Breaking Into PE

Hi, I am a rising junior at St. John's University studying Accounting. I plan on getting my BA in accounting in May 2024 as well as my MA in tax in May 2025. I am in an Accounting program which guarantees an Accounting Internship at the Big 4, with a high rate of full time offers post graduation. I am planning on working at EY/Deloitte for 2-3 years in the M&A sector and then going for my MBA in finance at a target school ( NYU, Cornell, etc). I then plan on going into M&A Investment Banking for 2-3 years and then try to break into PE. Does my plan sound logical or is there a better way? I am not currently at a target school so I know my process is going to take a bit longer than those coming from target schools. Thanks

 
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Your plan is good but you can get into IB right after a big 4 without doing MBA. Then jump into PE, try to get PE internships if you can even a spring, it’ll help make the jump and get you there faster

To be honest, you can even get into IB directly, no need for big 4 except if you really want to. You’re doing accounting it’s not an odd path to IB

It’s a good plan but a long plan imo, it can be shortened

 

Gonna be hard to get into IB but if you don't graduate until 2025 (masters included) you have time. Look up networking and the timelines on here. SA 2024 will kick off early next spring and you have a shot if you network through the school year. Good news is you will have big 4 as a backup since they recruit much later. The non target isn't really an issue if you network a lot.

That said if IB doesn't pan out from school I'd try to get into TAS or advisory at big 4 instead of your typical tax or audit. You can go TAS -> IB (likely small boutique first) but tax/audit -> IB is not common without an MBA. And then PE from IB down the road.

 

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