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June 30, 2026
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I know people did it. It is not an easy route but definitely achievable. You need to do school year internship and ace your stock pitch.
I'm just talking about small/medium sized HFs. Getting into those big name HFs is a different story (short answer: impossible).
Are big name HFs possible with pre-MBA PE experience but not pre-MBA HF experience, based on what you've seen/heard?
Two years top banking group, two years MF PE, business school, HF is a pretty common route
Thanks, that's what I thought.
Pretty standard. But for those really hot ones like Pershing, you may need HBS.
It really depends on the HF's style, but a fundamental deep-dive or activist HF would definitely be willing to hire someone with good PE and modeling experience. Obviously, one that likes to trade around quarters would value that experience less.
Your chances have nothing to do with size.
It's about the strategy. Bridgewater is huge and will literally hire anyone, including 22 year olds who have 0 experience because you will be pushing paper and writing memos.
On the other hand, a deep value start-up fund with only $300mm may be extremely lean with an investment team of 4 and only hire 4-6 year experienced long/short ex-analysts or ex-PE employees.
I did it. Ended up with offers at midsized and startup funds. Pretty difficult to get into the top funds as they hire 3ish a year nationally, but smaller funds are def doable. Put in the work, have great stock pitches, hustle like crazy.
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