Best PE Firms for B-School
Long story short, I went to a Semi-Target and am currently sitting as an An1 in IB at a top group in a T1 city (not NYC). I am interested in Private Equity and would love to also get an MBA from an M7 school.
I don’t know why but ever since college I have always wanted to get an MBA and more importantly get one from M7. I have a GPA that is in line/a couple hundredths lower than H/S averages but I was in a “harder major.” What size fund or type of fund would get me a good look at M7 B-School?
Thanks!
Shoutout to whoever threw MS for someone asking a genuine question
Shoutout to the search feature
Maple capital
I think topics like these are ridiculous because B-school adcoms couldn’t care less what PE firm you are coming from. What they care about is building a diverse class. They are not going to admit 10 associates from Blackstone for a single cohort. Rather, adcoms are going to pull from a variety of sources, including the LMM all the way to MF PE. I like to compare this process to painting a mural. Every student they admit represents a distinctive hue to that mural and, together, it forms a collective masterpiece.
For associates applying from the same PE firm, those who are admitted come from differentiated backgrounds; e.g. a female associate who advocates for increased representation of women in finance and is on a board of female investors, an associate who is involved in a nonprofit outside of work and helps with the firm’s ESG initiatives, etc. I’m sure no one is going to want their MBA cohort to comprise of 200 consultants coming straight from McKinsey.
So ask yourself:
Hard stats, such as GPA and GMAT/GRE, are there to evaluate your ability to do well in an academic environment. Try to be as close (or over) to the median for these as possible for your target schools. If you are weaker in one area, try to spike (i.e. be way above the median) in the other area.
Now the real question is whether specific PE firms are more supportive to MBA aspirants and provide additional resources for their associates.
These include:
Now those are factors that can truly help with admissions, but, truth be told, it doesn’t matter what PE firm you are coming from. If you know yourself really well and can put together a cohesive application, you can get admitted to any M7 school.
Super helpful. I guess I have one question — isn’t it then almost disadvantageous to go to a firm with a strong “pipeline” since likely most associates will apply to b school and the schools don’t want to take too many from the same fund? Vs. a fund that rarely sends people to a school
Yes, I would say it could be both an advantage and a disadvantage. However, those firms with “strong pipelines” have those additional resources I mentioned and assist their associates with differentiating their profiles, so it evens out I suppose. They’ll differentiate themselves based on other aspects such what they did before PE, volunteer work, goals post-MBA, etc.
Thankfully, there’s more than one good MBA program. Associate classes aren’t that huge as well compared to IB. Factoring those who decide to forego the MBA completely, receive a direct promotion at their firm, and leave for HF or other similar roles, there’s plenty of room for the associates to differentiate themselves.
MDP
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