Rising senior with questions about hedge funds

You're not starting a HF - the only people capable of doing that have real experience at top funds already. Certificates don't matter and reflect a lack of understanding of the space. Spend some time going through the basics of entering the finance world, as the obvious questions answer themselves with time spent understanding how the industry, markets, etc. all work. If you want to professionally analyze securities and invest / trade in markets, there are a few paths. 1) anything fundamental (whether HF or PE) starts with IB experience, or maybe you can start in LO if only care about public equities 2) anything quant based go ask a computer science / math wiz because idk the path but sounds competitive 3) anything global macro usually starts in S&T, maybe sell side research, although it is more quant these days so see point 2) again. Oh and there are exceptions across the board to each point, but by and large that is the best strategy as it prepares you the most and people only hire from specific paths.

Just cus you read that some HF managers made $100mn-$1bn in a year doesn't mean you should do it. Its like seeing Zuckerberg and asking if you can start Facebook, or looking at Lebron and asking if you can join the NBA out of highschool. Sure its possible, but it reflects a lack of understanding of how difficult, competitive, and nuanced the space is, the incredible amount of talent and hard work required, and the skills you need to refine.