thoughts on front office FO to middle office US PE

im currently at a fof family office doing front office work but im worried that career progression might be difficult outside of the firm given its small scale and presumably more niche compared to institutions. im considering to enter a middle office FoF US PE firm with a much better base pay but i have concerns on:

(1) which role/experience would be more attractive for a top tier US MBA program? (this is the goal in 5 years)

(2) how likely is it to go from middle office PE to front office?

(3) how does working hours/WLB look like in a middle office PE?

(4) what is the usual progression? i see this firm having someone in VP role for almost 5 years, is that common?

context of the middle office role: doing more fund performance analysis/gathering data for the front office peeps

TIA 🙏🏻

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