Possible to break into PE?

Definitely possible

Bump

You can def get pe interviews with your background

What I have heard is that PE is hard to get out of business school without pre-MBA PE experience.

I do think you have a chance and will get looks from MM / LMM. But it might be hard. The problem is that post-MBA roles in PE are essentially impossible to do if you’ve never done PE before, since it is mainly VP roles.

However, you might be able to find a firm that takes post-MBA senior associates, or very rarely, associates. This would be the role to focus on, since it would be hard to get and moreover perhaps hard to succeed in a VP role.

I would’ve thought you’d have a better shot without going for an MBA so you could target the pre-MBA PE programs.

OP here. Thanks for the thoughts. The main driver for MBA was that I was accepted into deferred class senior year of college, which I treated as a back up plan in case banking didn’t work out (it didn’t). After a couple years of reflection, I realize I want to be back in the finance world in an investing capacity.

I should also mention that my MBA program has a PE pathway that I have been accepted into, however I don’t want to start down that road if it’s not even possible to get looks after graduation.

Totally understand the point about post-MBA PE roles traditionally being VP level and I would need to come in as an associate / senior associate. It’s obviously a non-traditional path but would love to hear if anyone has heard of firms who might be willing to look past this.

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