McKinsey NYO Summer Business Analyst or Jane Street Strategy & Product?
Fortunate enough to be in a position to decide either for my 2027 summer. Long-term goal is buyside (PE, growth equity, or VC) or strategy & ops at a top startup, with an MBA somewhere along the way (likely M7).
My read so far: McKinsey looks stronger on exit breadth - PE recruiting, growth equity and VC pipelines, startup ops seats - and is a well-trodden path to top MBA programs. Jane Street pays meaningfully more, plus the brand carries real weight in the HF/quant world if I ever wanted to move that direction. The piece I genuinely can't get a clean read on is where JS Strategy & Product alums actually end up. I've searched but haven't found much beyond a few scattered LinkedIn paths.
Specific questions I'd love takes on
- What are realistic exits from JS Strategy & Product? Buyside, startups, internal moves to trading/research?
- For the buyside (PE, growth equity, VC), how does MBB stack up against a top quant shop non-trading role? My sense is MBB has the edge here but happy to be corrected.
- How does each option play for M7 MBA admissions? Is McKinsey's edge as real as it's made out to be, or is JS S&P viewed just as favorably by adcoms?
- For anyone who's weighed MBB vs a top quant shop non-trading role, what ended up mattering most in hindsight?
Thanks in advance.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here's a breakdown of your decision points:
1. Realistic Exits from Jane Street Strategy & Product (S&P):
2. Buyside (PE, Growth Equity, VC): MBB vs. Quant Shop Non-Trading Role:
3. M7 MBA Admissions:
4. Key Factors to Consider:
Final Thoughts:
If your long-term goal is buyside or startup strategy/ops with an MBA along the way, McKinsey NYO Summer Business Analyst is the stronger choice. The breadth of exits, alignment with your goals, and MBA pipeline make it a more strategic fit. Jane Street's S&P role is compelling for its compensation and prestige in the quant world, but it may not provide the same level of alignment with your stated aspirations.
Sources: Breakdown of Post-IB Exit Opportunities, From trader to consultant, Prop Trading (MM) v.s. BB Sales and Trading, Centerview vs. Jane Street vs. Meta
my brother in christ JS SP is the exit opp
right but what after Jane Street if I want to do something else? I don’t want to be stuck in a back office Strategy & Product role at a quant trading firm
It's a "back office" role that pays 300k first year out of undergrad chill lol
I have a friend who intentionally chose this over actual QT roles, it's a very strong opportunity and firm
You can also always just do the internship and rerecruit for MBB FT. Much easier to go in that direction than the other way around
JS
Reasoning? It is a strategy & product role and not the quant trading role which is why I’m hesitant. Would love to hear ur thoughts
If you try to leave Jane Street to go to a PE shop, you should be immediately blackballed for having no understanding of risk-adjusted return
Strategy & Product at Jane Street - not trading. Does that change anything?
Is this real?
Lmao these replies are funny because McK is the better choice. The S&P team is not what makes JS special
Precisely my concern
Ignore title. At McK and you should choose JS. Total 1st year TC can be easily over 300k, whereas you make 130k at McK. Beware that return rates for JS is probably lower than 50%. But you can always re recruit. You also make like 50k in the summer with housing covered…
that's all true but what about it being an offer for the strategy & product role specifically and NOT trading (their main business function)? what would the long term optionality of entering this role be? that's what i'm curious about i don't care about comp
I’m no expert on JS but my understanding is that SP people get placed in teams. I.e with traders and work on problems ranging from risk management to new strategy implementation. It is “back office” per se but any VC, big tech, or startup respect JS on the resume. Sure there maybe things that McK opens that JS doesn’t. I do think the learning is amazing here and exits are fantastic as well. So it’s up to you at the end of the day.
A friend works at JS S&P and it's a pretty cushy job with limited exited opps. His hours avg 50/wk and he gets comped around 200k NG, so there's nowhere he can really leave to without taking a haircut on comp or a massive increase in hours. The skills don't translate to QT and heavy emphasis on developing internal tools means its not as transferrable to tech PM. Basically he is limited to interviewing for similar PM roles at other quant firms like 2sigma, HRT, and maybe some AI startup but that comes with big risk compared to clipping paychecks at JS.
It's still a fantastic role to be in and you should consider it long term; but it isn't the best fit for the career opps you stated
Ex-MBB here, spent ~10 years there and now in tech. I’d take Jane Street, and honestly I don’t think this is that close.
McKinsey is a good credential, but it is a very well-understood credential. There are thousands of people with some version of that signal. Jane Street is a much rarer one. Even in a strategy/product role, the environment tells a different story: extremely high talent density, quantitative culture, fast feedback loops, technical proximity. That is much harder to manufacture later.
Consulting is still respected, but the center of gravity has shifted toward people who can operate inside technical businesses, understand data/products/systems, and help drive execution, not just frame problems elegantly. AI probably accelerates that shift. A lot of classic consulting work is getting compressed, automated, or pulled in-house by stronger internal teams.
got it. what do you think is possible to do after strategy & product at jane street though? haven't seen any exits from there and am curious what my options are if i don't like the role
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