VP role for PE - is it worth pursuing an MBA outside of H/S/W?
Senior Associate working at $5B+ fund. I was not accepted to H/S/W - but did get into some other M7 schools. Looking to eventually secure a VP role at a MM PE shop. Would appreciate people's thoughts on whether its worth pursuing an MBA outside of H/S/W vs. looking for other opportunities (i.e. lateraling, looking for "career track" roles that will promote without MBA). To me, both routes present challenges: i) In talking with recruiters and other post-MBA VPs, there does seem to be a drop-off in terms of recruiting opportunities for VP roles at MBA programs outside of H/S/W (and if you look on team pages, most of the senior people have MBAs from H/S/W - although normally a few at each firm outside those 3). Worried about getting the opportunity to interview for VP roles if most firms are only recruiting out of H/S/W ii) in talking with recruiting firms I worked with during pre-MBA PE recruiting, and looking through the barrage of emails from a bunch of other random recruiting firms, there are definitely lateral opportunities - but most of these seem like a step down. Also concerned that I could end up bouncing around from place to place, linger for additional years in Associate roles, and never break through to VP (seen this happen to a few older friends).
While this is obviously an unanswerable question (none of us have a crystal ball and depends on a myriad of other factors) would love to hear perspectives how others have approached this situation.
I went to an M7 non H/S/W 2018 grad. I ended up interviewing with ~10-12 firms total, got all the way to finals with 80% of them and ultimately converted one offer. I will say you aren't going to get looks at similar sized funds. I came from a $2bl+ fund and stepped down to ~$750M.
In hindsight, I wish I had asked more questions (like you are doing now, so kudos) and hadn't gone. Primarily because the overall industry is changing, and the value of the MBA is declining. Especially if you are a white or Asian male, you are very likely to get stuck with the full sticker price which is incredibly frustrating now that the all in runs about $200k plus the opp cost of losing $300k+ each of those years, so about a million in pre-tax when combining the cost and opp cost. I had a 750 GMAT, didn't even get interviews at H/S/W which was kind of a punch in the gut, and then didn't get any scholarship dollars whatsoever at my program.