Very important “but”.
In the days that my “vintage” of senior banking executives went through our training programs it was the typical progression.
We would be hired into rotational 2 year analyst programs that would include a brief structured in house series of primers on credit, accounting, etc. After the two years you were expected to leave and get an MBA and return as a newly minted associate post graduate work. 3-4 years later you were up for VP and the timeline was fairly structured for future consideration.
That has changed. Far fewer kids leave to pursue MBAs, the in house training is much more extensive and often includes external resources, CFA is an option depending on role, the best analyst are actively recruited to stay on in their roles.
So an important “but” if discussing undergraduates from the 1980s less significant for those who are seeking current advice for their children. Hope this clarifies or please share if your experience is different.
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I might be off base here, but I believe the point of this AMA is to assist younger users on their path. So I am unclear why multiple adult users firmly ensconced in their careers feel that this is the appropriate thread to debate.
To be clear, it’s not, so I’d ask these users to comply with ToS and desist.
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To reinforce @skieurope’s point, this thread is meant for users to engage with and ask @Catcherinthetoast questions about banking. If anyone else is interested in hosting a similar AMA thread in which to share their knowledge and help aspiring professionals, please let me know. We can work together to make that happen.
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Every generation develops a distinctive career path.
When my cohort was coming up in corporate America, the C-suite was filled with military veterans. In many cases, they’d interrupted their education to serve, then came back.
This reflects reality on the ground- not some gigantic plot to favor veterans.
Similarly, the number of senior execs right now with an MBA reflects reality on the ground during THEIR formative years-- when not having an MBA was the exception.
Since 2008, the value of pure business training seems to have gone down in SOME sectors (not claiming all). Which means that the history major from Princeton and the finance major from Villenova bring different skills to the table and some institutions will prefer one over the other. And similarly- the MBA from HBS, Stanford, Wharton and a very short list of “other” schools is sometimes a “nice to have”, sometimes not necessary, and sometimes a negative.
20 years ago if you’d have told me that PE firms would be recruiting I Banking analysts with three weeks experience (seriously… that’s when the PE calendar kicks off… they want relationships with the banking newbies before they’ve even finished on-boarding) I’d have said you were crazy. But there it is.
The explosion in online learning has made it MUCH easier for companies to offer very high quality training to new hires, so undergrad degrees in the relevant discipline becomes less important. They are no longer limited by geography, availability, etc. The top accounting instructor is a retired BYU professor? Great. A couple of senior folks watch a couple of his lectures for quality control, and then someone in L&D reaches out to him to find out his availability in June, July and August for their new class training.
In the old days, you’d be limited to instructors in your own geography-- I remember those retired E&Y partners who made a nice living teaching new banking hires. You’d be propping your eyelids open with toothpicks…
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So is @Catcherinthetoast the only one allowed to respond to the thread? Not sure I understand the rules here.
Certainly from my standpoint happy to have others with experience share that experience. I don’t however want to debate my own experience.
That said I am only a guest on CC.
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Another example of the profile I described is Ted Pick the new CEO of Morgan Stanley who attended Middlebury undergrad and HBS.
None of the current CEOs of the top 4 US CIBs studied business or finance undergrad hailing additionally from Brown, Hamilton, and JHU.
No longer is the MBA (or other advanced degree) considered a requisite but the tradition of seeing humanities undergraduates as having transferable and desirable skills continues while of course top finance undergraduates are also heavily recruited.
One last observation from Morgan Stanley’s succession and it is a very small sample. For those that question the importance of prestige at IBs, the other two finalists for the CEO role had attended Harvard and Wharton as undergraduates.
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Posting this answer from @Catcherinthetoast on another thread…it’s especially important for international students:
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Please note I will be suspending my participation in this thread. I will stay on CC to engage in subject matter I am less familiar with where I seek to express opinions and pure speculation.
Thanks for your understanding.
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Sorry for the brief absence and happy to help anyone with questions.
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Closing at the request of the Original Poster
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