Would I be crazy to reject a MF offer?

Hi everyone, 

long-time lurker here, first time creating an account now to ask this question: Would I be completely nuts to reject an offer from a MF? 

For background: I went to a non-target and managed to still get an offer a lower BB and am currently an associate. I've been recruiting for buyside positions for a little while now and actually managed to get an offer for a MF associate role, as well as another offer at a small-cap software-focused fund. A couple of years ago I would have taken the MF role in a heartbeat, because who wouldn't want to work there, right? But now I'm actually considering taking the small-cap fund over it, which seems like throwing away the biggest opportunity that's ever come my way. 

Now pay at the software fund is pretty awful compared to MF, but lifestyle is going to be much, much better (have spoken to a couple of people who used to work there and while not 9-5, it's usually not more than 50h a week with no weekend work, etc.). I think long-term carry could become significant due to the small teamsize, which might make up for it. 

On the other hand, MF is MF and opportunities like this don't come along very often. Seems like that would open up all sort of doors, but I am also genuinely wondering whether I can even take it. After spending so much time on WSO reading about how awful life is at MFs I am considering whether it's even worth the extra $$$ for a few years if I end up dropping out of the game entirely because I can't take it anymore. 

So yeah, what do you think? Would I be insane to take the lower comp, unkown fund just for lifestyle improvement when I have an offer for such a sought after position? 

3 Comments
 

Take the MF offer, do it for 1.5/2 years and switch to a fund that is both more chill than the MF AND pays better than the other offer you currently have. Unless you think the current smaller firm is one of the absolute best in its class, there is probably a better firm that you would not have access to if not for the MF name on your resume.

 

think mf is better. u alr stuck it out at a bb and seems wasteful to not go the mf route for 2 ish years. can always switch to the small cap fund if u dont like it as getting an mf name would make u even more attractive to said fund.

 

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