<p>To go straight to an Associate at a IB, you generally need an MBA. To go straight into being at the consultant position at a MC firm, you generally need an MBA. For analyst positions in both firms, you can do straight from UG, but for the little higher up position, you need an MBA. </p>
<p>My question is, suppose someone gets an MBA and goes to being a consultant at a MC firm. Suppose later he decides he doesn't want to become a consultant and wants to become an associate at a IB firm. Does he need another MBA specializing in something else? Or is he still good to go? </p>
<p>To put it short, I'm basically asking, how broad is a certain MBA degree? Can 1 MBA degree open opportunities in multiple positions requiring MBA degrees? Or are they industry specific?</p>
<p>All MBA’s are the same. No one gets more than 1. You can have concentrations but they mean little more than extra study and a little more depth of knowledge about a functional area. The MBA is not as rigorous as the UG Business equivalents and no where near the MS degrees.</p>
<p>Ex: MBA with a Finance Certificate (or a concentration in finance) has little to do with what you learn as a Finance Undergrad. One is analysis, the other is management and decision making based off of analyst reports.</p>
<p>The MSF Masters of Science in Finance is even more rigorous and deals with analysis and theory. It may involve research and testing of theories. Those guys are Quants like guys in MS Financial Engineering, Actuaries, MS Math, etc. They’re not likely to know how to run a business like the MBA’s or the BBA’s.</p>
<p>DBA, and PhD’s in business are all about research and teaching. Some are practicing business people but not all. In the business school MBA’s with a lot of experience (and high GPA’s) can become adjunct professors with out getting a doctorate. So those that pursue the PhD really love research, teaching, and theory.</p>
<p>So you are saying with the same MBA (with a concentration in say Finance)</p>
<p>You can go to an Associate position in IB. And then 5 years later, go to a consultant position (that requires MBA) in consulting?</p>
<p>Yes, you can do that, or you could do the opposite, or something completely different. As long as you’re more competent or can sell yourself better than the other MBA looking at the same job.</p>
<p>An MBA is a terminal degree which means nothing else follows. No one gets more than 1 MBA. You would look ridiculous if you told people you had 2. They’d think there’s something wrong with you. </p>
<p>You can get other masters degrees but the MBA is IT for business. Just like they only get one JD for law. The LLM is just a vanity degree. Most law professors are just JD’s. The LLM show’s you specialize in something but an LLM in tax does not preclude you from practicing criminal law. It doesn’t necessarily make you better for criminal law either (white collar crimes like tax evasion or securities fraud). </p>
<p>What makes you better in business and in law is your experience and your competence. Possibly your continence but if you’re making people money that could be over looked. ;)</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>That was good to know.</p>
<p>Consider also that the longer you stray from b-school, the harder it will be to jump into a career at many of the name firms. For example, the Bain/BCG/McK types generally focus their recruiting on graduate schools (business, law, other advanced degrees), with very little focus on experienced hires. Similarly, it’s hard to imagine how your work as a consultant will allow you to jump in as a VP at some bulge-bracket bank. While I’m sure it’s happened (after all, nothing’s impossible, right??), it strikes me as less likely from what I’ve heard from my friends in IB.</p>
<p>Where you could be successful is trying to transition to a smaller, more entrepreneurial firm. My experience is mainly in consulting (a smaller, boutique type firm and also one of the “big three”), and I’ve seen people with more unlikely backgrounds (past marketer, banker, etc.) join the small firm mid-stream, whereas I didn’t really see that at the bigger firm.</p>
<p>With that said, consider the internship a great opportunity to test-drive one of these careers. It’s generally better to try IB in the summer, if that’s what you may want, as the full-time recruiting is extremely limited and firms tend to want people who want IB above all else. On the other hand, consulting recruiting is pretty sizable for both internship and FT opportunities, so it’s okay to come back to it for FT.</p>