Have come to the conclusion that I really want to be an M&A banker (Cha-ching). Does anyone have opinions on how to best go about this kind of a move? Is it a case of 'no way, without an MBA?'...

Given lack of credit ti fund leveraged deals, M&A volumes are at their lowest since 2001, so I'm afraid it is currently "no way, full stop". Volumes are predicted to increase, perhaps quite soon, as a bit of bargain hunting goes on. However a lack of credit will still stifle leveraged deals. Perhaps a lot of early deals will be through sovereign funds, so knowldge or experience of that market (or the middle east) might be of value.When volumes do increase, MBA intake will return, but be warned - MBA in this area means LBS, Insead, Yale, Harvard, Kellog, Wharton, etc - pretty much no point at all in spending 25K going to Nottingham (just an example) if its M&A entry that you want.You might also need to be in the top ten in your class, at which point Guy Hands might let you sweat 23 hours a day for him.

Is Cambridge/Oxford good enough?

Yes they are, also MiF is an good qualification to haveZB

And SaaS too.

If you mean for oxbridge MBA ie. Judge or Said business schools. then probably not.

That's bullocks, these schools, esp. Judge, are nowadays in the global top. I know loads of people who made the jump on the back of a Judge MBA and/or PhD. Judge even has a dedicated finance group which is very productive and has received loads of funding during difficult times.

what a load of freckin nonesense. Volumes are down?! Have you read the FT today?Did you see the reports on Goldman, CS, Citi come out last week. Muppet.

Dear PirloYou are correct, I am clearly a muppet - there has been no reduction in M&A activity - in fact this is one of the easiest times for anyone to get a job in M&A. The OP should ignore my genuine but idiotic advice and simply phone up Goldmans, Citi and CS - who are quite clearly in easy street.Oh, just one thing - no one in M&A (or even IB in general) reads the FT. They prefer to use data from Thompson Reuters or other proper sources of info, such as the story below, which clearly shows that M&A deal volume is at its lowest in FIVE YEARS (muppet!).If you could get beyond the headlines of a paper that is only read by provincial FDs or wannabee MC's and read the detail you would see that only three firms have seen any uptick in volumes BECAUSE OF THE COMPLETE DISAPPEARANCE AND TAKEOVER of many of their competitors, resulting in the sudden appearance of 100's of experienced M&A people in the dole queue (and ahead of the OP in the job queue!)Please, please, please tell us all which incredibly rubbish consultancy firm now has such lax interviewing processes as to let you put your name on their business cards.Story from Deallogic is below for your convenience. Ask your HR Rep to read it to you at the end of your exit interview."Global merger and acquisition activity fell to its lowest level in five years, according to financial activity monitor Dealogic, as the financial world continues to reel from the aftermath of the economic crisis of the past two years.Further M&A activity for the world's eight largest economies -- commonly known as the G-8 -- is down to its lowest activity since Dealogic began keeping track. Year to date in 2009, M&As fell 39% to $702.6 billion in transaction volume. For the United States, the largest participant in M&A, deal volume is down to an estimated $375 billion compared to $680 billion from a year ago.The biggest advisor in 2009 was the investment firm Goldman Sachs (GS: 160.4916, -0.0884, -0.06%), who led the advising business with $339.8 billion in volume this year, followed by Morgan Stanley (MS: 27.77, 0.19, 0.69%) with $322.7 billion and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM: 36.91, 0.07, 0.19%) with $299.2 billion.All three saw an increase in business, with several of their competitors -- Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch -- gone or merged with other firms."

er....Morgan Stanley? Not sure they're singing in the streets quite yet. Merril? Lehmans? Bear? Don't think they'll be hiring anytime soon.M&A volumes definitely down, along with every other sort of banking business everywhere!In terms of the original post and discussion on MBA, of the few firms that have seen M&A work increase, Goldmans will want gold-plated backgrounds. Citi are easier to get into but still have huge credit exposures. Don't know CS very well.