Advice Please! Path to Private Equity - Starting from Valuation Advisory

Currently working as a senior analyst in Valuation Advisory at a boutique investment bank. My ultimate goal is to work in private equity and I am considering whether it would be most optimal to either go get an MBA, try to lateral to a traditional 2-year IB analyst program at a MM firm, or try to jump into an analyst position at a lower middle market private equity firm.

My Background: B.S. in Computer Science from a non-target university in California Past CFA level one senior year of college (helped me get interviews, but do not plan on pursing level two or three) Two years of experience of Valuation Advisory – promoted to senior analyst after first year GMAT score: 740 I have been thinking about applying to b schools in the next few months for Fall 2020, but have been thinking a lot about working for another two years either in a traditional IB analyst or PE analyst role. My target schools would be top 15 programs. But maybe if I have another two years of work experience, M7 programs may be possible.

If my ultimate goal is to work in private equity, would taking two extra years to work in IB or PE be the best use of my time? If so, IB or PE? I know it can be difficult to switch to the buy-side after you are a post-MBA IB associate and if I don’t have any PE experience pre-MBA, I would imagine it would be immensely more difficult.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.