This year’s Real Humans: Alumni series, which invites MBA graduates to discuss their paths to post-MBA employment, kicks off with Elliot Gross, Carnegie Mellon Tepper MBA Class of 2025. Gross was looking to pivot to investment banking when he chose the MBA path, and selected Tepper for its strong alumni connections to the finance industry and small program size that facilitates networking and mentorship. Read his story below to learn how his Tepper MBA prepared him for investment banking at Morgan Stanley.
Elliot Gross, CMU Tepper MBA ’25, Investment Banking Associate at Morgan Stanley
Age: 28
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Undergraduate Institution and Major: Colby College, Global Studies
Graduate Business School, Graduation Year and Concentration: Tepper School of Business, MBA Class of 2025, Finance and Accounting
Pre-MBA Work Experience: Manager of Custom Solutions, Advantexe Learning Solutions, 3.5 years, Corporate Learning & Development
Post-MBA Work Experience: Morgan Stanley, Investment Banking Associate, <1 year, Investment Banking
Why did you choose to attend business school?
To pivot into investment banking.
Why Tepper? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend?
The Tepper School has excellent alumni connections in banking, especially in NYC. The smaller program size and tight-knit banking alumni community means that students are nearly guaranteed to have their emails answered and to book meetings with alumni at top financial institutions in the U.S. The alumni are incredibly generous with their time and are wonderful advocates for Tepper School students during the recruiting process and were a big reason I attended this program.
The finance faculty are world-class teachers and researchers. I was able to develop relationships with many of them and, in addition to being fantastic educators, they are also wonderful people.
Lastly, the Masters Career Center (MCC) is consistently ranked highly by both students and recruiters. The MCC has a strong reputation for consistently facilitating top internship opportunities for students and ensuring that Tepper School students are as well prepared as possible for investment banking recruiting.
What about your MBA experience prepared you for your current career?
The Tepper School offers rigorous, in-depth finance courses that combine core financial concepts with practical, real-world cases that demonstrate how those concepts are applied. This was extremely important to me when choosing an MBA program and will be invaluable for me going forward in my career. Through the Tepper School MBA I also gained an understanding of how to advocate for myself and tell my story in a confident yet down-to-earth way that resonates with people and conveys a sense of professional competence, which was hugely important in helping me develop my professional network.
What was your internship during business school? How did that inform your post-MBA career choice?
I completed a Summer Associate internship at Morgan Stanley in Investment Banking and accepted a full-time return offer at the end of the summer. The program provided excellent training, and the offer was exactly what I was looking for in a full-time role post-MBA.
Why did you choose your current company? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to work?
The people are the number one driver of workplace success in almost any role at almost any company. I connected the most with the individuals at Morgan Stanley during my recruiting process and was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with them over the summer and beyond. Morgan Stanley represents one of the most recognizable names in global financial markets. The firm’s global reach, diverse services, and values-driven culture makes the bank a unique and exciting place to build a long career and factored heavily into my decision to join.
Advice to current MBA students:
–One thing you would absolutely do again as part of the job search?
Network with as many people at as many different banks as possible. From regional boutiques to independents to global bulge bracket banks, each one of these institutions and people are different and have valuable advice and guidance to share with you. I am so glad I got to meet so many different people throughout the recruiting process and I am lucky to have such a strong and supportive alumni network to build on throughout the rest of my career.
–One thing you would change or do differently as part of the job search?
Do a bit of a better job at budgeting and planning how much the recruiting process will cost. All the trips to NYC and back as well as accommodations and food really add up…
–Were there any surprises regarding your current employer’s recruiting process?
Not really – the current bankers that help you navigate the process do a very good job of communicating and guiding you through the different interview rounds.
–What piece of advice do you wish you had been given during your MBA?
This is a very special time in your life where the possibilities for what you can do in your career are nearly endless and you do not need to know exactly what you want to do post-graduation. That said, it is important to have a very solid understanding of what is important to you in a role when recruiting (work-life balance, type of work you do day-to-day, salary expectations, travel, structure, etc.) so that you can be targeted, intentional and clear with your communications with recruiters and hiring managers and secure the type of internship and full-time job you want.
