Pathway to HF out of undergrad?

Dear,

I got recently interested in hedge fund as a destination after my undergrad. I'm at NYC so I guess I am exposed to lots of opportuhnities that I can use to break into HF. I've heard it's extremely hard for an undergrad to break into HF, but so is to IB and PE. So why not actually look at the industry and go for it if I really like it?

If you have heard/ended up in hedge fund, how was the process? I guess as an undergrad at a target school (but outiside of the infamous target b-school) who requires visa sponsor, the optimal and realistic way to break into HF is to get an internship and convert to FT.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!!

3 Comments
 
Most Helpful

There's plenty of resources out there (including on this board) covering the topic but because I also did Econ at NYU (you weren't exactly discrete there), I'll answer for you.

I got a job at a hedge fund out of school so it's not impossible. I didn't do an internship at a hf on in banking either. I focused on learning investing by practicing. I stopped going to class and focused all my time on it. I read filings everyday, made a lot of pitches, ended up being right on a few things, and ended up at a $600m equity l/s fund.

My very best advice if you want to go to a fund is to actually generate some original investment ideas, create pitches, if possible put risk on in your PA and manage the position, and share your research with funds you'd want to work at. It's the best possible exercise as (1) you find out if you're any good and/or like this work and (2) it's also the best tool possible to get an internship/job as you're proving you're not only capable of doing the work but give a huge fuck as you taught yourself how to do something not-so-easy well.

I'd also say niche-ify yourself as much as possible. For example, if you do a few merger arb pitches, or shorts, then you can learn a bit about the strategy and if you like it and then get a job doing one of those strats. If it's vanilla l/s, maybe try to specialize in a sector and/or factor (momentum growth, value, mid or small caps, etc).

Most of all, learn by doing and try to fall in love here as it's impossible to work this hard at something you don't like. Good luck

 

This is so helpful. Thank you so much! I remember you when I was asking about my transfer decision and your comments on the thread were also helpful. Have follow-up questions. 1) How did you start learning all the technicals and know-how (how to effectively read 10K/Qs, pitch stocks, etc) 2) Do you know any funds that sponsor internationals? Or even OPTs? As you might know, Econ here is STEM so I have three years of legal work permit. This question might not be of your interest so I understand if you don't know the answer to this one.

I appreciate your comment very much!

 

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