Why does MBA admissions love MBB consultants but hate PE/finance?
I was recently looking at deep dives of HBS and Stanford GSB. Like where candidates went to school and the companies they worked at etc. Top undergrads send the most candidates to HBS and Stanford GSB (not surprising). The companies that send the most candidates to HBS and Stanford GSB are the MBB consulting firms (which sends dozens). Yet you only see a few PE mega fund associates in the classes. Why does HBS and Stanford GSB love MBB consultants over PE associates? And if you do PE does that mean your chances of getting into HBS and Stanford GSB is low vs MBB?
PE/finance doesn’t pay for it…
Because consultants have to think about things a lot more. There’s a lot less rearranging logos, and whether you like it or not, there’s only so many different variables you can come across for a financial model in M&A. Market models can be significantly more complex and the workflows for a consulting deliverable probably require more thought than than an IM, developing your project management skill set rapidly once you start managing workflows. All these things make an MBB consultant fit an MBA profile very well.
Maybe is it a bit the other way around: consultant want an MBA while IB/PE have less need for it. The fact that MBB pay for it is also an obvious big factor
"Hates PE/Finance" "Looking at a deep dive" Yeah okay buddy
HBS Entry stats: Pre-MBA Industry
- Consulting: 16%
- VC/PE: 16%
- Financial Services: 10%
GSB entry stats: Pre-MBA Industry
- Consulting: 20%
- Investment Management/VC/PE: 20%
- Financial Services: 4%
Wharton entry stats: Pre-MBA Industry
- Consulting: 27%
- PE/VC: 9%
- Investment management: 7%
- Financial Services: 5%
- Investment banking: 8%
So if you're going to bucket all finance together, comparing Finance to Consulting, HBS sits at 26% vs 16%, GSB sits at 24% vs 20%, and Wharton sits at 29% vs 27%.
If you're looking only and specifically at PE associates, then sure, HBS and GSB tie up the % and Wharton comes out a little more skewed towards consulting. If your assumption is that only MF PE Associates count, then sure, consultants are more prevalent, but that's like counting only the Distinctive/1/CO from MBB instead off the entire representative class.
I don't disagree with the AC2's comment above, but let's be 100% clear--someone who does 2-3 years at MBB and then 2 years at a PE shop is going to run circles around any AC2/BA2/A2 that's applying for business school, hard stop. Even the bankers that do 2 years at a bank and 2 years at a MF are going to outperform. Experience is what matters here, and the job of a PE Associate is different and maybe a bit less cerebral, but that the same time, when I was at Bain I had over a year of mind-numbing, "rearrange logos on a slide" style work where there was little thinking, and that's a common experience for many ex-MBB folks.
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