How MF’s view H/S/W
As background - I am now finishing up at a MF before heading to B-school. I’ve received a lot of questions about what schools MF’s target for post-mba roles and why
What you guys need to understand is that it is unbelievably competitive to get back into PE at a MF. The common consensus at my firm is that if you don’t go to H/S, it’s almost impossible to return post-mba. Even if you do go H/S it will be very tough getting back in.
The firm LOVES GSB grads because they assume that if you got into GSB, you probably also got into HBS (doesn’t work the other way around). MF’s love filtering. GSB’s acceptance rate does a tremendous job of that, especially for the finance admits.
HBS has a large class to recruit from, which is nice, but can also lead to some hit-or-miss experiences. We used to be heavily weighted toward HBS grads, but, from what I’ve gathered, that trend has been shifting in the opposite direction over the past 5 or so years.
It is rare for us to hire a Wharton grad (which was shocking to me). It’s not a knock against the school. From the eyes of my MF, if they only need 2-3 hires, why take a Wharton grad when they have hundreds of H/S grads?
The firm, from what I’ve heard, won’t consider any other MBA’s
This is why a lot of ppl choose to pursue smaller funds post-mba. There’s not much room for upward mobility, so the firms can be extraordinarily strict in selecting candidates.
Disclaimer: Comments pertain to takeaways from my MF (in addition to some friends at different firms), but may not apply to all.
Thanks for the insight. A couple of questions: 1) you mentioned that your firm loves the exclusiveness of Stanford. Does that lead to a slight preference for those candidates or are HBS candidates completely level with them?
2) Did this insight change your b school plans at all? And did your firm help you get into the school you wanted?
1) Your odds of making it through the process as a GSB candidate are higher because we seem to source talent there as often (perhaps more often) than HBS, and the smaller class size increases your odds significantly. But if we had an HBS guy competing with a GSB guy in a final round, the slight favor toward GSB’s low acceptance rate wouldn’t be enough to sway the process.
2) Not really, but I wasn’t set on returning to a MF so I wasn’t worried about the whole non-H/S thing. It did open my eyes to how truly competitive the process is though. The firm, and many others, care about pedigree because it helps with their brand, deal sourcing, etc.
They did help out with mba recruiting. The recommendations, consultants, and advice from seniors who went through the process were invaluable.
I’m guessing this is bain because tpg, bx, apollo, and Carlyle have all hired from Wharton in the last 1-3 years. Could be Warburg but they just bring back their own associates usually. (All the other large cap funds have as well, eg advent cd&r). These are non urm non returning associate examples
But yea, no doubt gsb gets the most looks and you have less competition. Have family members in the industry who just graduated b school - directly from their experience. But large caps aren’t ignoring calls from an ex large cap guy because he didn’t get into h/s (except bain). But the point is fair, the w guy will certainly have to do a ton more legwork
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Appreciate the comment. My statement about Wharton may have sounded too black-and-white. It’s rare that we’d take a Wharton candidate over H/S candidate, but it happens occasionally. Like you mentioned in your comment, it is just much more of an uphill battle for the Wharton candidate.
I’m an analyst at a UMM/MF and have noticed similar sentiment. GSB and HBS seem to have a significant advantage in our recruiting processes (or maybe they are just better prepared?). Also have recognized a similar push for GSB grads. My senior-ish mentors here (even those who attended HBS) have encouraged me to shoot for Stanford. However, I do have to note that we still have quite a bit of Wharton grads
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