MBA Doubts

Man, I was all geared up to write a long comment and the above post captured a lot of what I was going to say, haha. I guess I'll just give you my experience and you can take from it what you want.

I did my MBA a few years ago, non HS M7. Paid full tuition. I was in a VP role at a good PE fund, but was burnt out and wanted to do something different. I was lucky that I had made good money for years, so while the opportunity cost was still very high, it was doable for me. 

I went to a small school for undergrad and had an ok experience. Had a good social network from my first couple of jobs, but it's feels significantly fuller and richer now that I've gone to B-School. I wan't in desperate need of friends/camaraderie, but it 100% has improved my social life in general. 

I didn't want to make a hard pivot to something different, but wanted to explore other things, I did multiple internships while in school, traveled a lot, and as I said above, probably have a core group of ~10 guy friends who I still have an active text thread with and I see at least a couple times a year. 

Professionally, I had a chance to exit back into an equal/better PE role, but ended up going the entrepreneurial route with a classmate, I'm definitely worse off from a cash position compared to if I'd never went to B-School and just stayed in PE. The reality though is that I likely wouldn't have lasted more than another year or two at my firm, so it's kind of a moot point. From an overall net worth perspective, I'm likely ahead, our business is doing well and I see a path to a liquidity event in the coming years. 

Perhaps most importantly, I'm happy with my life, I genuinely enjoy what I do and I work with great people. When I was in PE, I was constantly looking for another job, partially to leave my firm, but also just as a what's next mentality, I would field all head hunter calls, went deep in the process for Principal/Partner level at smaller firm, Family Office investing roles, etc. As I was reflecting on things towards the end of this year, it struck me that I haven't had that urge in years. I'm focused on what I'm building and excited to see how far I can push my business, now that's not to say there aren't' challenges, it's tough in a different way than a corporate role, but it's the right fit for me.

So in conclusion...there isn't much of a perfect answer. I 100% get why people say an MBA is a waste of time and money and I do think in the last 10-15 years it's been devalued more than in the past. That said, if you have the luxury to go, I think it's generally a life enriching experience. Life and business isn't linear, so it's often times hard to see the immediate ROI, but if you're ok with that, then I think it'll ultimately be net positive on your life.

Conversely, you still have time in your career to do another 2 year stint and then go get an MBA after. and Post 2 of IB and 2 of PE is a very natural progression into a HF seat without an MBA. Your story and timing make sense so I'd probably recruit in parallel to an MBA. If you end up at a great fund, one that you likely would have been happy at post-MBA, then maybe that makes your decision for you. In certain roles/fields there is sometimes a bias against MBA folks, it's obviously common in PE. Better to be a pre-MBA candidate for an Associate role than a post-MBA one. HFs are a little more agnostic, but I'd lightly argue it's the same.

The only people I know who really regret it, are the ones who made poor use of their time or frankly had pretty insane expectations, e.g. guy who wanted a post MBA Senior Associate/VP role at a megafund PE fund despite having no prior experience, needed sponsorship, and was generally not a super likeable person. He couldn't break in and would tell you that an MBA was a waste of time/money...you can judge that however you'd like, but to me, that person was set up for failure from day one.

Oh and last thing, on HSW vs M7, honestly my take is that 90% of MBA students are pretty much the same. H/S and to an extent W get some truly high performers and/or UHNW kids, but at HBS, there are still a ton of mediocre corporate background folks who just fit into a certain bucket of people. I had the entire HBS and S resume books many years back and it was shockingly how many, 730 GMAT, Female, Deloitte --> HBS or 740 GMAT, GE Rotational --> S types of profiles were in there.

H/S will improve your outcome if you want to go back to bigtime buyside roles. That said, if you're a standout at Booth and Columbia and you network hard, there are still slots open at good funds. Your pre-MBA experience matters a lot, so if you have strong IB + PE experience, you'll get your foot in the door at a decent selection of places.

Good luck with the decision.