Pace University

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@new_era apparently you have no people etiquette, might want to keep your stupid comments to yourself idiot. Apparently if you have any type education (which I seriously doubt) you might want to double check your ROI (return on investment) if any MORON! ONLY SERIOUS POSTS PLEASE!

I will be nice but your chances are very slim. If ur almost 40 u should look elsewhere.

Thanks I appreciate your honesty. I did not know that my age would play a factor. Do you think I should just continue in commercial banking instead? Should I try to obtain my MBA? CFA? Is there a way I could increase my chances? Thanks again.

Sorry but a bank is not going to hire someone in their late 30's for an associate position.

I'm really sorry to say this, but you have a number of factors working against you and If I were you I'd look for a high up post in commercial banking, rather than IB. I don't really see you making a jump into M&A at this point in your career... especially since, even if you somehow did land a job in the field, you'd probably not be in a position to work 100+ hours a week every week for the next 5 years at the age of 37 (maybe you would be... I guess i don't really know).

What kind of test scores to you have? Have you tried a GMAT and do you still have your SAT scores on hand? Perhaps if you had high scores like 780+ on GMAT or 1550+ on SAT you could still consider another path, but if you're not well into the 99th percentile on testing I'd move on and go back into commercial lending or whatever.

If I were you I wouldn't try and get an MBA and then move into i-banking. Unless you could get into a top MBA program, which would be almost impossible with your background, the degree won't help you much at all. All it would do is cost you time and money...

I am out right now, but PM and we can chat. You have no shot at banking, but I wouldn't really care about that now. I think you would be a solid fit for higher up position at a CB. Good salary and perks. Look into teaching some finance classes or something now that you have your masters.

@ Int'l Pymp, thank you for your honesty. I have not taken my GMAT but I was leaning on doing it to try and get in a top MBA school. Can you be more specific about my background. Is it my work experience that would work against me to get in a top MBA school? I know my educational background is not ideal but I thought by having close to a 4.0 GPA in my MSF program and testing high in my GMAT I could get in in a top 15 MBA program. When you say the degree will not help me much at all, are you referring a degree from a top tier school or the degree I am currently finishing? Are you saying because of my age I cannot get into an associate level? What about a VP since that is what most of title positions are in my career in commercial banking. Please advise, thanks.

I don't think you can get into a top 15 MBA program, but maybe you could... I'm certainly not an expert.

What I'll say is that my understanding is this: (1) your age / experience is important for top business schools. They are generally looking for people with 3 to 7 years of experience --- not way more than that. (2) Commercial banking is also not the kind of experience that looks great on an application (at least i don't think it does). (3) while a 4.0 is obviously a good start, pace university is not exactly Princeton or London School of Economics. (4) I'm not sure where you did undergrad and how your grades were, but I'm guessing you didn't go to Harvard and have a 3.9 in biochemistry if you have been working as a commercial banker. (5) I don't know anything about your test scores, so, since I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, I put you in the "way better than average person range", which is about the best I can do for you based on what I know about you those far, and so I assume you'll get a 650 on your GMAT.... which is not close to good enough to get into a top program without great experience.

This is not to say that you getting into a decent MBA/EMBA program is out of the realm of possibility... but when I said you'd have to get into a top MBA to have a chance of switching into M&A (and even then a very slim chance), I meant like Harvard, Wharton, Columbia, Stanford or U-Chicago. These places are very hard to get into - for anyone, even someone who looks very good on paper.

Second to Anthony's take.

It's impossible for you to break into the youth jihad culture of I-Banking. It's not a matter of how good you can be but how better/efficient/open-minded/disciplined you are against all the other hard-driving 20s-fresh-grads/sub 30s-fresh-MBAs. BTW your age put you in the solid league of EMBA.

If I were the interviewer, let's just forget all the technical questions first, I would seriously doubt the motive/drive/competence of yours wanting so much to break into banking. I just can not image few young analysts and associates (or senior associate) can have the gut or will to exchange jokes/complains with someone your age at 3am in the morning.

The work/hour is already horrible, the absence of like-minded peers will kill your career path/bonus review/routin task and make the 100+ work week even more miserable

0.01 % of your rejections will be due to your age. 99.9 % of your rejections will be due to your school brand name. IBs are very unforgiving when it comes to recruiting from lower-ranked schools.