Highest paying jobs for people out of graduation with experience?

I'm sure this question has been posted many times before. But it seems most people consider high paying jobs $80-150K.

After doing a lot of digging, I'm finding out jobs like Citadel or other different companies have salaries at bear minimum $150K-200K for starting salaries.

For guys with experience in private equity and are fresh out of college, where do they go with high paying salaries?

26 Comments
 

Dude what’s your question here. Yes, the highest paying offer you can get out of undergrad is pretty much at a quant trading firm (Citadel et al is 150k base, 150k signing, 100k bonus for top applicants). That being said, PE is a wildly different job and it shouldn’t really matter 

 

You haven’t given any real questions. Is the question where will I earn a lot of money in PE? The answer is most places in PE. Is the question what are the biggest names in PE? Google “Private Equity Megafunds.” But know that your “experience” in buying and selling businesses does not inherently qualify you for these jobs as much as it seems like you think it will.

 
Most Helpful

Based on your last post, I’ll also say that you, as a 2.8 non-target face huge uphill battles. The only route I think for you to reasonably break into PE is to go to a top MBA and go into investment banking, and recruit for PE from there. Separately, it seems like one of you’re questions is “how much can I get paid” — for a PE associate the answer is probably about $200k-300k. Post MBA, and post IB, you might be looking at VP salaries of $600k-1000k. But as I said, you’re facing a huge barrier to that given your atypical non-target, low GPA, non banking background.

 

I'm just gonna be blunt. You're looking at this in the totally wrong perspective. In business, more than any other field, experience pays dividends at an exponential rate.

Stop looking to where the pay is highest at first. You want to know what it really is? SaaS sales. If you're a fucking animal you'll pull more than that quant dude at citadel your first year. But from the looks of it, you aren't a beast. you're a kid asking Glassdoor level questions.

Sorry but it's just the truth. Take a hard look in the mirror kid and get your head out of your ass

 

Et sapiente placeat dolor deleniti doloribus nesciunt maxime. Quidem hic perferendis quaerat at tempore porro voluptatum rerum.

Dolor velit non voluptatum odio. Error ut et consequatur corporis modi ut non. Facilis omnis et doloribus hic. Atque quidem voluptate dolorem quia temporibus. Porro quo vitae voluptate iusto impedit.

Ut ut temporibus quia qui officia non. Et enim ut qui quo. Excepturi hic nam reiciendis iste eum.

Laudantium magni quo ut voluptate id. Tempora exercitationem nisi et enim. Rerum quaerat est assumenda et omnis. Explicabo earum itaque culpa omnis.

Career Advancement Opportunities

September 2026 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.6%
  • Blackstone Group 99.3%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.9%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.5%
  • Vista Equity Partners 98.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

September 2026 Private Equity

  • Blackstone Group 99.6%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 99.3%
  • The Riverside Company 98.9%
  • Ardian 98.5%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

September 2026 Private Equity

  • Bain Capital 99.6%
  • The Riverside Company 99.3%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 98.5%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.1%

Total Avg Compensation

September 2026 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (24) $547
  • Vice President (100) $364
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (106) $280
  • 2nd Year Associate (235) $272
  • 1st Year Associate (414) $231
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (33) $157
  • 2nd Year Analyst (97) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (273) $126
  • Intern/Summer Associate (38) $81
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (356) $61
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”