PE internship, better than nothing?

Hey guys!

I'm an international sophomore student at a semi-target school in Europe, majoring in chemistry and minoring in math with a GPA around 3.5. I have a few interesting credentials, but none are super related to finance, although I did try to make them appear like that in my resume. In my future career I'd like to do something either finance or consulting related.
In December I started looking for internships (bad timing, I know) and applied to a few IBs as well as a few highly reputable consulting firms for internships and spring weeks, but so far I've got one rejection from JPMorgan. Tbh, I don't really expect myself to be shortlisted even at one of these intern positions this year, since I didn't submit that many applications, didn't network or attend the few recruitment events at our school we had and the online tests didn't go as well as I wanted. However, now that I've gone through all the process and I have a general idea about how it works, I have set high hopes for the next summer. I have a possibility to intern at a medium size PE firm in a large city this summer, but I'm not sure what should I do. I've heard that transition from PE->IB or consulting is very rare. Wouldn't my internship at a PE firm hurt my chances next year, when I'd be applying for IB or even consulting internships or would it, giving my non-finance background still be somewhat an advantage?

4 Comments
 

No. Its rare for people to move from full time PE to IB or consulting, but PE internships are highly looked on in full time hiring and hiring for other internships.

“...all truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” - Schopenhauer
 

Absolutely correct. A decent PE internship will help your applications rather than hurt them. Obviously a brand name internship in IB or consulting will help you to enter full-time in one of the two. PE has the benefit of being a bit of a hybrid so that you can always build a good story for future applications.

Hence, take the PE internship unless your other applications succeed.

 

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