New Grad: fundamentals at citadel securities vs. hedge fund

Hi all,

I'm currently debating between two offers and am looking for some advice. 

Fundamental Analyst at Citadel Securities: 

  • Comp: base of ~200, sign-on and bonus of ~50 ish
  • Location: NYC
  • Thoughts: I interned here over the summer and was lucky to receive a return offer. Although the hours and work were rough (had to go in on weekends sometime), the comp and location are both attractive. However, the fundies analysts are second-class to the traders, and I'm not sure how much growth exists in this space. 

Hedge Fund:

  • I recruited pretty lightly, and was able to secure a role at a small hedge fund.
  • Comp: ~300 first year
  • Location: LCOL city, Chicago
  • Thoughts: If this role were in New York, I'd take it in a heartbeat. The comp is higher and I think the work sounds more interesting. There's a lot more autonomy in this role and the firm is smaller, so you truly own the things you cover. They mainly focus on equities. WLB is likely better than Cit as well

My decision is due soon, since the offers are both exploding. I'm really unsure of what to do. 

Firstly, I think NYC is a really big pull for me. I loved my time in the city this summer and would love to go back. The only issue is I don't know how attractive the fundies analyst position is. I'm not sure what exits would look like at either place (fundies is super niche, and on the other hand, the hedge fund is super small so pretty unknown). If the hedge fund were in New York, I'd take it in a heartbeat, since I'm young and I think it's better for me to take risks on my career. Comp's not a huge differentiator here, I guess. Just the location and future opportunities that might come out of the two positions.

Really conflicted here. Awful of me to say but almost wish that I didn't land one of them so I didn't have to agonize over this. Which position would you guys take? What considerations would you make? Keep in mind I'm a 22 year old, about to graduate in May

Two roads diverged in a yellow road...

1 Comments
 

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