B-School?

Question

Hi,

Thanks for any help in advance of writing this.

I'm a bit torn on whether to apply to business school this fall. Currently I'm starting my 3rd year at a middle market PE firm and it's not quite clear yet whether I'll have the ability to stay on and become a VP (small firm, so they need to decide whether a VP is a resource they'll need going forward); I'd say 50% chance. I started in M&A at a BB, then in my third year voluntarily left and joined a startup i-bank boutique. I was promoted to the associate level then left after 2 years and joined my current PE firm, so I'll be 30 years old when school starts in Fall 2015.

The question I have is i) am I too far along in my career for b-school to make sense and ii) is it really worth the cost of tuition plus missing out on salary? Would it make more sense to simply start applying for other PE jobs (which is where I want to stay anyhow)?

If I do apply to b-school, I'm curious your thoughts on what schools in the top 10 range I could shoot for to match my profile?

WE: 7 years (4 i-banking, 3 MM PE), promoted at all 3 jobs
Top 20 Private Undergrad
GPA: 3.3, Mechanical Engineering Major (Financial Econ minor)
GMAT: 710 (both Q and V above 80%), expires in December
Extrac.: Minimal, some volunteer work, 1/2 marathons, but nothing special

CriticalSquare · Answer

Hey Bob12345,

You're in an interesting position. Before we get into programs and which might be good options, could you help me understand why you're considering an MBA in the first place? The reason I ask is there are a lot of reasons out there someone could want to get the degree and not all of them have to do with getting a new job. Sometimes folks want some time off or want to explore other options or learn things they don't know. I'm not concerned about your profile (or age) and I think you have a lot of the pieces you need to get into a well regarded MBA program but it's important to understand why you'd want to go before we get into that.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Bhavik

bob12345 · Answer

Thanks for the reply. I would prefer to stay in PE longer term if possible, but realize it's not that easy to transfer to another firm as a senior associate or VP without having an mba. My concern with business school is that I'd be thrown back into a more competitive pool of grads looking to stay or break into PE as well. Given that, I would probably try to transition into a Corp. Dev. program to get some good specific industry/strategy experience and then way down the road get back into PE.

Thanks again.

Thanks again.

CriticalSquare · Answer

Hey there,

That makes sense. I'd take a contrarian position, actually, in that I think you'd have a leg up on at least those who want to get into PE. You have two significant advantages. 1) you have experience and 2) you have an existing network you can leverage for warm intros. If you go off that, then staying in PE not only makes sense, it's definitely doable. Which means your "why MBA" also makes sense. Your backup plan is OK but it isn't exciting and it's also really risky. Not everyone who goes down that path can then shift gears later. The level of effort required to get that catalyst in place will be significant. But as a backup, it's fine. It doesn't necessarily have to be shared - only a handful of schools ask what your Plan B is.

Folks in fields like PE, VC, etc. can definitely benefit from an MBA. At this point I could list of a bunch of schools (which you could probably do yourself) where you could get your PE career chuggin' right along but it'll be a cursory list at best. If you'd prefer to chat here, that's fine, but some things are just better done on a call. If you'd like to chat, sign up for a free consultation with us   . I handle them all myself so you won't lose any continuity.

Cheers and hope to chat with you soon!

Bhavik

B-School?

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