Can you explain how do people after 1 year of education at ISB become vice president or assistant vice president in companies like Goldman sachs?

Mostly because they deserve it! But I won't cut the long story short. After graduating from ISB, I have learned not to give too much importance to the title a job comes with. A product manager or even a team lead at a small company can make or break an entire company. On the other hand a glorified senior manager many not affect the fortunes in another company. These days businesses are divided by service lines, geographical territories and all other kinds of stuff. Understand that the below two things are completely different things: Vice President, KPO Business, India-South, Company XYZ Vice President, Company XYZ The KPO business may be a start up in a large organisation with a team of 15. A key way to figure out how senior your job is 1. How much yearly business do you control? The word control is very important. Not contribute. 2. How many levels between you and the board of directors? In my opinion an ISB degree gives you head start of 4 to 5 years in your career on an average. Of course there are cases where people may move ahead 7 to 8 years in 2 years after graduation but this varies case to case. And there are cases of people breaking into the CXO bracket in around 10 years. Also Associate vice presidents are not necessarily line managers. Many a times they support a senior manager with strategy, business decisions, budget allocation, finance etc, depending on the scope of their job. But here is where it gets interesting. Many of these guys (called Associate Vice Presidents) are not necessarily line managers, but are pretty much next (or second next) in line for the the big job. The company is preparing a young string of leaders and these are the smart guys with ambition, hard work and will give it their 100%. On that there is no question. Many a time companies struggle to get the right kind of people on board. How many times have you heard news reports say, there are jobs in the economy but not enough right candidates to fill them up. So if a company is looking for young hungry guys to get stuff done, ISB is a good place to get them from. Now about your last question can others do it without going to ISB: sure! Take a look at the top jobs and top entrepreneurs around and see how many of these are ISB grads (or any premium b-school grds for that matter). You'll find many who have risen through the ranks. Especially entrepreneurs. Without a premium degree. Hope I could answer your questions.

Wall Street firms (sell-side) typically have a few titles: Analyst Associate VP MD There's typically a 5-6 year minimum to get to VP. So its not odd for people to get to the VP level by the time they hit 27-28. In certain divisions, an MBA is a prerequisite (IBD) to move to Associate or VP, and in some areas (Securities, Ops, Tech) its not a requirement, but can definitely help. I can totally see someone with 6 years experience pre-MBA, exit ISB and get hired as a VP. Someone with 3 years pre-MBA, not so likely to come in as a VP. How many people do they lead. There's no one answer for this. In my mind, complexity is inversely proportional to span of control. So between complexity, experience, and ability, it can vary drastically if the person goes as an individual contributor, a small team manager, a large team manager, or managing line managers. These roles are definitely achievable without ISB or other MBAs. But it might take longer to reach. I personally know someone who was a VP with 6 years total experience, before they came to ISB. Hope this helps.