Skipping B school cons?
I’m an associate considering B school at a shop that direct promotes high performing associates without needing B school. There is a combination of life, logistical, and business related factors holding me back from going all in on applying. Hypothetically, if I would get into H/S or get direct promoted, what do you think I / others are giving up near term (5 years), mid-term (5-15 years), and long term (15+ years) of our lives and careers not going to a top B school and taking a direct promote? I have heard it’s nearly impossible to start a fund, much harder to raise capital for a startup idea, harder to lateral, etc. without the B school stamp of approval. Also, for context my undergraduate is not the strongest if that helps color the argument. Any insight is appreciated.
Can you explain to me what this b school stamp of approval is? Never heard of it
The "it's nearly impossible to do X" is mostly speaking about the current generation of seniors - MBA was practically required to exist in their day. So many talented people are getting the direct promote these days, MBA is not what it used to be. And in turn, the networking isn't what it used to be either.
MBA makes sense for career switchers or if you're not sure what you want after PE. If you like your shop, keep moving up the chain while you're young and can wear the hours
agreed with the above. always be thinking of people's motives and incentives. Most likely you are told it is nearly impossible to raise a fund or fundraise by someone who 1.) went to business school 2.) grew up in a time when this is required for advancement (which it is not anymore) 3.) and could potentially just want you to come back and work for him and not do your own thing. Just listen to any top entrepreneur or VC, never ever ever heard one say they prefer MBAs. Many like Thiel and Musk say they try "not to hold MBAs against someone"
I generally agree with your statements, but do want to mention that the finance/PE ecosystem is very different than the startup/tech one. An MBA isn’t a big deal in startups, but I don’t think anyone in finance/PE, even the biggest of big shots, would “try not to hold a HBS degree against someone”
True. was just responding to that part since he mentioned raising capital for entrepreneurship. B-school in finance as well is becoming more a skating to where the puck was not where it is going approach looking retroactively at what those above you did and thinking it still applies the exact same way
On the contrary, I have heard from more than 1 Partner w/out an MBA that they dislike MBAs in general due to a large portion of them having below average work ethic and an elitist attitude
If you are already in PE, then an MBA will do little for your career, other than a dedicated 2 year opportunity to meet people. You will very likely end up in the same place, unless you use school to pivot.
So the question is, do you want to go, or do you want to keep staying. Stop all this nonsense about “should you shouldn’t you” bullshit. If you don’t want to go, then don’t go. It won’t hurt your career.
Spending $200k seems like a con to me
if your school is paying you to go and will offer you VP position then you should definitely go! a lot of PEs are not requiring MBAs (for e.g. KKR) to promote to VP/Principal, but at Partner level MBA is still largely preferred or come in handy. money shouldn't be a factor in the long run of things
I can assure you that the last thing on people’s mind when considering promoting someone to partner is if they have an MBA (or their educational background almost entirely).
that's not true at all, for e.g. H&F ICs all went to HBS, and their recent Principal promotes all have MBA lol. KKR's most recent PE director promote has a MBA. And on education background, MF have pipelines from universities and you don't think the Principal who went to UT will help hire more juniors from UT into the company under his sector?
The "stamp" means incredibly little now, especially because the industry is not all upward and onward as it used to be. If you have a return offer in hand and want a break from the grind / to meet actually normal and cool people, go to school. If it'd be a strain on a serious relationship geographically, you want to maximize earnings, or if you wouldn't be assured of a VP offer at your current firm if you left, then don't go. The firms that really care about MBAs are increasingly those who are snooty about other things, like only hiring their former Associates pre-b-school as VPs post-b-school.
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