Not sure what offer to take after graduation
Throwaway account — current senior in college and unsure of which offer to take post grad (both offers in T3 city):
I go to a nontarget, and absolutely grinded freshman and sophomore year to land an EB banking offer. I interned at said bank last summer and it was super sweaty (90 hours a week average). I also got placed into a coverage group covering a sector I don’t enjoy working with. I signed the return offer at the end of summer, but I didn’t enjoy the work in banking. Creating CIM slides for 14 hours a day and tracking NDAs was extremely boring to me. On the flip side, I really enjoy PE and know I would exit banking after 2 years if I did do IB.
I also received a LMM PE offer from a small and newer PE shop in the same city. I interned here after my sophomore year, and have kept interning (except for when I was at EB). It’s much less sweaty (50 hours a week average) and I really enjoy the port cos. My goal one day is to start a PE shop or work my way up in one. I genuinely enjoy learning about business and thinking strategically about operations.
This is where my conflict comes in: I’ve grinded so hard in college to land a job that will set me up for success in the future. I feel like if I renege on the EB offer, my grind will be for nothing. I rarely had any fun in college. I would study tecs instead of go out, read 10-ks instead of going to the bars, and never made a good friend group because of this. I now write this on a Saturday night and have realized over the past few months that I threw my college experience away for the idea of banking and majorly regret this. It’s honestly taking a big toll on me. My mindset from freshman year to now has majorly changed.
Pros to EB:
- Make ≈ 200k a year
- Awesome analyst class and junior team
- Exit opportunities to top PE shops
Cons to EB:
- Work 90 hours a week and never see my family or friends
- Work is extremely boring to me
- if I renege, done at this bank forever
Pros to LMM PE:
- Way less hours and can spend time with friends, family, and pursue hobbies
- Enjoy the work a lot more, and working with businesses I enjoy
- I believe I could stay at this shop for as long as I want and wouldn’t be pushed out
Cons to LMM PE:
- Make ≈ 140k a year (but carry as part of offer)
- Team is also awesome, but a lot older than me. Can’t exactly hit the bars with these guys
- Potential of screwing myself if I can’t stay there long term or need to exit to another fund
Question for the older monkeys: what would you do if you were in my shoes? I’m leaning towards the PE offer, but don’t want to make a stupid decision. Thank you in advance for any input.
Idk what others will say, but IMO take that PE offer. There are people who spend their 2 years in banking just to not break into PE. You clearly like the work more. Life is too short to work in crappy conditions just to end up the same place you would've ended up either way. Sure, maybe from an EB you could maybe break into MF or something, but you could also crash out and end up in corp dev, begging for good WLB.
I feel confident that I would be able to land a solid PE offer. However, I only want to be in T3 city because that’s where I want to live long term and my family is there. So I could totally see this scenario playing out
Don’t be silly. Take the EB offer. I have seen so many people’s careers get impaired because they choose some small buyside firm over a large bank which offers training, large network, and access to literally any buyside firm post 2 years. You can tell the PE firm that you want the training banking offers first and would be open to joining after.
Take the banking job and grind it out for a little. Nobody in their right mind enjoys banking but 5 years later in my career, it was a very high ROI experience.
This is also what I think. If I did banking for 2 and went to a larger fund, wouldn’t it just be the same grind as banking though?
Yes and no. Yes in the sense that PE is still very grindy with demanding hours and if you went to a larger fund, you won't be working 50 hours / week. But again, the point I am trying to make is that the option value and relative advantage over the long-term in terms of opportunities available, career development, the friends you will meet, are much higher vs. going to a LMM PE firm. If you really wish to go to a LMM PE firm with lighter hours in a non T1 city, you will be able to get those opportunities from banking. I think of it as an asymmetric bet that will not pay off until much later in your career and you'll be thanking yourself for the decisions you made earlier. I also found that people that did not do intense banking programs struggled technically.
Also, there are plenty of $10bn AUM PE firms that are not sweatshops with good people that are still sizable firms. You will have to find these firms when you recruit. WSO is very negatively biased towards bad cultures as people come on here to complain and are generally not very educated about careers (i.e., undergrads kids).
To address some of your concerns...
It sounds like the PE firm really likes you, and vice versa. IMO, they would be much better served if they told you to go do banking and them come back if you were interested as an Associate. In PE, nobody has the time or patience to train juniors and you will miss out on developing key technical skills needed over the long-run. You are young, set yourself up with the most optionality you can and you never know who you meet / what will come your way.
FWIW - I went through exact same process where I had an opportunity to join a reputable HF out of undergrad but chose banking, and I'm very glad that I did. Which is where my input is coming from.
Thanks a ton for taking the time to write this. I think you’re right, I need to suck it up for a couple years to build some skills and get a great network. I completely agree with the optionally point and I also recognize that, which is really the root of my dilemma. Taking the banking offer is the smart move. Thanks again.
Agree with everyone else that says to go with the EB. Two standout things:
1. Training at PE firms, even analyst programs at MFs, is terrible in comparison. If you want what’s best for your total career and development, theres only one choice.
2. I would never go to a fund that doesn’t at least have Fund II raised (as a first stop/early on in my career). This is something that doesn’t got spoken about much, but fundraising is not an easy endeavor (especially in this market) and unless the MP has a proven track record of successfully fundraising, your job security is always in question.
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Adding my 2 cents here since I'm 5 years down the road of the path you described.
Went to a MM PE firm in a T1 city after graduating - thought that I'd be able to work my way up internally or at least have some external mobility after a few deal reps. Unfortunately for me, I was unexpectedly pushed out after 2 years and wasn't able to secure another buy side job.
This was in 2022 when the lateral market was awful, so I ended up having to take a demotion at a weaker boutique IB (pretty sure I secured one of the last offers before almost all banks froze hiring). The culture was awful and I went through one of the toughest periods of my life. I pulled the rip cord after 7 months to leave for a dead-end corporate strategy role where I've been stuck for the past 3 years. Probably should have toughed it out at the boutique but at the time I was in really rough shape mentally. The abuse I was enduring + the stress of having to find a new job in a horrible marke completely clouded my decision making. Since then, my career has effectively flat lined and I see little to no possibility of re-entering the buy side.
Based on my experiences, I would be very cautious of analyst roles in PE - the career track can disappear with poor fund performance, there's limited training and brand portability, and you won't have a cohort of analysts to build relationships with. Being the only person under 26 at my fund was very isolating at times, and arguably was one of the most challenging parts of that job. You're still working long hours, but you don't have a bunch of other people to commiserate with or hang with outside of work. Also, as other users have said, unless it's a reputable program where you're part of a larger class and have access to robust training / development resources, it's unlikely that you'll get the same training or deal reps. Headhunters also don't understand what a PE analyst is and I had a really hard time getting traction for associate positions at comparable funds.
If you feel reasonably confident about the culture at the EB (ie you know you'll work hard but you won't face outrageous abuse), then it's objectively a better path to start your career. My advice changes if you absolutely hate the people - in that case, you run the risk of exiting early like I did, and that looks terrible regardless of the brands on your resume.
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