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Having worked at and known many within the best funds, I think there is no such thing as "selective" per se. The most difficult places to get in are those where pedigree matters, so you need to have that Ivy league degree with honors, top PE experience and sometimes previous  top HF experience. This doesn't mean these people are the "best". 

So I think the most selective funds are those with extremely small teams (e.g., Himalaya, TCI, Akre) where pedigree doesn't matter as much as fit, networking, and hiring frequency (must match your timing). 

 

Dang getting a lot of hate for this post. Thanks for answering truthfully, happy hunting

 
Controversial

Getting so much shit for this question meanwhile jokes on this platform write essays on their mental health problems or inability to cope with the stress of a career in finance and get all kinds of praise/engagement. Go pound sand losers.

 
Most Helpful

Obvious troll post but in the 1% chance it is not, let me help you out. Your question/ this thread adds zero value (in fact it probably adds negative value for students looking to learn), and illustrates you don't understand the industry. 

First off "most secretive/selective" is super cringey.


There are a lot of funds out there that do different things and will be great places to work depending on what your investment style is and what you want to do. Sought after seats are dependent on that, then the economics of the fund (AUM/IP), and opportunities for learning and growth. If you were to say - what are some of the best places to do long biased growthy investing that are SMs and have great economics for those who contribute - you would probably get a better list. Or maybe, "what are some places that really focus on teaching you the craft for "xyz" investing and are like what Julian Roberston did for early Tiger analysts". The thing you are asking us to define is what fund has the most "exclusivity" "pedigree" "selectiveness" like you're part of some WASPY social club in NYC - in that the most important distinction to where you want to work is that + what people will think of you. 

That stuff doesn't matter and doesn't get you anywhere in this industry.The selectiveness of some firms has come from 1) their position to do very well in the cycle + fund economics made them especially attractive for talent, so they were able to impose ridiculous filtering restrictions (must be top IVY + top banking + top private equity) because even with those restrictions they still would have 50 candidates to decide from. We have discussed why pedigree matters before (and whether or not it should) but I am not going to do that here.

We don't need people thinking Baupost is more "elite" than Soros because this forum said so and "look they hired more Harvard GS APO people!" It is a false statement, irrelevant, and encourages the wrong mindset for students looking to learn about investing and break into HFs
 

 

You’re completely right and thanks for posting. I think ppl take this forum a bit too seriously sometimes and it’s ok to have fun and talk about pedigree of firms especially since it does exist. But nobody wants to engage probably because the ppl who are at these firms don’t waste their time on this platform and that’s ok.

 

Dolorum quo soluta sed quod neque itaque est. Sed est aperiam vitae reprehenderit nobis non natus atque.

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