Why are you working for a boutique instead of a BB? If you can land a solid boutique in either US/Hong Kong, landing a BB firm shouldn't be that much harder.

1) At the BB's at least, all analysts and associates in Hong Kong are trained in New York 2) Pay is higher in Hong Kong at least than NY, not lower

Also, if you're interested in learning more about China, I suggest working in Hong Kong. HK for the foreseeable future will remain the primary gateway of FDI into China. The HKSE recently started allowing RMB-denominated listings, which will increase IPO activity even more from mainland firms. Last year, HKSE/China IPO's accounted for 60% of the equity market IPO activity (versus ¬30% in the US).

If you manage to work at a BB in HK, getting into a M7 MBA in the US is all but a done deal. The same cannot be said for the analyst in the US.

The question is this - do you really think after working in IB --> PE --> MBA (¬6 years), you'll be around 28, you'll have the guts to move to Asia when all your network/family/potential-significant other are all in the US? Nothing wrong with that, but if you're heart is truly on Asia, I suggest taking the opportunity to work where you want to work.

Same advice someone gave me... we're only in our very early 20's... if there's any time in life we can afford to take some risks and explore the world and ourselves, it's now.

Yes, I would donate my organs for a BB gig :-) But since my background is non-finance (hard science), only boutiques will take a chance on me; BB's just have more than enough accounting/finance applicants from targets. Perhaps after IB boutique experience, alums at BB will take me more seriously.

Sounds like the safest approach is American (or even HK) boutique IB for 1-2 years, then Mainland China. That way, I am still going there early in my career, and have the solid American IB experience to lend credibility and to fall back on in case things go south in China.

It seems OP wants to get an MBA. If so, it doesn't matter one way or the other

Very true, I need the MBA for re-branding given my wrong UG major. Chinese firms, even more so than US firms, seem to really respect top US MBA.

Here's the thing though, if you're Chinese, which I am assuming you are...then having Chinese IB experience means you'll be competing with a zillion other Qinghua's and Beida's that have all kinds of China experience that will then be trying to flock to all the top MBA's. Getting that western IB experience will help you stand out from the crowd a little.

If you happen to be a westerner, then the exact oppossite is true, and you may want to go the China route. It doesn't really make any sense from the perspective of what you may learn or what experience you may gain. It's simply the way an adcom will see you when they review your resume. That's the game.

Here's another component to consider - there are roughly 1000 or so new bulge-bracket investment banking analysts a year, and another couple of hundred elite boutiques. Throw into the mix a low couple of hundred middle-market PE analysts that may also apply for US MBA's and I'm not sure what distinction an IB analyst has if any.

On the other hand, I'm sure the number of analysts applying from China/HK will total less than 50 in any given year (HK BB's only have ~15-20 analysts per class).

You're US educated - so it's entirely conceivable that you can portray yourself as either an ABC or a nationalized American. In either case, you can portray yourself to the adcom as a "westerner" with chinese-heritage seeking a risk-taking new experience in the frontiers of China. That story, IMO, is much more compelling than being an excel-monkey...

All very insightful advice here. I should clarify: I am an US citizen with Chinese heritage, it's just that I have been maintaining my Chinese reading and writing abilities over the years. And yes, I am tailoring my pre-MBA career for MBA admissions, therefore I want work experience that will be more interesting than other B-school applicants.

Other than Mandarin fluency, I am culturally American, so heading to China will definitely be a risk-taking experience. I hear that top MBA programs like American applicants with substantial Chinese work experience.

I'd say start off with a year or two in finance in the U.S... as a native Mandarin Speaker from a solid school in the U.S. (with excellent english language skills) and experience in banking in the U.S., you're going to find it very easy to find a finance gig in China in the future. You don't want to start at a boutique in China because the pay will be close to zero --- generally they don't have global pay like the BBs. If you do have global pay I'd say go to china and live like a king (I know about this from experience), but if not I'd say stay in the states for a bit and then come over as a senior analyst / associate in a PE gig or at a BB (which shouldn't be hard with your background).