Early Recruiting + Finding the Right Strategy for you

Curious what people in industry think on this topic. SA recruiting gets earlier and earlier each year, which leaves college kids with little time to decide. I know I would like to work at an HF at some point (macro, l/s equity) but haven't been able to decide which strategy is best for me. I want to wait for the summer to try my freshman internship, but oddly I feel that would leave me behind compared to people who already know what they are gunning for at my target.

In the age of accelerated recruiting, what is the best way to find which strategy suits you and then what to recruit for on sellside (IB, S&T, or the rare buyside out of ugrad)? 

I feel like every freshman who secures a good SA sophomore winter just skips this soul-searching because its really just a game of who is the most prepared at this point. There is just 0 freedom on our end to figure out what we like. 

1 Comments
 

Laboriosam odit dolores consectetur optio quisquam iure dolor. Animi aut vero id mollitia maxime. Voluptatibus quia corrupti totam dicta velit cupiditate dolor. Rerum quis aspernatur odit sunt quis. Quis nemo velit consequuntur sequi ut.

Dicta ullam dolores rem fugit. Quis dolorum quidem assumenda aperiam. Sint quo ut quisquam magni quas.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 97.0%
  • AQR Capital Management 96.0%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.0%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Two Sigma Investments 94.9%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (11) $372
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (83) $287
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (76) $193
  • Analysts (233) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (276) $95
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”