Happy holidays, everyone. The email below is from an engineer at Yahoo who is looking for a way to keep himself from getting pigeonholed as a techie and wants to pursue a Master’s in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford…I guess this has become an area where I’m pretty good at giving advice. The wrinkle in this situation is that he already has an MBA from a smaller program and wants to move into Consulting or Finance. This isn’t a situation I’ve advised on many times before, but I hope my words can be helpful.

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TP wrote:

“Marquis,

I must say that it has been a blessing to have discovered your blog at this time in my life. It is so relevant, and so needed. I have been lurking around for about a month now, and finally I am ready to pose my question to you, but first, here is some background information about me.

31, Engineer@Yahoo with the feeling that I am getting very close to being pigeonholed as an ‘engineer’ for all eternity.

I have about 6 years experience, and I have very little interest in the typical post-engineer career paths (engineering manager, project manager, senior architect).
I have recently come to the decision that what I *really* want to do is work in finance (I-Banking, M&A, PE, Hedge Funds, etc) OR consulting.
So, I started researching what it takes to make a 90 degree career turn.

I must say, the prospect look pretty dim, here is why:
Undergraduate degree(s): BA International Economics, BA French from a no name school in Arkansas
Graduate Degree: MBA from a no name school in Utah.
Here is the brighter side of the equation:
Experienced in mentoring, teaching, and training others.
Experienced as an engineer in leading projects and people.
International experience (studied in France and Beligum from 1999-2000) plus trilingual (English/French/Dutch)

Now that we have covered the background information, lets get to the real question: I am seriously considering a Master’s in Management Science & Engineering (economics and finance concentration) from Stanford. However, there is very little information on the career prospects for this major. There is a lot of information available on JD and MBA recruitment at Stanford, but not a lot about MS&E recruitment.

When the top investment banks and consulting firms come to recruit JDs and MBAs from Stanford, will they pass me over because I’m MS&E?

-TP”

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My response:

TP,

Thanks for checking out my blog. You’ve got a heck of a dilemma on your hands, but it sounds like you’ve thought through it well and have a good plan of attack. I would recommend talking to recruiters at the consulting firms and investment banks about how they treat folks in your position, but I can give you my perspective on it just to offer another point of view.

I had some friends who were in the MS&E department and I know through them that the top consulting firms recruit from that program in addition to the MBA and JD programs. In fact, one of them is currently working with me in my employer’s ATL office, another had an offer from Bridgespan, and another is working in Bain’s SF office. I believe that kids from the MS&E program go through a similar interview process as MBA candidates, but there may be a few differences from firm-to-firm, which you’ll have to uncover when you start applying for jobs. Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about recruiting for investment banks in the MS&E program, but, if the consulting firms are there, I don’t see why the banks wouldn’t be. I’m not sure if the MS&E department has its own career services offive, but, if it does, you should reach out to the folks there to get additional information. One last thing to consider is that, as a combination of business and engineering), the MS&E program may be partly redundant with your earlier MBA studies. As such, you should talk to the MS&E admissions people to find out whether the program would offer you significant learnings over what you already have from your work and educational background.

If you end up deciding not to pursue the MS&E degree, your background may also make you a great candidate for a position at an IT consulting firm. In this case, you could go in on the implementation side and make your rounds doing that work for a while to gain consulting experience and then transition over to the strategy side at some point. Granted, this is a much longer runway to a strategy consulting role, but I just wanted to put it out there as an option to mull over in addition to going back to grad school.

Take care and I hope this response was helpful. I’m not sure if you’re applying to the MS&E program right now, but, if you are, good luck with your application. Happy holidays.

-Marquis