Lower Middle Market Private Equity vs. Middle Market IB (undergrad)

Hello Monkeys,

I hope you all enjoyed your summers... but Fall Recruiting is coming... (bad GoT reference?) I was wondering what all of you thought on different routes I could take.

Background: Rising junior at non-target Search fund internship this summer where I worked on a deal w/2 acquisitions, did general market/industry research, deal sourcing, dcf. GPA: 3.9+ Leadership exp via honor society/fraternity yadayada case comp yadayada

Goal: eventually do Middle Market Private Equity and see where it goes from there

Originally, I planned to go to a MM IB or do boutique IB/TAS as my fallback and hopefully lateral. However, there is a chance to pursue a lower middle market private equity fund internship, which can be converted to a FT offer. I doubt the pay would be on par with MM IB, but I really enjoyed the type of work I did. What are your thoughts on pursuing LMM PE vs. MM IB? Will I be stuck in the lower middle market? Do MBA programs view LMM with the same lenses as bulge bracket? Or will the word, "lower" ding me? All advice/criticism is appreciated.

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