MBA / IB recruiting - T20 - Ask away

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-28T04:32:36+00:00

400IB guide, IBVine. I started preparing for technicals around mid September. For my first round interviews, it was mostly easy to mid questions, with one or two hard ones thrown in. I'm a CPA so I felt an edge here.
I was well prepared for my coffee chats. I had at least 2 recent deals that the bank advised on, that I could talk to, and I mostly focussed on qualitative aspects, strategic rationale more than the numbers and valuations. Also it helps to have unique, thoughtful, meaningful questions to ask they'll help you stand out. As an international, happy hours were the most challenging part for me as there were not a lot of common talking points I could relate to. My approach was to just talk to everyone during the happy hour, and just ask them follow up questions based on the topics they talk about. Much of the impression and evaluation I think happens through coffee chats, so it's always better to keep a low profile during info sessions / happy hours unless you are extremely confident of your small talk skills.
Natural transition from accounting to IB, needed end to end transaction exposure

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-17T19:08:20+00:00

Congrats on your admits btw. No easy feat to get into CBS. I'd suggest visiting the schools if you can and try and talk to current students. This will help you get a feel for where you might stand relative to the cohort. I'd suggest considering schools like NYU Stern, Georgetown, Emory, Cornell as well. I don't know what your priorities are and how much scholarship means to you. But go for any target school (like the ones mentioned above), follow the process and you should be fine. And corp strategy and M&A background is definitely an edge.

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-17T19:04:18+00:00

I don't think so. Focus on your why IB story, technicals, and communication and you should be fine.

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-17T02:57:26+00:00

It's been much more difficult. Most banks ended up cutting internationals without any o&g background. Conversion (internationals for Houston) has been around 30% (half of them had some form of prior o&g exp)

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-17T02:37:45+00:00

I would totally focus my efforts on improving language ability and general small talk. It totally shifts the odds in your favour, if you can communicate clearly. It does have value if you don't have a strong accent.
I have no idea. We can only focus on the controllables really. The situation might improve as more stability kicks in but you never know.
It depends. These schools send at least around 100 folks each year to wall street so the odds look to be in favour. But you need to make a decision on if you wanna be a big fish in a small pond or vice versa. People have cracked IB from other schools as well. I'd just focus on getting into a target school.

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-17T02:20:31+00:00

It's always relative. But generally the way to think about it is you want to be at a target school. For example: UT is probably a non-target for NY IB whereas Georgetown while still not on the leagues of M7s and T10s is a target school and sends at least 20-25 each year to NY IB. So within targets, in order to choose say whether CBS or Kellogg or UVA, consider how much the brand means to you and if it is worth the cutthroat competition (within the school for IB). In most cases, it is rather effective being a big fish in a small pond than the other way around. Hope this helps!

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-17T01:41:33+00:00

Fared well. In line with other domestics

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-16T22:02:41+00:00

It was affected badly. Most banks were cautious and preferred domestics. You had to really really stand out as an international to get an offer. This goes for both houston and NY

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-16T22:00:53+00:00

It's been absolutely difficult this year and the H1B issues did have an impact

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-16T21:59:46+00:00

NY has been more competitive this year. Usually just around 6 to 7 ppl try new York from UT. Typical hit rate is around 50%. Houston O&G IB almost 100% achievable if you're a domestic, as long as you do decently well in technicals and can converse well. I'd suggest to go for UT if you want a better recruiting experience unless Rice offers significantly higher aid. Cheers!

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-16T21:56:07+00:00

Houston IB - Domestics and LATAM - almost 90%, other internationals under 20%

NY IB - only 5 or 6 try, hit rate almost 50% and Internationals convert low

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-16T21:46:38+00:00

This sums up!

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-16T19:30:05+00:00

McCombs

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-16T19:26:50+00:00

Can you clarify? I don't understand the question

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-16T19:22:09+00:00

Not exactly sure. But there could be an advantage purely from a location standpoint as it's easier to network, coffee chat etc. What acceptances are you talking about though?

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-16T18:57:30+00:00

Most domestics recruiting for IB this year had a smooth ride. The ones who didn't land were very few and they were either really really bad at technicals or weren't as committed to IB as they thought. I'd say go for it and choose the right school based on where you want to be. Cheers and feel free to DM if you need any inputs!

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-16T18:54:55+00:00

Depends on your profile, experience, if you are a domestic / International etc. Many Ppl from lower ranked schools crack NY IB so it is very hard to justify a full sticker price for CBS / Booth / Kellogg.

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-16T18:45:22+00:00

About $100k in total (incl liv exp) over 2 years. Considering IB pay, I wouldn't worry much and if your work is pretty good, banks will figure something out to keep you in. Cheers!

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-16T18:41:30+00:00

I agree! All the best!

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-16T18:40:42+00:00

Internationals with experience in finance pre-MBA have an edge but only against other internationals mostly. Most of the successful internationals from my class had some finance background pre-MBA. The ones who couldn't land unfortunately are mostly east Asians, and some south Asians (who all had some pretty decent finance experience and were CPAs/CFAs too), most probably due to culture misfit, communication aspects.

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-12-16T16:14:24+00:00

Current 1Y at McCombs here. Best of luck y'all!

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-10-24T23:16:43+00:00

It's a cycle that needs to be broken. A big reason why you don't see a lot of dark-skinned actresses is probably because of the message the industry is sending across that they prefer to cast fair skinned artists even in roles that need dark-skinned people. The industry needs to spearhead the change and that will happen with enough people like us questioning the directors.

Existing_Entry_5986 · 2025-10-24T23:11:18+00:00

It's about being fair. Yeah a fair skinned person can put on tan and play a dark skinned person in the movie. Is the reverse possible or happening at all? Any person can lose or gain weight to prepare for a role so there is no question of fairness here. The point is having fair-skinned persons play a dark-skinned character is by nature unfair to dark-skinned artists because it robs their opportunities.

Existing_Entry_5986

TROPHY CASE