<p>I'm currently a senior in my undergrad and have wanted to pursue a career in investment banking since I can remember. People are constantly drilling the fact of how difficult it is to get into and how competitive it really is. </p>
<p>All that set aside I understand that entry level positions are analysts and after that with an MBA is the associate position. </p>
<p>My question is it easier to break through as an analyst (fresh graduate) or as a masters of finance graduate? Granted I planned on getting a job for a financial firm/bank as an analyst for a couple of years and then apply for a masters program. </p>
<p>Easier to get into IB as an MBA/associate; there’s less top competition as most of those type-a people that wanted to do IB did it out of undergrad and are now aiming for PE/HF/VC firms.</p>
<p>I would recommend against the master’s of finance after working a few years as not a lot of them have good connection to the street and on-campus recruiting - especially if it’s a 1-year program; they place at the Analyst level anyways. You’d be going through FT recruitment not Summer internships and it’s brutal; very few spots opening up right now outside of the hires they make from the summer analyst pool. If you have a couple of years of experience, you can get into an MBA program and get paid more as an associate coming out.</p>
<p>There is also a bias in the U.S. against MFin for analyst-level hiring because it’s not common. Some BB, MM and boutiques won’t even consider someone in a master’s program for campus recruiting. In Europe, it’s a different story, pretty common</p>
<p>Why are you asking this question now? You should have researched it in high school and only apply to IB target schools.
I disagree with the opinion stated above. There are many more positions available as analysts vs associates. The ones with IB experience who apply to MBA schools are those who were not promoted to associates or have not successfully transferred to VC/PE etc. One does not need an MBA to be in VC, PE, HF and being an associate in IB.</p>
<p>I’m with cbreeze on this. It’s generally easier as an undergrad assuming you’ve prepared well and go to a decent school. However, since you’re already a senior, I think you may have to get an MBA.</p>
<p>Think about it, remove all of the top all star students that landed IB/MBB out of undergrad from the MBA applicant pool. You no longer have to compete with them as they are only aiming for PE/VC/HF out of the MBA program not IB. You think it will be harder now to get IB?</p>
<p>hookemhorns, do you have experience with IB?
There are infinitely LESS associate than analyst positions. The banks need lots more cheaper workers (analysts) to do scut work.
You still have to compete with thousands of engineers and other career changers who dream of entering IB like yourself.</p>
<p>1) For every post-mba associate my bank hired, there were 3-4 analysts = signicantly fewer post-MBA positions overall
2) Those associates we hired generally had investment banking experience already (pre-MBA)
3) post-MBA you may not be competing for those aiming at buyside opportunities, but you will be competing with all the other analysts who couldn’t make the jump to PE/VC/HF (and who already have IB experience), as well as all the former engineers/consultants/etc. who are trying to make the jump to IB for the first time.</p>
<p>What if you’re an analyst, but not doing IB? Not really interested in getting my MBA, but what’s the possibility of getting into IB if you’re doing back office work?</p>
<p>Analyst is a generic term for an employee in many fields.
Back office to front office…not to disappoint, but it’s pretty much impossible without further education, like a top MBA.</p>