The thoughts of an AN1’s exit opps

Like it says in the title, I’m a first year analyst at a MM bank. In school, I wasn’t ever interested in banking, I just pursued it because of the narrative everyone preaches -exits, comp, and career development.

I’m coming to realize this isn’t for me. Ultimately it’s a mix of reasons, but mainly because the deal process doesn’t interest me, doing superfluous tasks that don’t add any value, and candidly, I think my ADD doesn’t really help me standout as a high-quality banker. So aside from understanding that a first year does all the shitty tasks, I don’t think I’m a long term fit for the industry. I wanted to start my career somewhere that not only allowed me to learn quickly, but have the “stamp of approval” of having worked in IB so if I decided to pivot, it would be easier.

So, here are the typical paths / choices I’ve concluded to exit to after collecting my second bonus: Corp Dev, PE, or HF (the standard exits). I always had an interest in equities and have the intellectual curiosity to work in that space. I know PE can offer the same stimulation, but I’ve read you can deal with a lot of the BS tasks that come along in banking. I’d love to earn a HF seat, but given my background (non target) with a subpar GPA, I’m afraid my chances are slimmer than if I recruited for PE or corp dev. Also, I feel like HFs are more intellectually dynamic in the sense that it operates at the intersection of company idiosyncrasies, macro, politics, and much more (since everything’s mark to market), whereas PE requires much more detailed, unnecessary, granular modeling / requests that doesn’t drive any value to the core thesis of a business and the aforementioned admin tasks.

I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts or recommendations about where they ultimately ended up, and if they regretted / reaffirmed their decision.