<p>I am about to graduate as a History major from an excellent private liberal arts school with a 3.3 g.p.a. I have decided that I want to go into investment banking. </p>
<p>I want to get accepted into a top 10 M.B.A. program. In order to do this, I am going to need 2-4 years work experience as an analyst in a leading investment bank. </p>
<p>The problem is going to be getting hired as an analyst at a leading investment bank with my major, g.p.a., and small (but highly ranked...in Forbes, at least) school.</p>
<p>So...what should I do? Should I get a M.S. in Finance before hitting the job market?</p>
<p>I’m not in investment banking nor am I really qualified to give you advice but from what I’ve learned from my friends and brother who are, you have an extremely difficult and uphill battle in front of you.</p>
<p>low gpa in an easy major from a non target school with no mentioned relevant work experience is going to make things tough. I won’t say the ship has sailed with you left behind on the docks because anything is possible, but your chances aren’t good.</p>
<p>I’ll defer to the forum experts who know more.</p>
<p>I think you should maybe re-evaluate this statement:</p>
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<p>I think there are many, many paths to a top MBA degree that are not through the one very specific one you mentioned. </p>
<p>Not to say you should “give up” on it necessarily, but just that you should be open-minded to other life paths. The one you mentioned involves working at one of maybe 10 firms each hiring only a few hundred people annually, out of millions of graduating seniors, yet many besides those who follow this route end up in good MBA programs (and not even everyone who DOES follow this route ends up in good MBA programs).</p>