Is the IBD job worth it even if it means no MBA in future?

I received a country coverage IBD offer recently from a small European country. I am unsure if I should take it even though an IBD role has been what I have been working towards for the past few years.

Just for some context, I currently have a job at a corp investment team and I have a mid term plan to go to MBA. I currently have two options: 1. Stay in corp investment team job: I have communicated with my team that I’m planning to go to MBA in US in the future. The boss has promised to write a recommendation for my app. I heard the competition is less fierce if I were to apply from corp background. Although the company is going downhill, it provides a huge platform and has quite some buying power (FYI we don’t do M&A in our company).

  1. Take the IBD offer: Bc this is a country coverage team, they work mostly on ECM and less M&A deals. My country is small so it is very rare that there are openings. The pay is 2.5x my current salary, and more prestigious. Apart from the mostly admin work nature, the other downside is that the team is looking for someone to stay long term so I am worried that my team won’t write me a rec in the future.

Both are entry level jobs. I’ve been quite torn between the two options. Which one would you pick if you were me?

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