I currently have been working in commercial real estate. While the company I work for is not a name brand company, everyone I work with went to great schools and we are a relatively big fund. I had a 4.0 GPA at a good but not great school. Having said that, lots of my classmates went into finance (and a few at BBs) but i chose real estate as i was interested in both finance and real estate but thought real estate would give me a better work-life balance in the future. Now that I've been in the industry, i realize that real estate guys are still working 60 hours weeks even in senior positions, which from what I've heard is about what senior level guys in high finance work. Along with that, it seems real estate pay probably tops out at about half of what finance pay does. So being that I'm interested in both, and they work pretty similar hours (surely finance works a little more but they seem comparable at senior levels), I have begun considering an MBA for a career switch. Given my GPA and test taking abilities (assume i'll score high on GMAT), I think I could get into a school like Wharton or Chicago. If I did, what would I realistically be able to get myself in to? I don't mind working my life away for up to 2 years after MBA, but after that I want to be in something that averages 60ish on a normal week and preferably less. Additionally, I don't want to go into something that has mediocre pay, because then I might as well stick out the real estate career. Basically, I am not interesting in leaving the industry because of lack of interest, but rather because I feel I could get paid much more working similar hours for something i'm equally as interested in. Am I misinformed for thinking this? Also, what are the chances I'd be able to work myself into something like PE, HF, or VC?
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I think you'll have a near impossible time getting into VC especially since it looks like VC volume is down (and going down). Everyone's general consensus is that without the IBD background, or high finance in general, that you're going to be hard pressed to find anything PE related. There's a possibility you could squeeze into ER with the right prep, but once again I think HF would be unlikely.
You'd definitely be able to get into a IBD role if you put in the work. Be an associate for a while and then loop into PE/HF or even VC.
It's hard to say without knowing your network and it's always a gamble.
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