PE Firms that "place" well into B-school... what exactly does that mean?
You hear a lot about PE firms that "place" well into business school, but how exactly does that work? As I understand it, most top B-schools nowadays are trying to diversify away from the traditional 2 years IB, 2 years MF PE candidate. They want people with a unique story / edge / background.
What sort of "why do you want to attend [insert top b-school here]?" answer are these guys and gals giving, when it's understood that they're going to do B-school for 2 years, their firm is sponsoring them, and then they're just going to go back and work at that same firm?
Obviously, being at a top firm, getting great GMAT scores, etc is indicative of many things, but to me, in an increasingly competitive applicant pool with what appears to be a need to have a "unique" angle to stand out to ad comms, what is it that these applicants are doing? Or perhaps that's the wrong way to think about it.
bump
Yes, top MBA programs want all sorts of diversity and they are looking at "holistic admissions" in a similar way that their undergrad peers do, but they also care very deeply about their post-graduate employment statistics. Very few MBA applications say "There is a 99.99999999% chance I have a job by graduation that the career center will be happy to have on its employment report" like someone with two years of IB and two years of MF/UMM PE. There are certainly fewer seats for a person with that profile at top MBA programs than there used to be, but it isn't like that person is going the way of the wooly mammoth either. You will need to find ways of distinguishing yourself from the pack, but welcome to life because that's always going to be the case.
I see a couple options here for the "why business school" question for this person:
1) While you're sponsored, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to return to the firm, it just means that you have the option. Maybe you want to have a two-year, risk-free option to go on a career exploration journey. What else might you like to do? Maybe you want to be a product manager at a tech company. Maybe you want a way of experimenting with a startup idea that you have and school provides a safe environment to do that while also teaching you a broader skillset than LBO modeling and adjusting logos on slides. Write about that.
2) You're going back to the firm that's sponsoring you but thus far in your career you've learned mostly hard skills and you want to broaden your horizons because as you rise into the ranks of leadership, you understand that you'll need a much more well-rounded business education than just knowing how to be a model/slide monkey. You're really excited about taking all the leadership and ethics classes, learning about how to manage diverse workforces, etc., because that's what you'll really do as a partner at a MF.
In either case, dig deep and find something in your life experience that inspired this epiphany. Do anything you can to pretend like you're not just applying to MBA programs because it's what's expected of you by your firm and it will be at their expense.
It's the same concept as a target school for IB. If your firm has a lot of alumni / good relations with certain business schools, they will go out on a limb to get their Associates in the program.
There’s a lot of weirdness under the surface at MBA schools that doesn’t really get talked about. There’s an implicit (or maybe even explicit, I don’t know) quid pro quo between firms that recruit on campus and associate admissions plus there are certain alumni that have an unusual pull. For the most part it won’t dramatically change things though and your focus should be more on your story and overall application package than worrying about placement out of any specific fund because it’s a crapshoot either way.
Everyone gives the same BS warm and fuzzy "Why Business School" answers, and then they all "somehow" end up in finance or consulting (aided by the same school looking for "unique stories"). It's all wink-nod. Try not to believe the press clippings.
In the case of IB to PE students, you're talking about a demo that in itself is automatically prestigious, high-performing, pedigreed, and high potential GOING IN. The schools are playing with house money at that point. They're looking for people who will at best end up industry leaders, and at worst end up wealthy potential donors. You look at any class profile at HSW and there's no shortage of these types. They just don't end up in the "student profile" sections of their publicity materials. That goes to the Kenyan girl developing a clean energy alternative for air conditioning in the desert or whatever.
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