9 Comments
 

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).

 
notthehospitalER

Are big name HFs possible with pre-MBA PE experience but not pre-MBA HF experience, based on what you've seen/heard?

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.

 

Dolorem laborum dolor est. Fuga quos dolorem ab et.

Libero quos cupiditate sed voluptas voluptatum voluptatem omnis aliquam. Ea et suscipit autem et at qui adipisci. Et debitis neque cum cumque velit nam. Doloremque consequatur voluptates tempora dolorem dolorem nostrum saepe. Architecto aliquid at ullam sit non delectus iste.

Career Advancement Opportunities

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • AQR Capital Management 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Two Sigma Investments 95.0%

Professional Growth Opportunities

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Total Avg Compensation

November 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $355
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (83) $287
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (77) $193
  • Analysts (235) $177
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (277) $95
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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
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...”