Hi all, 1st yr ib analyst in London, wondering if MF/UMM PE still has that 2 and out thing going on? Is an MBA required to go further/higher? Heard that might be the case for US but curious if it's the same for London? I'm interested in doing PE for the long term
Thanks
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Interested as well
Thanks for the comment! Curious if don't choose the MBA route then how do people get promoted past asso/vp level? Just by outperformance/grinding?
Yes, merit and office politics.
In general, MBA / "2 and out" are not real things in London. I have seen some people go do an MBA, but mostly UMM folks trying to lever an MBA to move into MF.
As _EuroBankerLDN_ says, grinding it out and politics (and perhaps those who are weakest just naturally leave, and some decide not for them eventually)
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Bump
Does the London offices of MFs, H&F etc. still have good MBA placement? Like is it reasonable to think of going to HWS if you have a good profile although you work in London? And also, what’s the possibilities of transferring from the London office to NYC post MBA? Should you preferably recruit for a new fund while at your MBA or is it common with internal relocations?
Yes, they do have good MBA placement. Most MF/UMM peers I know ended up at HSW - however, unless they were US citizens, most of them couldn't land top buyside gigs in the US and are back in London. Some exited the industry entirely (mostly to tech post MBA and are drinking ayahuasca somewhere in the US), and one or two did well in finance in the US but they had exceptional backgrounds (Oxbridge first class / tier 1 bank and group / tier 1 fund, unique demographic, plus family wealth connections etc.). It's just much harder to crack the US for an outsider compared to the cookie-cutter kids already there, of which there are many lol.
MBA culture and recruiting pipeline is non-existent in London (speaking as an MBA myself). Just kill it in London and transfer to NYC internally with your firm - see this happen a lot at a range of funds.
Thanks for the advice! Would you say an internal transfer post MBA is common or at least doable? And how open are MFs/UMM in London to MBAs and internal transfers?
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