Yes, part-time programs at the top schools can work for IB roles, but the internship timing will be tricky because you’ll have to leave your other role early or somehow take off a few months to do an internship. It happens, but it’s not always easy to request that.

You can probably find Associates from roughly the top ~20 MBA programs in Chicago, but the M7 place the most. It is still worth applying to places like U Michigan as a backup plan.

You’re in an awkward position then because banks usually hire Analysts out of MFin programs and Associates out of MBA programs… so they might not know what to do with you. I think it would depend on how much total experience you have.

What about an non target MBA, and then a MFin in a prestiogious university?
It still add value?

Thanks

It tends to be very difficult to switch firms at the Associate level after completing an internship because almost anyone who gets a return offer accepts it. So some combination of luck, under-hiring, intern under-performance, and networking is required. In most cases, you will have a much higher chance of switching firms if you target lateral roles at the EB banks once you’ve won a full-time return offer at the BB and started working there.

If you don’t want to do that, your best bet is to develop 5-10 solid contacts at the EBs you’re interested in, speak with each one a few times, keep them updated over the summer, and ask them about possible openings midway through.

You normally want 2-3 years of experience pre-MBA. In this case, the best option is probably to get something closer to IB/PE and do it for 1-2 years before business school, or if that does not work out, try to get a pre-MBA internship in one of those areas (small PE/VC firm or something else like that). IR is not necessarily “bad” for winning IB roles out of an MBA, but your chances would be higher with something deal-related before the MBA begins.

It doesn’t. This article assumes that you gain some amount of full-time work experience and then complete either a full-time or part-time/evening/weekend MBA program and use that to get into IB.

For 3/2 MBA programs, you’re in a bit of an awkward position because banks usually do not hire Associates who lack full-time work experience after undergrad. I haven’t researched IB recruiting out of these programs, so cannot give you a definitive answer, but I believe they would probably bring you in as an Analyst because it would be similar to a pre-experience Master’s program in their eyes.