How to get to top HF out of undergrad

Junior at HYP here, did two summers at a well-respected multi-strat hedge fund across L/S, credit, and event-driven stuff and now incoming SA at BX/KKR/Bain PE. As a sell-out, honestly feel like a complete sell out for doing PE, because I genuinely have no interest in it and (recognizing my privilege to be in this position) would be at least a bit disappointed if I had to do PE full-time. Knowing it is not all too likely, how can I optimize my networking to potentially land a tiger cub-esque fund out of undergrad? Or is it just impossible, and I should prepare myself for two years of PE.

41 Comments
 

You should probably go to PE. Opens doors to basically all the top SMs. You will have a lot more choice after 2 years as a PE analyst.

 

Yeah I know it will open doors, which is why I’ve come down this road in the first place. But curious to see if I can get there without the grind of two years of PE. Also curious about this idea that tiger cubs use PE style approach to public markets investing.

 

The whole "PE style investing" thing is bs. Just a way to impress LP's by having the most "pedigreed" people at the firm. The SM I was at for example traded quarters all the time. Really just depends where you're at. 

 

How would a top PE program compare to p72 academy and the like? 

Tiger cubs hire from PE programs, much less so than P72. They're for different people though...

 

It doesn’t work like that. The premise of getting into a formerly respected, underwater SM while it’s down is flawed for 2 reasons. 1: high watermark math. There’s little benefit to “buying the dip”. 2: net new seats are unlikely to open as they freeze hiring. Even if attrition picks up, it’s less likely the current capital base can support replacing those IPs

 

Good point nillynillybilly--although if a kid isnt smart/well connected enough to come to this conclusion on their own, I doubt they have what it takes to a take a shot on goal for one of these slots. My issue with most of WSO, at least the intern crowd, is that they choose to chase status accolades rather than truly trying to understand investing and the perspective it takes to place contrarian, winning bets. These jobs are pure networking and impressing the decently smart people at these funds on top of having the network needed narrows the pool down to a couple kids at top schools. 

 

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