Changing Jobs Pre-MBA

Hi all, I've been working in Business Valuation for almost 2 years now, and I'm considering several other jobs. General background: I graduated from a liberal arts university almost 3 years ago now and felt that BVal would be a great way to develop some of the "hard skills" in finance that would make me more competitive in IB/VC/PE type of work later in my career. I have aspirations of attending a top Business School in the next few years or so to facilitate that transition into those respective fields.

I'm considering a few other jobs, which I believe will make me more competitive in my MBA candidacy and are more in line with my career interests. I'm having a tough time deciding, so I would apprecaite any feedback here. Things I'm considering are exit ops, business school competitiveness, skills developed, network, etc.

Job 1: Clean Energy Investment Banking Associate (Project Finance) Small boutique investment bank, but strong deal flow and really intelligent group of people. Great opportunity to get a glimpse into banking and work in clean energy, which is space I'm really interested in.

Job 2: Portfolio Valuation Analyst One of the top family office/VC/PE firms in Silicon Valley. I'd be primarily working in portfolio valuation, but the role also provides support to the PE team. The exposure to the PE side is really intriguing, and this firm would be a strong brand on my resume. I'm assuming if I went for an MBA, other avenues would exist and I could possibly consider transferring into the investment side.

Again, I'm a bit torn. I think the banking role is more interesting to me; however, the portfolio valuation role has the opportunity to work with the PE team and it's at a Tier 1 firm. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Could you expand a bit further on what your post-MBA goals are? As you know, IB/PE/VC all require pretty different skillsets and recruit from different backgrounds. From your post, it sounds like you're interested predominantly in private markets investing, so either a role at a growth equity/seed stage firm in an investment capacity. Once you decide what stage investing is right for you, the choice becomes very clear. Job 2 provides you with relevant work experience and the network to leverage once you've wrapped up B School. I'd take that and run personally.

 

Praesentium aliquid libero voluptatem praesentium eius. Fugiat atque saepe similique.

Eum repellat qui ea veniam incidunt voluptas. Iste nihil nihil provident ut non magni nam. Delectus aut tenetur consequuntur odio corrupti.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.3%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (48) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”