What Happens To Pre-MBA PE Associates that Get an MBA and Don't Break Back In?

Looking at class profiles and employment reports, it appears that there is a bit of attrition for the number of pre-MBA PE associates that actually leave with post-MBA PE jobs. Given that there are not enough seats at the table for everyone coming out of business school, where do those that fail to break back in end up? Given the recruiting timeline for post-MBA PE jobs, do these people miss out on banking recruiting opportunities? Or do these candidates tend to recognize that they'll miss out on PE post-MBA, so they choose to be proactive and recruit elsewhere from the get-go.

Just trying to understand downside scenarios and minimize risk...

 

I've heard a lot of MBA candidates give up for that reason because the process is very risky closely followed by IM recruiting. I think a lot of them who don't give up recruit for IB on the side so if in case they don't break in, they'll at least have IB offer on hand.

 
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I agree with Frank Slaughtery -- plenty of folks that did IB / PE beforehand don't necessarily want to go back. What what I've seen, the folks that don't want to go back tend to want to start their own company. Some of them go into industry in a particular sector of interest to them or an alternative form of finance (such as asset management). A few end up back in banking, but it isn't typical. I'd say the ones who ended up back in banking worked at very small investment banks / investment shops (I'm talking PE. Overall, almost none of them goes into consulting.

In terms of the risk factor, my classmates who had experience from well known banks/PE shops really weren't concerned about graduating without a job. While not everyone had a job by graduation, some folks were patient and still landed in PE afterwards. For people in this position, there is very little risk that you can't get ANY job after graduation -- your resume is strong enough that there are plenty of interested companies who will hire you off cycle.

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