Post MBA IB associate to PE? How difficult will the transition be?

I was a post-MBA associate. Looking at my associate class, there were a handful of people who were able to make the transition to PE so it is not impossible, but it is very difficult. There is not a lot of wiggle room in PE recruiting in general, so it is hard to make the transition if you do not have PE experience prior to bschool. Therefore, the PE funds that my ex-colleagues went to were either really small or had some unusual circumstance to it (e.g., located in the middle of nowhere). Those that did go to large, reputable fund usually went in a capital markets, business development, or marketing role -- not in a traditional investing role. That said, I can name quite a few colleagues in our international offices who went to very large, reputable funds because the PE industry in those markets are less mature than they are here in the U.S.

I don't want to discourage anyone, because there are always exceptions. However, if you are considering a post-MBA associate role in banking, my advice would be to not go in there with the expectation that you will transition to PE. The vast majority of my ex-colleagues went to work for a corporate or pursued non-finance interests. The rest remained in banking.