Career dilemma >> LDN MM PE > NYC: Lateral here or MBA?
Wanted to get some last-minute views before my acceptance deadline next week.
Background: European, 3 years MM PE in London, prior BB M&A. Got into MIT and Chicago, purely considering b-school as a vehicle to break into NYC buyside - not looking for a career reset or the 2-year experience itself.
Question is simple: how realistic is landing a buyside role in NYC out of Sloan or Booth for someone with my background? I'm not naive about the path, but curious how others who've made similar moves, or simply are close to the NYC market, would frame the odds.
Alternative I keep coming back to: find a LDN firm with a NYC office and try to transfer internally. Feels lower-risk, but slower and less certain.
Happy to hear from anyone who's been through either route / knows people who do / just want to give their 2 cents. Thanks.
I considered this and ultimately found very few people able to pull that move recently without US citizenship (e.g. spouse or native) out of HBS/Stanford, and very often at significantly lower tier of fund vs pre-MBA exp (MF/UMM PE). Decided against MBA for that reason.
I can't imagine the odds being in your favour also with this administration and being Sloan/Booth + MM PE, but as a fallback Europe will always be open. So you would be buying a very expensive out of the money option essentially.
Thank you, appreciate it. Echo your sentiment, hence I'm leaning towards a no.
I agree on the fallback option, but I'll admit that as I'm approaching this as a way to "buy" a US job, it's very unappealing to potentially end up back in London (also considering it would almost certainly be another MM shop, i.e. no upgrade to show after the two years).
Have you given up on the US altogether?
Yes I have, it didn’t seem worth the risk
I agree with the poster above. But what are your reasons for wanting to move to the US from London? Have you spoken to people with experience on both sides? How strong is your current fund and deal experience?
Economy might be stronger but competition for deals is higher and the work environment may be more brutal. It faces similar structural headwinds to European PE as an asset class.
Bumping this – Would love US views if you guys have any!
Any views for a Europe-based US citizen (i.e. education and IB/PE experience in Europe)? What are the odds of lateraling to a PE role in NYC after a couple years in London / transfer within the same institution? What do you think the upsides are from a career perspective, though not necessarily looking to live in NYC / the US long-term?
bumping this
Much more possible if you don’t have visa issues but will take some effort in networking and getting in touch with recruiters
As an international who came here for undergrad and now working in PE DO NOT DO IT. You will be fighting for your life in the H1B lottery after you graduate. Then if you get picked in the lottery (very big IF), you now have a 6 year limit to get your employer sponsored green card. That’s also assuming you continue to get promoted with the SAME firm after a number of years (very little chance of happening) unless you can miraculously negotiate green card sponsorship from day 1. This is just way too much brain damage to go through, not to mention the cost of attendance of an MBA is so high you might not be able to make it all back in just 3 years (which is your maximum time on OPT if you don’t get the H1B) after factoring in taxes and cost of living if you end up with a job in a major city
Unless of course if you come from massive generational wealth then I guess the above concerns won’t apply
I don’t want to beat on a dead horse but I personally know of someone who has been working here for 8 years and now have to leave the country for good because her whole group ended up getting shut down before she received her green card and is coming up to her 6 year H1B limit. She now has to restart her life and career elsewhere from scratch.
Unless you know for sure you can 100% handle the risk financially and mentally, do not make this expensive mistake.
Great callouts and to tack on to this - employers who know you are at the mercy of H1B may take advantage of it.
Following.
Ignore the title. Currently Associate in a UMM in London. Managed to negociate a lateral move to NYC. I have US citizenship through my parents (never lived there before). My fund is EU so pay is above average. What are my chances to lateral to a better fund? Idk it that changes anything but 27F
Very high chance since you won’t have visa obstacles and you’ll already be living in the US
You’re already starting from a strong place, so I’d think less about odds and more about approach. The real edge will still come from how clearly you use the MBA to reposition yourself in that specific market.
Disagree. PE recruiting in this market is bad enough as is. Combined with no US experience and needing sponsorship, chances of making it is slim. Even if you get hired, you need to 1) get selected for the H1B lottery 2) stay at the same firm long enough for a green card after getting H1B (can be 3-6 years total depending on how many tries it takes to get the H1B). Since OP mentioned that the purpose of an MBA will be to “buy” a US job opportunity, the expected ROI is just not there given how tough the visa situation is. There are tons of internationals at M7s right now struggling with this.
Visa, market conditions, and timing make this path genuinely difficult, especially without prior US experience, agree. At the same time, it’s not purely a probability game either. Even within those constraints, outcomes tend to vary based on how intentionally someone uses the MBA to build access, relationships, and a clear story in the US market. So it’s a tough path, but not a completely closed one, just one with a lot of factors outside your control.
My take as a recent MBA grad - In this economy and that pedigree, do not do an MBA. It only makes sense nowadays if you want to make a drastic career pivot. And you don't fall in that boat.
OP here. Thanks for everyone who chimed in - some very good perspectives.
Ultimately I decided to not go. It came down to the following:
Sharing this in case ever helpful for future readers. Hope I won't regret my decision, we'll see in the next couple of years...
International PE person in the US here. This is 100% the correct decision. Financial cost and PE job opportunities aside, do not underestimate the mental health aspect of constantly living on edge and always on the brink of having to move countries in case the visa situation doesn’t work out. It also makes long term planning super difficult. I was able to take the risk as an undergrad but as I’ve gotten older, this whole visa process is getting exhausting. I’m personally not going to be able to buy a house or start a family until I slog it through and the green card is in hand for stability reasons.
I hope everyone else reading this can heed my warnings….
Hope you make it, I put a bullet in my American dreams a few years ago (didn't know the whole IB thing until my twenties so would have been through MBA). In another life perhaps.
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