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Did a lot of research and some interviewing with the mentioned firms, before ultimately going to NYC. My understanding is this:

All three are FANTASTIC groups. I would personally say GS and Q are the top, and MS is an everso slight step below.

MS in SF only recruits from 4-5 schools (UCB, Penn, and a couple others) and is extremely technical. I'm pretty sure most of their recruiting is finished already for this cycle.

Qatalyst is my personal favorite, but is definitely a firm where you are most likely going to be buying in for a long time. They tend to have extremely strong compensation (as much as most PE funds) and don't have a history of people leaving consistently. On the other hand, it is definitely a GREAT place to learn and succeed (plenty of deal flow, supportive environment etc). You have no concept of facetime, and other shitty concepts that are a part of most banks. Qatalyst is by far the most technical of all the firms and only take 4-6 ish kids a summer.

GS TMT is what most people say about top tech banks. They have the most dealflow (gross not per head) and have fantastic exits and people. People tend to leave after their two years rather than stay for the long run.

 

When Qatalyst came to my school (core for Qatalyst but not a big target) someone asked about that and they were told people don't really exit to PE and its more tech cop dev and VC. But if someone there really wanted to do tech PE I'm sure they would be very competitive for it. Also I would guess Q is done for this cycle because I know they hired someone from my school the third week of May (although in the info session they initially said they were targeting an end of summer interview date.

 

If you like tech and SF its the (second) best place to work. But some people just like the West Coast/aren't as committed to tech would prefer to work elsewhere. Also its better for people committed to banking for the long while as exit opps to PE aren't great.

 

Well I saw what Qatalyst was paying and I pood a bit so there's that

"one for the money two for the better green 3 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine" - M.F. Doom
 

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