| Topic Name: |
AF Officer Transition To IBank |
| Message Name: |
Next step.. |
| Date Posted: |
02/28/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
This is a long message, sorry. I've posted on Craigslist, BWeek forums, and elsewhere; just trying to get some answers.
I'm just about at the end of my four year commissioning commitment to the Air Force. I've always mentally wanted to go back to one of the bulge bracket firms in Investment Banking/Private Equity preferably in New York or London... My educational background is a 3.7+ GPA double major in logistics and economics with honors from a Big Ten school. I also have minors in political science and international business. I studied abroad in an economics exchange at a top UK school my junior year of college. I have yet to actually take the GMAT, but my background is very math intensive so the quant section should be a breeze, and with some studying I should be able to swing around a 700 (For any comparative purposes I got a high 1300s on my SATs).
My officer specialty was in finance/cost analysis, though I know the remarkably different sort than that which financial firms look for. Basically I was analyzing the cost effectiveness of major air force acquisition projects and helping to determine a decision whether or not to buy/continue/not buy/cancel contracts with major companies. I have also worked in the (similar to) 'corporate finance' side in which I analyze budgets for a large section of bases at a time, and my input gets directly tied into Base Realignment and Closure Decisions, Recruiting Goals, Pay Table Increases, etc. I have significant management experience of over 100 people at a time by age 25... Finally, I have been deployed to such places as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, and am conversational in Arabic as well as Spanish.
I've read all the books (Liar's Poker, GS Monkey Business, When Genius Failed, The Intelligent Investor, The Aggressive Conservative Investor, some of the derivative math books, etc.) and am constantly researching on the Vault webpage and Businessweek forums. I also have college buddies who work on Wall Street for contacts, but are primarily in Private Client Groups and Back Office Finance. I'm wondering, with this kind of background, do I absolutely HAVE to go to MBA school to make it even as an analyst with one of these firms? Could I apply cold via the "experienced hires" section of most of the banks' websites? Could I apply as an undergraduate analyst and hope to excel relative to the other newbies fresh out of school? Or would I be better suited to going to the (what I might consider unnecessary schooling) MBA program that would set me up for the networking leading to an associate position? My choices would be Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, UPenn, Columbia, NYU, UPenn, and Tuck.
Any advice is appreciated. |
| Message: |
If you can get any job, paid or unpaid in an investment bank doing something that interests you, then take it. Once you get your foot in the door, you can make efforts to meet the right people and generally will not need to go back for an MBA. If you can't get a job through contacts, then maybe you will need an MBA to get a job. Although there are exceptions, pretty much the only way to get a job is through connections. Sending emails, applying online, headhunters doesn't work unless you have specialized experience. You need to meet the right people. I suggest going to confereneces that specialize in an area that you are interested in and familiar with and get phone numbers and be aggresssive. Or, contact family...
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