Pre-MBA summer plans

I am a consultant at a high end management consulting firm who will be entering a top-mid tier MBA program in the Fall (possibly a Booth but most likely a Darden or a Stern). I would like to use the degree to find a job in IBD.

 I am interested in doing something this summer to increase my odds of landing a good internship next year. I have strong quantitative skills (math/accounting) but I don't have any financial modeling experience. Do you guys have any recommendations for me?

 

Having gone to one of the schools you mentioned and working in ibd now, I would highly recommend that you take the time and travel or do something else you enjoy and find personally fulfilling. Nothing you do during that time will really increase the likelihood of getting an internship offer IMO. All of those schools will more than adequately prepare you for the technical part of internship interviews.

 

when i got an internship i had no prior experience and wasn't about to waste my time doing summer work for free. the key is get into a top program. the ones you mentioned are fine. not sure about darden though

 

Thank you all for your comments. Sounds like I should spend some time this summer at the beach enjoying the quiet before the storm. I have trouble doing absolutely nothing for an extended period of time, so maybe I'll take a modeling class or something to keep my mind busy.

Thanks again.

 
Best Response
mdk6c:
Thank you all for your comments. Sounds like I should spend some time this summer at the beach enjoying the quiet before the storm. I have trouble doing absolutely nothing for an extended period of time, so maybe I'll take a modeling class or something to keep my mind busy.

Thanks again.

An internship isn't going to hurt, but the addition value vs. the marginal cost is what you have to determine.

If it's hard to just sit around, take up a hobby. I got certified as an open water diver a few years ago and plan to put that to use the summer before I start b-school (assuming I don't change plans, etc.). Probably one of the coolest things I've done and is literally a way to disconnect from the outside world...if you want.

You can go to resorts and dive one time on your whole trip or you can go on dive trips were you stay on a boat for a week and dive several times a day the entire time...so it's a very 'varied' hobby. You can be in the Caribbean or in an ocean or a lake or a quarry or near one of the poles. You can dive with manatees, sharks, corals, whales or on wrecks..you have lots of choices.

You should check out my dive shop...

Just kidding.

It is a fun time though. While I typically subscribe to working a little harder to get a little further ahead, at some point you have to stop the insanity. Unless there is a very specific group at a specific bank you are trying to get into, you will have enough options at a good quality school to not to have to worry about it. Just think about day 1 when you are meeting your classmates/teammates and everyone is talking about hiking some mountain or white water rafting some river or jumping out of an airplane and you get to chime in with, "I made some sweet pitchbooks and worked late but they will probably ask me to work again next summer too!!"

Also consider that even if you did a pre-MBA internship and they liked you and asked you to come back the following summer, that still doesn't guarantee you a FT spot there after graduation, in addition to that follow-on summer offer could always fall through...so you will likely still be recruiting at all of the events and putting back-up plans into place. So you will essentially be in the same boat as everyone else, minus a great summer. Just things to consider.

Best of luck.

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 

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