<p>how do MBA admissions look at prospectives from the smaller investment banks (ie. houlihan lokey, lazard, jefferies, etc)?</p>
<p>would you say it's harder to get into a top MBA program?</p>
<p>I wouldn't really say it's any harder to get into a top 10 MBA school from one of those banks than from a bulge-bracket one. It's just that, in general, the more impressive, more accomplished candidates were more likely to be drawn to Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merill Lynch, Citigroup in the first place. Whether you're coming out of UBS or Jeffries, you still need to do well on the GMAT and produce effective essays showing why you want the degree. Given comparable school, GPA, GMAT, would think the applicant out of Lazard who writes better essays is going to have an advantage over the guy from Credit Suisse who doesn't write as persuasive essays (considering they effectively have the same work experience), all other things equal (which they never are).</p>
<p>plus you don't want to be applying from the financial sector this year - if that's what you're doing. i'd work another year and then apply, if you have that option.</p>
<p>^ ditto that. Admission committees will be looking at bankers as a dime a dozen...like tech guys from India.</p>
<p>"how do MBA admissions look at prospectives from the smaller investment banks (ie. houlihan lokey, lazard, jefferies, etc)?'</p>
<p>Lazard and Jefferies are as prestigious as bulge-brackets.</p>