I am a sophomore in Finance and was wondering is it better to try and get an Analyst position in IB right out of college or to get an MBA and go for an Associate position. Pretty much what I am asking is how far does experience get you.
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Analyst right out of college.
from what i understand MBA associate recruiting is for people with substantial work experience. so you can't just get an MBA right out of college and go straight into an associate position. if it worked that way everyone would do it
Going straight to MBA is both difficult and probably not your best strategy (can't really get a job post-MBA without previous work experience). Without a doubt it's going to be analyst right out of college.
Besides the above being true that going for an MBA straight out of undergrad with near zero work experience is very difficult, an MBA is a degree that you will most benefit from if you already have solid work experience this way you can both learn from the class and contribute to it as well. Many things will probably go over your head and you won't be able to bring nearly as much to the table in terms of networking, etc without work experience. I would absolutely go for the analyst position and give it your all. You can take the GMAT as a fallback before starting the analyst program (it is good for 5 years), and take on some leadership opps during college. If you need to, and still want to, you should be pretty well groomed for an MBA, if you get a direct promote, move into P/E, etc - you may not need it.
become an associate like this guy?
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jedcairo
Having some unique firsthand, insight on this, I would definitely say go in as an Analyst, rather than jumping straight to MBA. Here's my story. Graduated from non-target biz undergrad (Finance and Marketing Major) with 4.0 GPA, 760 GMAT, passed level I CFA and had 1.5 years working 25-30 hrs a week at a large asset manager during school (~$220bn in AUM). Was on the marketing/sales/client service side rather than on the investment side. just the same it did give me good exposure to the industry and i can talk at decent length on some projects I took on. Managed to get into a top 15 school (top 10 for finance) eg (Haas, Stern, Anderson, Tuck, Sloan), and have been participating in banking recruiting for the past 4 months. While bankers clearly see that I work hard and have the requisite intelligence to do the job, they certainly have reservations, particularly in the BB. The biggest problem is that without solid full-time experience, it is very difficult to sell that I would be able to "manage up and down" as an associate is required to do (direct analysts, manage the necessary processes and take direction from VPs, etc.) I will be hearing back shortly in terms of what interview lists I got on. Assuming you would take on substantial debt to attend a b-school program, I'd really like to stress what a big gamble it is. (Unless you happen to be from a well-off family and money isn't a concern. Sadly, that's not me)
Overall I am reassessing my situation, and if I cannot land a summer associate position, I am strongly considering finishing my first year of b-school and trying to get a summer analyst position, then parlay that into a full-time analyst position and then finish an analyst position before finishing b-school. (Top choices for analyst role would be HLHZ restructuring or Moelis) Because of the fact that my school is a target school for many of the banks, I have made good contacts, and from a social aspect, bankers to like me. (Don't underestimate the importance of fit/social skills in the whole process. There are plenty of very smart people going through recruiting in my school with me who are shooting themselves in the foot bc 1. They are just plain awkward or 2. Their English is not good enough to ever be put in front of a client)
I'd appreciate any feedback, and would stress again to wannabeonwallstreet that even if you can pull off getting into a good school, I'd stick with the analyst role for now.
Most top MBA programs will not take undergrads straight out of college.
You need to work an absolute minimum of two years to even be considered for a top MBA program.
Even so, check out Harvard 2 plus 2 program if you are a humanities/science/engineering major.
I appreciate all of the feedback, this was a question I was wondering about since I found this very informative website. In my particular situation, i attend a non-target and really want to break into investment banking. I have filled out applications for all the major BBs, even though its a long shot. And also to some boutiques, and other financial service firms. I know that i might not get the internship I want because this is my Sophomore year, but i did receive a phone call from State Street bank, would this look good on a resume, when applying to a major boutique or a BB. I am just looking for experience right now...i really want to learn as much as I can to put myself in the best possible to land an analyst job on wall street after I graduate. Any suggestions, thoughts, feedback would be great appreciated....thanks!
Harvard takes undergrads straight if you wanna do that
That Jed Cairo guy's pretty awesome
if you think his linkedin profile is awesome, you should see his ball sack!
That son of a bitch said he hadn't shown it to anyone else! Jed Cairo, you slick bastard!
update: I did come out of the recruiting process with several interviews for summer associate internships, so apparently they don't completely rule you out. Also, just a note that I have a friend who came straight from undergrad to law school, then did a joint JD/MBA (at a target school) After 3 years of the 4 year program (which means he had completed the 1st year of MBA work) he got a BB summer associate offer and successfully turned that into a full-time offer. So it is possible if you can get a summer position and perform. I'm sure the JD helps out, but I would think only marginally, as he wasn't in anything like a restructuring role, where I would presume it would help out much more.
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