It seems like everybody just wants to eventually move to mf pe on this forum, I’m really curious, it this just because of this website being an echo chamber and there r actually many better options, or is mf pe rlly the top spot to be?
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Overrated unless you have an ultra competitive personality and not many non-finance interests.
The thing that was surprised me was how non-competitive Sr. Associate/VP spots were internally. It's immediately clear within the first 6 months that 80-90% of the associates have no interest in sticking around and moving up. Watching partners grind with you for weeks during a key phase of a deal several times a year is pretty disheartening let alone the decade+ grind to get there.
Don't get me wrong, getting a VP spot is highly competitive, but in a MF class of 15, it's probably 3-4 people competing for 1-2 spots. The primary source of competition is external. Frankly, there are a lot better ways to live.
So what happens to all the other associates? Do they go to business school or leave finance entirely?
Bschool, go to MM/UMM PE, go to HF (you'll be able to interview for the top ones from a MF firm vs out of IB) or exit to industry. There was a really great post that I can't find right now about a former MF associate posting where people from his class ended up a few years down the line - I don't think a single one was still at the same firm and most of the people were at lower check size PE firms that had better WLB or doing start-ups.
On the whole it has been an underwhelming experience. I played myself by getting caught up in the ideas that prestige and making $300k my third year out of school matter at all.
There are certainly pros but since you asked about whether it’s overrated, then yes, as an end in and of itself it’s pretty overrated. It can be a necessary stepping stone, which increasingly is what I’ve noticed the position being used for. If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably chill as high up in the lower middle market up until the point that every deal you see is banked.
Great comment.
Thanks I was wary of this, and am trying my luck out at a LMM PE firm (just raised a ~$500M fund) close to my home town, rather than aiming for a UMM or MF right out of IB. Fingers crossed it works out.
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