking and you just aren’t going to “click” with some people and that could be the end of your process at a bank. Had to laugh reading the “why would an associate pick BB over EB” thread. Lots of time it isn’t even in your control.
Right? I love how they posed the idea of having that choice as a common issue. I know some who had that choice, but it was very few. I’m talking
How does diversity placement factor into things? do URM (US citizens) have higher placement percentage?
I recruited in a few diversity processes and felt it was just as difficult as normal processes. If anything, the diversity track is more difficult because it is accelerated but you still need to know everything normal processes require....(i.e. technicals, deal pitches)
What is the most unconventional background that you've seen someone have pre-MBA, and then go onto land at a top BB, EB?
I know a woman who went to Yale SOM, strictly humanities nonprofit background --> MS IB (but at one of their less prestigious groups).
Women at any target MBA get shots at virtually every bank and typically place best in their class, regardless of background. Few women do business school, fewer do banking. If you aren’t diversity, compare yourself to white/asian males.
yeah women got all the best offers this year.
I met NUMEROUS women with nonprofit backgrounds and fluffy humanities degrees who were BB associates while networking for summer assoc.
Getting "a" spot from M7 is not that hard but getting a top spot can be extremely competitive. That said, finance focused schools like Booth/Wharton/CBS are obviously the most represented at top banks with alumni pulling for you a lot, so that helps a ton.
Getting a top spot in my view comes down to a combination of:
1. demographics
2. pre-MBA experience
3. soft skills - personality, professionalism, and ability to communicate
4. group preferences - M&A, TMT going to have a lot of spots but also be most sought after
5. preparedness for technicals/quantitative aptitude - a lot of this is correlated though with pre-MBA experience and how well you actually understand what the job is/can talk about deals
6. where you went to MBA (and also probably a little where you went to undergrad/what you studied) - ug maybe more of an unconscious bias and/or just correlation but I I do think they will bias 2 people from the same MBA program just because 1 studied CS at Stanford as an ug and the other studied poli sci at a state school
7. some luck and randomness - you could have been the best fit for Evercore but had food poisoning for your first informational interview and/or you could have no offers but somehow got GS. wayyyyy less randomness than MBB consulting recruiting in my view, as there are still like 6 other things on the list that matter and some are controllable, but still sometimes you have to get lucky
this notion that consulting or tech have more people going for them in raw numbers and therefore must be better jobs is weird logic to me. more people go for consulting because there is literally no barrier to trying it - they did not care what you did pre-MBA, whereas for banking, theoretically anyone can do it, but spinning a convincing "why banking" story when you've never worked in finance, consulting, or something somewhat adjacent is a lot more of an uphill battle. at least in my experience too, the banking students were mostly very competitive students (strong backgrounds, more reliable teammates, higher grades/gmats, etc.) and consulting/tech ran the gambit
also, banking has issues but tech and consulting aren't as sexy as the ppl who pump it make it seem. a post-MBA non-technical person at a tech company is not getting the same opportunities as some wizard computer science major who has been putting together PCs since he was 6 and can write python in his sleep, and getting paid in starwood points to fly to the middle of nowhere monday through thursday to sell a "digital transformation" case is not as sexy as they make you think it is in recruiting.
keep in mind too that a lot of schools also pump their MBB numbers but neglect to mention that they place great into BCG's Dallas office (no offense to Dallas, I'm sure it's nice there). Vast majority of banking jobs are in NYC or Silicon Valley whereas MBB placement is a giant function of geographical preferences. this is at least one reason why the Chicago schools place so well into MBB - my impression is that there is not really significant competition for the Chicago offices from the other M7 schools but having a big chicago office is key to consulting at least in part because you are centrally located to fly anywhere in the country
regardless of any of these points, whether other people are doing it or not shouldn't affect anyone's decision to pursue a career anyway - decide based on what you're good at and cultural/lifestyle fit because they're all pretty different
I'm a 1st year MBA student at Booth/CBS/Wharton, we only had about 65% of banking recruits land offers. From what I was told, this is slightly lower than in typical years. Prob closer to 75-80% in an average year. Honestly 99% of us took the process seriously, so it wasn't due to people fucking off.
Totally agree with earlier posts noting the "randomness" of the process. You'd see people who were landing tons of 1st round interviews get a shitty offer in the end, but you'd also see people who only received two or three 1st round interviews get two great offers. That being said, only a small percentage of us received multiple offers (I'd guess under 10%).
I disagree with the comment earlier stating undergraduate institution has an impact - saw plenty of people who went to mediocre undergrad institutions land top offers, and saw multiple people who attended top 10 undergraduate programs completely strike out. If there is an effect, it's pretty negligible.
If you're a woman and reading this, rest easy. Every single woman at my school landed a top offer. If you're a white/Asian male...may the odds be ever in your favor.
Appreciate the insight into the percentages. What were the numbers like in absolute terms for your class?
Out of curiosity, what offers do those that strike out in banking typically get?
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