i remember hearing that GPA matters, but does the school matter as much assuming good group or firm? what type of schools do top PE firms consider "good"? do they mean basically top 20, or do they only consider HYP good and the other top schools average, or what?
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School still ends up mattering. The group will ultimately open up many doors for you, but at the end of the day the Wharton or Harvard kid will have a leg up. That's NOT to say that you're "fucked" because you went to Brown. Plenty of kids from "lesser" schools and groups/firms place into top PE/HF jobs. Just saying that there's an advantage to having come from the best possible pedigree.
does it matter as much as GPA? by "not top school" i don't mean Brown or another Ivy, but more along the lines of a top 30-60 US News ranked school
That depends on the reviewer. Both matter, but less so than your bank / group / experience. If you're from a non-target it will have a meaningful [downward] impact on your recruiting potential.
What about a target like Cornell with a 3.9-4.0?
Think of it this way:
Two kids walk in. Both from great groups. Both have high GPAs from good schools (let's say Cornell and Wharton in this case). Both interview pretty well and you're left to decide which one to pass to the next round. Who do you pick? Most interviewers will pick the Wharton kid, especially because the most-represented school on the buyside is Wharton. The thing is, if you're a good interviewee, then you'll be fine.
The harder part is actually GETTING the interview. When a hedge fund, for example, is looking to add another analyst, they may interview 20-30 kids (random number I'm throwing out, don't quote me on accuracy here). Unless you have someone going to bat for you, it will be more difficult to stand out in a pool of high-GPA, well-pedigreed fellow analysts. It becomes significantly more difficult if you're not from one of the better banks / groups.
Control what you can: get into the best group possible and work your ass off your first year. Hell, recruiting for us started in March, so you only really have to work your ass off for 7 months. Don't worry about the school you went to. You can't change that. Just be aware that this industry cares a lot about appearances and Crimson just looks better than Big Red.
thanks! what's considered a "good" school for the top funds? since you mentioned Brown as an example of a weaker school i'm assuming something like columbia/dartmouth is considered "average", and everything below that starts to hurt?
It's really just 3 major tiers: Great (HW>SYP), Good (other Ivy League and schools of similar caliber) and not-so-good (anything not included in the other 2). Ultimately, even if you're from a non-target, you can get into a good shop. Just perform well as an analyst.
thanks, dontmakemeshortyou, can you round your GPA for PE recruiting? or is it different from IBD recruiting
also how important are SAT scores?
i'm done with questions
Yes and not much.
I think it varies from firm to firm due to the affiliations of the senior people
Compare associate profiles from H&F (http://www.hf.com/team/Team.aspx?membercode=jBertoncini)
to analyst profiles at Silver Lake (http://www.silverlake.com/partners/content.php?page=team-partners&sortB…)
much more heterogeneity in the former.
Dammit. You fixed it right as I hit comment
.
yeah man my computer's fucking up...
Yeah and it's making me look like an ass. Thanks. Thanks a lot!
I can't believe I'm asking this, but at what point does where you go to undergrad stop mattering? You guys make it seem like if you don't go to one of the aforementioned institutions you are doomed to mediocrity.
I guess everything matters would be a more appropriate response, but not one that is particularly profound.
So long as you went to a target your first job and GPA is more important than your UG school... at least at a most firms. If you went to a lesser target like Michigan, UT, etc, obviously that puts you at a disadvantage against a Princeton kid, but in a less clearcut situation, i.e. Cornell vs. Columbia or Duke vs. Brown, they're not going to give a shit which one of those schools you went to versus the other kid and they're going to decide based on other criteria.
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