Pursuing a MBA while being in PE

Has anyone ever heard of someone pursuing a MBA while working full time in a PE shop? A pretty ambitious arrangement, but was wondering if that has ever happened before.

Thanks

19 Comments
 

Depends on the shop and arrangement. If they just need a monkey to process deal flow for hourly $ then sure, align expectations. If you're trying to be a full time investment professional while in MBA, that's hard. MBA classes are not difficult but just a huge time-suck during normal working hours not to mention fixed exam schedules that dgaf if you are working on a live deal. I am in the former arrangement currently and it is working solely bc I can turn off my zoom camera and do work, not certain its tenable for in-person classes    

 

No one cares about Kellogg/Booth MBA in PE

This statement is so blatantly inaccurate that it's quite clear you are just trying to troll.

Really? Go through the bellwether Midwest PE firms investment teams, GTCR/MDP.... you’ll be hard pressed to find more than 1 or 2 (if that) Kellogg/Booth MBAs out of maybe 70 H/S/W MBA. You’ll probably find more non-mba’s (not many) than you’ll find Booth/Kellogg. If you’re in PE, you’re better off not getting an MBA at all if you don’t get into H/S/W.

Nothing against Booth/Kellogg, they’re great programs. They are great to get into investment banking, or F500, or the multitude of other use cases for a top 10 MBA, but for top-tier PE not so much.

 
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Outside of maybe ~5 funds it's more booth/Kellogg/Wharton than Harvard especially if you look vp/principal level (and roughly even split between b/k and w)

I like how you snuck Wharton into the same category as Booth and Kellogg, dropped both S and W out of the H/S/W bucket, and excluded 5 funds (probably the best 5).

You’re clearly slicing the data to tell a story (e.g., reclassifying to cluster Kellogg/Booth with Wharton to provide lift to K/B, dropping S to depress the other bucket, looking at VP/Principals only).

This isn’t a controversial perspective for anyone other than those that went to Booth/Kellogg and are insecure about it. The PE world is H/S/W MBA or bust. If you got an MBA elsewhere, it’s incidental.

Can you find a K/B MBA at top tier PE? Im sure you can dig a few up. You can probably also find a few guys that went to UG at UT-Austin, or have a JD and no MBA, or maybe a couple of LSE MBAs.

If you’re dying to go to Booth, go. If you really want to be in PE, top-tier or otherwise, you can make it happen regardless of where/whether you get an MBA. I’m just talking about data here, which is irrefutable.

 

Correct, I am not at a mega fund or even a large regional fund. "Worth working at..." can mean a lot of things. While this shop probably doesn't meet your benchmark, I  love the sector and part of the market they focus in, so it suites me. As for the program, and without picking a fight over rankings, I'd say its one worth going to. We can't all go to Harvard and work at Blackstone. 

 

Correct, I am not at a mega fund or even a large regional fund. "Worth working at..." can mean a lot of things. While this shop probably doesn't meet your benchmark, I  love the sector and part of the market they focus in, so it suites me. As for the program, and without picking a fight over rankings, I'd say its one worth going to. We can't all go to Harvard and work at Blackstone. 

Not what I was getting at, but I see that’s how it comes off.

Why not counter my “not worth working at” with what you like about it and why it’s a better path for you personally... would be a rare counterweight (on WSO atleast) to the all Bx/Harvard humping. Most of the monkeys on here never hear any perspective other than the prestige/brand chase.

 

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