Target Masters or Non-target PE??
Hi folks,
I would like to ask you for your opinions on the situation that I am currently experiencing.
Unfortunately, my undergrad degree is rather poor (state uni in US) so I had applied for a couple of masters programs in finance at top unis in UK in order to maximize my chances to get an offer from IBD/PE in London (I am EU citizen) and I got in to Oxbridge for 2014 intake.
However, a couple of months ago I have started an internship at a mid-cap PE fund (less known) in London. Recently, they gave me and offer assuming that I would give up on my masters degree at Oxbridge.
What are your thoughts? Should I take the offer and consider target MBA later or should take the risk and hope (with Oxbridge degree and London PE experience on CV) for "better" offers from bigger funds/top tier investment banks?
Thanks in advance!
I know someone who was in exact same situation but the school was no Oxbridge tier. He went for the Masters because he was unsure about career progression if PE job went wrong and also to explore opportunities he might come across while doing the degree. Without going much into detail, he got chance to interview at top places + the PE reserved the spot for him in case he changed his mind.
So it all depends on you, if you really want to end up at megafund someday, go for the Masters and give it a shot.
Thanks, this is very helpful. I must say that must gut feeling is the same.
If you really wanna do PE, why not do it now that you got a full time offer? What you learn at school is definitely not as helpful as it sounds. After joining a PE fund, you will get training, even as analyst so you can acquire the skills that you think you will get at school (and trust me, direct in company training is way better than school).
The only reason why you should have gone for masters is if you're not sure about what you wanna do and are looking for an excuse to delay the decision.
The key is to remember that if you want to work at a BB after graduating with a Masters, you will still need to have achieved a strong academic record prior to your bachelors. I'm assuming that this was not the case as you ended up at a non-target. If I was in your position, I would ask myself i) what will the training be like at the PE firm, ii) what are my exit ops - how difficult is it to get into a top MBA from an unnamed boutique and iii) what are my career goals? If it is 'just' to work in PE then stick with it, but if you want to end up at named PE shop then you may have to gamble on a Masters and then, as mentioned above apply for IBD (btw if you are studying the Mphil in Finance, how well does it place students? I believe it's all theoretical and doesn't have as good a reputation as some of the programmes at other top European Universities. However, saying that, it probably will be enough to get you past the screening stage (bearing in mind you meet the other requirements).
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