MSc-PhD Aerospace Engineering &MSc Electrical-Computer Engineering --> Consulting? Law School?
Hello everyone, and Happy Holidays. I've spent quite some time perusing through this forum, and I ought to say that I learned quite a bit.
Many thanks for taking the time to read my post.
I am at a crossroads in my career whereby I am contemplating getting into consulting/technology consulting at firms like MBB (I do know they are rather difficult to break into) or apply to law schools to work in corporate IP law. To be quite candid, my end-goal would be working in a technology-based hedge HF/PE firm. One thought was to try and get into YLS (first option), then acquire a position at an elite law firm in their corporate law (HF/PE/M&A) practice and attempt to lateral out via connections to a HF/PE firm.
On the other hand, I've also been seriously thinking of applying to McKinsey and find a way to break into those industries thereafter.
I do have both an MS & a PhD in Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering from a USNWR Top-10 graduate program, which happens to be a public school; I also have an MS with Honors in Electrical & Computer Engineering from a private institution. My GPA ranges from 3.50 - 3.94.
I currently work in IP law, which I have been for a couple of years; my jobs entails interacting and meeting with inventors & lawyers on a regular basis. Prior, I worked for eight years as an Aerospace Engineer in a DoD Lab and worked on cutting-edge technology with diverse teams of engineers & scientists.
Personally, I am all-around cool guy and have never been the "typical" nerd. I am into sports-basketball, football, soccer, cricket, gym-rat, was a member of the graduate student government council while in graduate school for my PhD, founder/president of a STEM-based non-profit, etc.
The private institution that I earned my MS in Electrical & Computer Engineering is a target school for McKinsey, but my Aerospace/Aeronautical graduate program isn't. Should I be concerned about that? even though the Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering program is fairly renowned, without grad inflation, and very rigorous (undergrad & grad are both Top-10).
Is attempting to gain entrance into an elite law school a viable option for me at this point in my career? I do have a low six-figure income, and it would be tough to give up that income for either 3-years of law school or 2-years of an MBA. However, I want to make a ton of money, close to 7-figures if possible, so I am not opposed to making those sacrifices today for a much brighter future.
Thus, I very much so would appreciate any feedback as to which feasible path to embark upon as I am a tad puzzled...
Is there anyone that can provide any feedback, it would be immensely appreciated! Perhaps phdconsultant? I've read a number of your posts in the forum.
You might want to try the PE forum section for this. I don't know how many of them cross checks the consulting forum. I can't comment on Law School a son I've got no idea about that, but can say that consulting to PE is possible, but that not all funds are open to it. Your best chances would be with Bain, then mck and lastly BCG. If you go to mck it would help a lot to recruit directly into their PE practice.
Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering PhD, Electrical-Computer Engineering MSc trying to break into PE/VC (Originally Posted: 01/03/2017)
Hello everyone. I've spent quite some time perusing through this forum, and I ought to say that I learned quite a bit. I initially posted this in the Consulting Forum and was advised to post it here in the PE/VC forum.
Many thanks for taking the time to read my post!!
I am at a crossroads in my career whereby I am contemplating applying to law schools to work in corporate IP law. To be quite candid, my end-goal would be to work in a technology-based PE/VC firm. One thought was to try and get into YLS (first option), then acquire a position at an elite law firm in their corporate law (HF/PE/M&A) practice and attempt to lateral out via connections to a PE/VC firm.
I do not have any finance background, but I am able to learn difficult subjects really fast.
I do have both an MS & a PhD in Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering from a Top-10 program, which happens to be a public school; I also have an MS with Honors in Electrical & Computer Engineering from a prestigious private institution. My GPA ranges from 3.50 - 3.94.
I currently work in IP law, which I have been for a couple of years; my jobs entails interacting and meeting with inventors & lawyers on a regular basis. Prior, I worked for seven years as an Aerospace Engineer in a DoD Lab and worked on cutting-edge technology with diverse teams of engineers & scientists.
Personally, I am all-around cool guy and have never been the "typical" nerd. I am into sports-basketball, football, soccer, cricket, gym-rat, was a member of the graduate student government council while in graduate school for my PhD, founder/president of a STEM-based non-profit, etc.
I very much so would appreciate any feedback as to the best reasonable path to proceed at this critical junction in my professional career. The notion of getting an MBA has crossed my mind, but I have the premise that going the elite law school-->big law corporate finance-->PE route would be more doable since getting into elite MBA programs often requires having prior investment banking experience, which I do not possess.
"Aeronautical/Aerospace Engineering PhD, Electrical-Computer Engineering MSc trying to break into PE/VC" " I initially posted this in the Consulting Forum and was advised to post it here in the PE/VC forum."
im calling bullshit on the PhD
I am not certain why you find it so implausible that I have an Aeronautical Engineering PhD. Anyhow, I came onto the PE/VC forum hoping to get some reasonable feedback.
Cheers, DeepAerospace
Prefacing this by saying that I don't have an MBA, but I don't think you need to have done IB to get into b school. There are plenty of career changers (like yourself). Also, OP, I would do some internal reflecting on why you want to do PE/VC (and also whether you want to do PE OR VC - if you can't answer this question then committing yourself to a multi-year plan in what I assume to be your mid-30s* may not be the best plan. At the very least you should talk to some people in the industry if you haven't already).
Personally I think that doing law school to get into corporate law just to try to get into PE/VC is speculative at best and not a great idea. At a minimum, you would be 5 years off from your end goal, and the biggest problem is that you still won't have addressed your biggest deficiency as a buyside candidate (zero formal finance/investing experience).
OTOH, the MBA route might make more sense. Your academics are certainly strong enough, and at least it's a year shorter and will position you well for jobs in finance, even if the chances of getting a buyside offer out of school are slim. Despite what this forum likes to say, there are certainly some buyside firms that hire post-MBA associates out of IB, and outside of finance, you might be able to get a corporate role at a big tech firm (which is kind of cool and also something you should at least look into.)
*How old are you anyway? Not trying to discourage you necessarily, just wanted to point out that it's very very uncommon to see people above the age of 30 go into the buyside for the first time, even if they have previous finance experience. You should know that even once you get into a PE/VC firm, it's generally tough to advance upward (only so much senior headcount needed).
CHItizen-Many thanks for the thought provoking note. Regarding my age, I am 35 years old.
Your post prompted me to look deeply into the long-term career prospects of PE, and it does not look promising for someone with my background. On the contrary, VC seems like something that I may be able to get into given my hi-tech/technology background. Aside from VC, I did some searches on LinkedIn and saw quite a number of profiles with STEM PhDs working in ER--perhaps that's something I ought to look into.
At this point, I am gathering an MBA might be the better option if I really want to break into finance. To your point, why is it so difficult to break into the buyside of finance if one is over 30 years old? Is it due to the premise that one over 30 would be opposed to performing basic financial analysis/modeling?? Moreover, would it be a great option for me to break into finance via ER? Or should I just proceed with attempting to get into a Top-2 MBA program?
Thanks much!
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