MBB vs PE Out of College
Deciding between entry-level jobs out of college: BA/AC at MBB vs. Analyst at a consultant-friendly top-MM/MF PE
How are exit opps between the two? Long-term I see myself in management, probably within a more entrepreneurial setting. I guess this is contrary to most within the forum, but after spending my summers in AM/HF I don't really think finance is the path for me.
MBB exit route is well-established, does anyone know where juniors in PE typically go - and how the quality of those opps compare? Appreciate any thoughts.
bump
No brainer, the sooner you can get into PE, the better
PE. Consulting will teach you how to advise companies, PE will teach you how to buy, improve, govern, manage and sell companies. No brainer.
I disagree with the users above, no clear answer on this one.
About half of PE analysts go to hedge funds, some stay in PE and some leave to other finance roles (VC, Corp dev, etc). I know of one or two guys who have gone into operating roles (non-finance roles at tech / startups), and they’ve largely told me that their PE experience is not all that relevant.
For better or worse, large cap PE is mostly financial modeling, diligence, and transaction execution. You’ll learn a ton about analyzing business models, but much less about executing on a business day to day (especially when compared to MBB peers).
If you’re confident you don’t like finance, I would go with MBB. If you think you’ll like PE, I would go for it, because it’s a really differentiated program, and there are a million MBB consultants. If you realize that you do like finance, working at a large cap PE analyst program will open every door. MBB will not.
I’d make my decision based on the people I had met and where I thought I would enjoy the work more. You’ll have great exit options in either scenario.
Appreciate the advice, been very helpful, thanks all - definitely open to hearing others' thoughts as well
Currently an analyst at a UMM PE firm. I'm not the most tenured, but my advice would be to pursue the path that is the most interesting to you. I interned at an MBB prior to starting PE out of UG and I found that I personally much prefer the questions you solve in PE as opposed to MBB. Exit ops will likely be different - easier to go from MBB to upper-level management or strategy groups at large public companies, whereas from PE it is much easier to stay in PE / jump to HF / go to management (CFO) of a smaller business.
And this may be a hot take, but it may also be easier to become an entrepreneur from PE (if you're at an operationally-focused group) as you get experiences with smaller enterprises and get to see how the different functions of a business work together.
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