Undergrad straight to HF viable?
I know the typical career track to HFs involves a stint in banking, but I want to hear from anybody who did it straight out of undergrad. What type of background did you have & any advice to someone trying to do it?
A little background on me: I'm a rising junior, currently have around a year of full-time banking experience (full-time summer/30-35hrs a week during the school year) in one particular coverage group. I am joining the same coverage group at a much bigger bank after my summer stint. I plan on working both semesters into my Junior SA internship. I am shooting for the same coverage group for my junior SA, and hopefully at a BB. After that, I am interested in recruiting for l/s equity hedge funds that cover the space I am familiar with. I feel like I have a good understanding of the industry I cover, and over the next year I think I'll have some deep domain experience and knowledge.
Do you think I could make the skip, and go straight to a HF?
Of course it is doable, I am familiar with people going from non-IB/PE/HF backgrounds straight into a FT offer at a boutique-MM HFs. It depends on your connections, the strengths of said connections, your network, and GPA. If you are from a target or a semi I think with a decent GPA you'll have a good shot, but saying more than that is hard to speculate (fund size, top choice on coverage group, work-life bal. etc.). Good luck
I went straight from a non-target to a 2bn event-driven/distressed fund, what do ya wanna know?
Did you originally plan for IB and then change your career path to HF or was it something you knew you wanted to do all along.
I knew I wanted to go to the buyside, and I didn't have the GPA (sub 3.0) to get accepted into any IB programs so I wrote pitch after pitch and annoyed different funds until someone hired me...basically.
Whats your background?
Liberal arts student in college so taught myself accounting/valuation/etc, did some internships at long-only, research intensive shops. taught myself credit when I decided that was the area I wanted to focus on.
what made you decide you wanted to focus on credit?
I didn't feel like I could be a completely well rounded investor if I couldn't understand the entire capital structure. Credit seemed like an overlooked skill-set. I enjoy the legal/structural aspect of the work and find stressed/distressed scenarios exciting.
Can I PM you?
Just emailing PMs your stock pitch is all it took to get in, or are you glossing over something else you were doing?
I started my career 1 year ago as the first analyst at a deep value micro cap equity HF that started in 2012 from a PM who came from a mega fund.... I have absolutely no regrets in doing so. Straight out of undergrad
Harvard or wharton for UG?
Think lower tier Ivy league (Dartmouth, Cornell, etc. )
Do you have any aspirations to attain your CFA? Is that something your fund looks for when it comes to career progression?
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