Hedge Fund Placement in HBS/GSB

Hi everyone,

I am currently a first year analyst at a BB in London and recently received an offer for Citadel's Global Equities team. I am not sure what I want to do further down the line, but working with public equities at a hedge fund is much more appealing to me than a pre-MBA associate position at a PE MF. A large proportion of the analyst class above me managed to secure PE MF positions and I feel like I have a decent shot at one further down the line (4-6 months from now).

My mid-term goal is to do an MBA in the US, preferably HBS/GSB, and then relocate to the US permanently. I know that an MBA isn't much of a value add in the HF space, but I have my heart set on doing one.

Now to my actual question: Given that getting into HBS/GSB is my mid-term goal, would I be hurting my chances by accepting the offer at Citadel as opposed to waiting another couple of months and then gunning for a pre-MBA associate positions at a MF? I realize that this is hypothetical and it's far from guaranteed that I would actually be able to secure one of the coveted pre-MBA associate positions at a MF. I just want to make sure I am not destroying any chance at HBS/GSB by joining a HF at this stage.

Do you guys have any idea how HFs place into top business schools? I guess a main obstacle is convincing adcom that a MBA would actually add value in a HF career.

Would appreciate hearing your thoughts!