PE Associate Rejected at HSW... Now What?

What are people's thoughts at this point? I'm at a MM / UMM fund right now who got dinged at HSW (only schools I applied to). My firm's willing to keep me on for another year, so I'm not worried about unemployment, but as I'm considering my next steps I'm wondering if it's worth lateraling or going to another b-school at this point?

My outcome is pretty typical for my fund in that maybe 1/4 of associates get into H/S, maybe 1/2 get into W, and pretty much everyone gets into B/K/C/S. I got a 760 on the GMAT so that wasn't my issue, I think it's just how oversaturated the market is with PE folks (anecdotally, I've heard that HSW has gotten much more difficult over the last 5 years coming out of my firm). I'll obviously rewrite all my essays, hire a consultant, etc., but I'm not holding my breath for a materially better outcome.

I think I'd have a decent shot lateraling elsewhere but the thing is, I really want to go to business school for the experience / 2-year vacation. Is it worth going to a non-HSW school if I want to stay in UMM PE or should I just lateral if I don't get in? Gracias everyone.

 

I'd apply again to HSW, but probably expand to the rest of the MBA business schools">M7, just so you have options. Consultant is a good idea as well, just for positioning and to help shape your story a little better. At the end of the day, H/S are a crapshoot, especially Stanford. They can only take so many over represented male finance candidates, so if you don't have some sort of unique edge to your story, it's going to be hard to stand out.

Wharton I feel like is usually where you'd end up pretty safely. I feel like a re-apply with some Wharton specific items (if you didn't do so the first time around).

From the conversations I'd had with people, if you have prior PE experience and get into an MBA business schools">M7/Top 10, there's usually a seat for you somewhere, but it might be more in the middle market vs UMM/MF. If you want to do UMM/MF, HSW probably gives you the best shot. It's probably not impossible from a non HSW MBA business schools">M7, but it's going to be tougher.

I wouldn't take it too hard, you might have just gotten a little unlucky this year. If you apply again in the fall, you could always take time off after decisions come in and attempt to lateral with business school (even if it's a non HSW) as a backup.

 

Happened to me also a couple years ago when I was applying. Unfortunately I didn't have the luxury of being able to take another year at work to give it another shot. So I applied and got into a few other schools (M7/T10), and ended up attending one with a full ride. The following year another associate at my firm got into GSB (feelbadman.jpg).

Had I gotten into HSW and then had to choose between there and my full ride, it would have been tough situation. Looking back, if you have PE experience pre-MBA, you can def get in post-MBA. I don't know how easy it is from HSW, but the nice thing about having pre-MBA PE experience at a non-HSW is that you are typically in the minority (and thus have a better chance of catching a group's eye when they post on-campus). That said, there are def going to be fewer PE opportunities from on-campus recruiting, so maybe it balances out.

 
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Good news, your situation is nearly identical to what mine was 10 years ago... I also got rejected from HSW coming from PE with a 760 GMAT. At the time, I was shocked and had to rethink my career strategy. I ended up working in PE for two more years in a more senior capacity at another firm. Decided to reapply (I had blamed my rejections on applying 2nd round instead of 1st, so I thought that would solve the problem). So two years later I applied to H/W and Booth. H/W both rejected me again -- in fact, this time Wharton didn't even have the courtesy to waitlist me! Booth offered me a huge scholarship which I accepted and never looked back.

In hindsight, this was a much better outcome for me as I had substantially more PE experience which made recruiting for PE easier, more savings when entering school, and $75k+ tuition cost savings (b-school was cheaper back then!). I also loved Booth and now realize it was a much stronger cultural fit than H/W would have been, even though I didn't see it at the time and probably would have gone to Wharton had I gotten in.

So my advice to you is to stick around for another year at your fund and apply again, but this time choose a few additional schools and add them to the list!

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

Depending on your undergrad, this could have been a case of bad luck or it may be something that hurt you for HSW. Did you go to a less prestigious school or have a lowish GPA?

 

Had a similar situation and ended up attending a non H/S/W MBA with no regrets. Went to an Ivy League undergrad and had a top BB on my resume. Here's my thoughts on post mba recruiting:

Post MBA recruiting opportunities are essentially the same across all of the MBA business schools">M7, with the exception of PE. Certain MBA business schools">M7 school are going to be stronger than others in certain areas (for example, Sloan is strong in Tech PM recruiting, CBS for fundamental HFs, Kellogg for marketing/consulting, etc.), however, there's really not much of a difference and you could get whatever job you want at a non MBA business schools">M7 MBA if you put in the leg work.

PE recruiting is tough, even at H/S/W. There's roughly 250 post MBA PE positions and maybe 125? of those positions are MF/UMM PE positions that can only be recruited for at H/S/W. So the question comes down to, do you want to take an extra year off to have the opportunity to recruit for one of these 125 positions?

I do think the student body is a lot stronger at H/S versus some of the other M7s. In terms of networking opportunities, its really debatable whether its worth waiting another year. I took a good scholarship at a non H/S/W MBA business schools">M7 and I'm happy with the decision.

 

Not to hijack your thread, but I'm curious to see if you got your rec letter(s) from alums at HSW (maybe you tailored different letters to each application specifically)? I understand the actual context of the relationship between you and the person writing the recommendation is most important but I'd be interested to see if you still got dinged after receiving recs from people at your current firm who could both speak candidly to your character but were also alums at HSW to boot. I'd imagine your firm has plenty of former HSW grads in its ranks based on the associate placement that you mentioned but also understand that the choice of actually asking them to write your rec letters may go either way.

I'm in a similar boat as where you were a year ago. Finishing up my first year of MM PE and preparing my applications for this fall. I'm rather weary that I'll end up in the same exact position as the one you currently find yourself in. I don't really think I want to live in Illinois, and realize I have practically no shot at Stanford, so I'm thinking that I'll be preparing applications for H/W/C/S for this fall and seeing how it all shakes out.

 

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