Ivy Engineering Bachelors+Masters+F50 R&D -> IB/PE/VC/etc

Hi all. I’m a senior Mechanical Engineering major at a T10 school (think Penn/Brown/Duke/CalTech/etc). I’ll be graduating with both my BSE and MSE in MechE. I've completed my master's during my undergrad to enhance my technical branding for VC.

My long-term goal is to work in finance or S&O within EVs, consumer products, or climate tech. I'm passionate about EVs and have tailored my extracurricular and internship experiences accordingly, including R&D at big-name EV tech companies like Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, etc.

Planning to get my MBA after 3-5 YOE in R&D at a high-growth startup in an innovative related field (either stay at hot EV company or move to solid state battery tech startup (chasing equity and start-up branding)). Post-MBA, hoping to pivot to finance for a few years before finance at startup or larger technology firm, or venture capital.

The engineering pay ceiling— even in hardware tech space— is too low. My starting comp at 23 will be ~$140k (currently making $125k prorated as intern). If I stay in engineering, I’ll be making mid-$200 by 35. My finance friends will be clearing $500k+++ at 35 with much larger upsides.

I’m aware that this career change is about 5 years away, but want to plan for my MBA (prioritizing more PM-type strategy and leadership work, community service/engagement, finance networking) from as soon as I begin working.

Would appreciate thoughts and advice on my plan. Does this seem viable? Are there exits that could leverage my tech experience (that aren’t quant trading)? I’m hoping my 3-5 years in R&D could allow me to enter higher than a BB IB year 1 analyst.