Optimal Path to HF

Hello Monkeys,I am posting because I am really looking to break into a top HF or MM firm (either quantitative or classic) out of undergrad or maybe 2 years out. I am a junior in engineering w/ a high GPA and have a BB S&T accepted offer for next summer locked up already. Just started a internship as an ER intern; I'm wondering if I want to break into a HF, should I keep going the S&T route (FICC trading emphasis) or try to break into the ER/ IB space and go from there? I love the idea of activist hedge funds, arbitrage focused funds and L/S funds and I think I would be a perfect fit. I have limited coding knowledge but am starting to take a few more classes jr/sr year. I’m non target and have strong people skills. Please let me know your thoughts!

9 Comments
 

Have an internship offer a top MM hedge fund so hopefully can shed some light on this. If you're aiming to work as an analyst/PM at an L/S equity fund, you're not going to do so from S&T at all. The requisite skills aren't built out from S&T so you'll need to dip into ER or IB. Alternatively, you could apply to the market neutral podshops out of undergrad.

 

Thanks for the advice, you haven’t seen anyone go from s&t to MM at all? How did you end up getting the Mm internship offer?

 

There’s probably a few that have done but it’s by no means a standard path. I mean think about it, it’s sorts like becoming a surgeon when you’ve trained to be a dentist; there might be some operational overlap but the “body” of what you have to do is different. You probably won’t have the technical skills needed to get a gig there anyway as idt s&t really does accounting, 3FS modelling etc.

and I just applied to the summer internship online

 

Citadel recruiter reached out to me for full time L/S equities role (in Citadel not CitSec), would this be worth pursuing

 

Repellendus velit quia voluptate deleniti amet excepturi non. Distinctio quis harum perspiciatis pariatur. Porro est animi et voluptatem laudantium libero.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 97.1%
  • AQR Capital Management 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • Millennium Partners 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Blackstone Group 96.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 95.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.1%
  • Point72 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.2%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.3%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $423
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (86) $288
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (76) $192
  • Analysts (240) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (28) $146
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (282) $96
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
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
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...”