Finishing up my first PE internship, not sure where to go next.
I'm in an unusual situation so I'll do my best to explain it briefly. For context, I'll be entering my junior year at a semi-target university this upcoming Fall. I'm currently wrapping up my first relevant internship at a mid-sized growth equity firm in NYC.
I've received a whole bunch of conflicting advice from colleagues and friends, so I'm hoping to hear what y'all have to say about this.
This summer's internship has been a great learning experience. I had a little bit of deal exposure, but not much as I'm still an undergrad. The most important takeaway from this internship is that it helped me confirm my primary career goal: to break into private equity as early as possible. The firm I'm interning for doesn't really do undergrad return offers (like most firms they expect work experience and/or an MBA), so returning for a second summer is not an option. The main reason I got the position in the first place was being in the right place at the right time and somehow managing to establish a great relationship with an exec at the firm.
To summarize, I've been advised to take one of three paths to achieve my goal of working in PE.
- Go for a 2020 summer analyst position at a BB, grind for two years and leave for PE.
- Go for a 2020 summer consultant position at a top-tier firm put in a few years as an analyst, and then leave for PE.
- Though it will be unlikely, take your current PE internship and leverage it in an attempt to secure a 2020 internship at a different PE firm. Not really sure if this could even translate to a full-time offer, unlike the other two options.
While I'm really only interested in PE, I understand that it's extremely tough for an undergrad to break in right after graduating unless I'm an academic superstar from Harvard/Stanford/MIT/etc, which I'm not. Consequently, I'm considering both banking and consulting positions for next summer. I'll admit that I do prefer consulting to banking because of the hours, but I'm willing to take whatever I can get in order to eventually do PE.
So, as a mediocre student (3.51 with good test scores) with a one PE internship on my resume, which path do you think I should go with to maximize my chances of breaking into PE? I'm worried that if I apply to all three (consulting, banks, and PE to maximize my chances), I will find myself in a crisis studying for three different types of interviews at the time while simultaneously trying to bring up my GPA. I know I'm asking on the PE forum, but would my one PE internship even be much of a help for securing banking and consulting interviews? All I care about is ending in PE and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make that possible.
Any advice would be appreciated!
TL;DR: Rising junior, mediocre student, with a single PE internship wanting to eventually work in PE. What should I do next summer?
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