An MBA is rarely “required” for any role in finance unless you are making a career change into the role. If you start out in a role, you hardly ever need an MBA to advance in most cases.

You can do a normal Master’s degree right out of undergrad without full-time work experience, but you’ll be set up for somewhat different roles that explicitly don’t want or require FT work experience.

I don’t think you can do that without also doing a degree in the US or UK because you won’t have permission to work in either country. Yes, it’s a bit easier in the UK, but you’d still be much better off if you did a top Master’s in Finance degree there and used that to apply for internships in the country. In general, banks do not hire people from completely different regions right out of undergrad.

Thank You.

If your goal is to work in the US, yes, a top MBA or Master’s degree in the US is your best option because you’ll run into obstacles getting a work visa if you just apply for roles there from your current job. Transferring internally and then searching might be an option, but I don’t know how easy/difficult it is to switch regions (some firms don’t want to bother with the visa process).

At this stage, it’s hard to say if you should do an MBA or Master’s, but since you have Big 4 M&A experience, you could probably get away with a top Master’s in Finance degree (1-year program).

You could do the MSF in Europe, but it won’t really help with transferring to the US – bankers have some awareness of top European schools, but most EU programs are geared toward working in those countries or in London.

I would really appreciate some guidance on this topic: I’m from LATAM and graduated in Engineering in Management science, I’m currently working in the M&A department for a Big 4 (2YEO) I want to break into high finance (IB, PE or Hedgefunds) and work in the US. I was wondering if the only route for me is to get into a top business school and getting a MSc. In finance or a MBA (1. Which would it be?), salaries over here are not good at all to afford studying in the US but I could figure something out maybe for Fall 2025, Or the other possibility is to study in Europe at places also widely known such as HEC Paris, ESSEC, IE Spain because I can afford those more comfortably, the thing is that I don’t know how valuable are these masters at those schools to work (my main goal) in the US (2. Would it be worth it?).

I’ve read The Banker Bluprint, I’m obsessed with your content, thanks in advance!!!

If your Master’s finishes before the summer of 2025, you would have to apply to full-time roles. But in the UK, plenty of people do off-cycle internships repeatedly until they win full-time offers at banks, which is one option here unless you can somehow extend the Master’s degree. If you don’t have previous finance experience, you will probably need to get some first to be competitive for IB internships (even off-cycle ones or at smaller firms).

I have recently been admited to a top finance master’s program in the UK and will be starting this September 2024. I have been working in tech (*software engineer) from 2022 since my graduation from a Computer Science degree from a semi-target in the UK. Will I be eligible to apply for IB summer internship roles for 2025 after my master’s since I don’t have prior IB experience or can I only apply to full graduate roles?

Thanks!

I think it will be tough to use the degree effectively in this case. The best thing you can do is get some relevant experience, even if it’s not at an official bank (any corporate finance, lending, or investing role would work), and maybe think about off-cycle internships in the U.K. (not sure how visa/work permissions would work if you do it before the degree begins).

I don’t think the CFA would help offset a lack of work experience, but it might help a bit with your GPA. If you can’t find any front-office roles in India, even something in the middle office, such as market or credit risk, might work.

Another option might be to forget about IB for now, aim for something less competitive (corporate banking, Big 4, credit rating agency, etc.) and use that experience to move in as a lateral hire eventually.

I think it would be a stretch to complete a summer internship ~2 years after you graduated from university. But in the U.K., you can also do off-cycle internships outside the summer, so one of those is probably a better option in this case. You don’t necessarily “need” an internship before the degree begins, but it does boost your chances (as the Big 4 consulting internship + engineering experience may not be quite enough).

I would not recommend deferring your program. If you want to get more experience before it begins, look for off-cycle internships at small PE firms and banks between now and September. It takes some effort (cold calling/emailing), but it is doable:

https://mergersandinquisitions.com/off-cycle-investment-banking-internship/
https://mergersandinquisitions.com/private-equity-internship-to-investment-banking-networking/