PE MBA Admissions Update
Know the last few years have been harder for PE admissions at H/S, anyone have an update on how things look this year? Specifically focused on UMM/MF. My fund had pretty bad performance this year (only 1 HBS out of a bunch of applicants from a MF that sends a lot to bschool) but curious if that is industry wide or an us issue.
Incoming HBS sstudent here. Don’t have numbers but haven’t met many PE people so far
Why do you think this is happening? What are the most common professions?
Some hypotheses (pure conjecture, I don’have any inside info):
It’s helpful to have diversity of experiences/backgrounds and PE skillsets are pretty similar - you don’t want one role to be like 40% of your class
PE has expanded a lot and there’s all sorts of things - impact funds, LPs/SWFs , secondaries, credit, VC, etc - I’ve seen some people from these, and I’m guessing adcoms want some diversity here too: so it makes the buyout PE pool extra competitive as there are less spots
I’ve heard that PE people can be a little elitist/cliquey in school (not participating in the community, etc) and it’s not surprising that adcoms want students that are excited to be a part of the community
UPE is increasingly unlikely to provide the tail-end superdonor outcomes the school would like to select for, which seem more likely to come from tech or entrepreneur types these days
It’s pretty hard to get a true VP role at a “similar or better” fund after b school that many hope to get, and I’ve heard many ex PE folks have been unemployed for a while as they look for the right role post graduation: I’m guessing the school is hesitant to accept people that have a tough time finding their desired role (doesn’t look good when X% are unemployed after graduation / not great to have disgruntled former students who are disappointed with their jobs)
To your second question - lots of random things, really. Corporate, engineering (lots of actual engineers like O&G, manufacturing, etc - not just SWE), tech, startups, consulting
At my MF, something like 1 out of a dozen got into HBS
what schools are being substituted in over HBS? any colour on whether people are choosing wharton/booth instead?
A year out of business school so it may be outdated but I'm assuming the old standard still holds to be true assuming that one is coming from a UMM/MF background
H/S (with a slight edge to S in recent years) -------> Wharton ----------------------------------------> Booth
That is to say out of my class of 10 associates 8 applied. Of those 8, half only applied to H/S (typically come from HYPS type undergrad) the other half will apply to HSW but none applied to Booth.
Those who don't get in to any of the schools that they applied to typically either stick it out one more year at a portco role or sr. associate (if the fund allows) or look to lateral out to a different shop that has potential partner track / VP promote. Now not sure how this is still the case since the hiring market seems to be dead the last 2-3 years
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