At crossroads in career, what should I do?

So I studied an accounting degree and stayed with big 4 as audit associate for an year. Then I transitioned to deals advisory at MM firm the Middle East (valuestrat), mainly doing M&A/valuations, because I was attracted to capital markets more. This is my 3rd year with them and I've been promoted once to senior. I would like to apply to top MBAs next year (already taken GMAT) but I just can't make up my mind about what to do in the one year before I apply (to make my profile more attractive). Two things:

1) I'm interested in value investing and would like to use that MBA to break into long only and stay there. To prepare for that before the MBA (to show my interest), I networked here a lot and was offered a job as an investment analyst at Mutual/PE fund here (This is because the AM industry is very unstructured here ie you could be required two things at same time, like deals sourcing for PE and idea generation for mutual fund as well which is actually very common in ME middle market). I want to work there for an year and take the CFA level 1 simultaneously. My heart genuinely wants that because I just LOVE investing. But here's the thing, what if I won't be able to get into M7 and end up with Darden types where the AM recruiting is not so hot? Isn't that a little risky? In case I don't, what will become of the wasted time that I put into CFA and the transition (which won't be easy for the few months)? Going to IB from Darden with a CFA would feel like a down-grade. I see all these MBAs with CFA working as associate in IB and I just wonder why they put all that time into CFA only to work in irrelevant role? This one guy from NYU did ER after MBA (CFA charterholder) for 2 year and then switched to CorpDev in Toronto! Really, I don't understand the thought process of these people. Or can I still get AM from schools like Darden and NYU?

2) Second thoughts tell me that I probably wouldn't be able to break into AM from top 15 schools since there's very little turnover, I hear it's an uphill battle even at M7. So the rational me thinks that I should keep my options open by staying with my current employer and just enjoy the year leading up to apps, doing stuff like traveling, reading more, discovering new hobbies (and auditing the CFA curriculum just to satiate my desire), and just work on both my hard and soft skills, et cetera (which I won't be able to to do with the CFA exams and the new job). And after an MBA, just go all in into IB recruiting, do 2-3 years at IB and then try hard to transition to PE/CD. IB is still interesting to me but maybe not as much as AM...and then the fact that I'll be doing what people think of as "dumb work" that anyone can do with the right circumstances... and then the long hours where I won't be able to spend time with my future boyfriend/husband (who by the way doesn't exist lmao) and friends.

So I just cannot make up my mind about this. I don't know what to do. The IB path is more safe and my head tells me to play it safe but my heart wants AM and that I should take the risk which involves ending up with no offers plus the potential student debt.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

P.S. posting this in off topic since a lot of professionals visit this forum more than the others lol