lucked into PE, What now?

Hey folks, rising sophomore at a semi target (think IU, Umich) I lucked into a SA offer for 28' at a MM PE firm in the city I'd like to live postgrad.

 This was almost entirely through luck/connections as I pretty much only planned on recruiting for IB (decent applicant but nothing too impressive, felt I was underqualified for PE).

 With that being said, what do I do now? I was expecting to be recruiting for this cycle for at least 6-9 more months. Is it worth trying to get into IB still and will going directly to PE rather than doing a 2-year analyst stint limit optionality if I decide to lateral?

16 Comments
 

What 2028 processes have even thought about opening yet? Last year, the earliest interviews were the soph-jr funds in sept-nov. Non-diversity junior programs didn’t start until mid-late January.

I may already be unc 6 months after recruiting, but I don’t think timelines are nearly this early. That said, if you’re not bullshitting huge congratulations and live it up.

 
Funniest

My family is close friends with the founder of the firm. I had an "interview" with him and then went out with the team I'd be working with and then was offered. Pretty much all nepotism, not traditional recruiting.

 
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Are we talking MM PE, or LMM PE? Either way you should just get through your PE internship first before you decide. With (L)MM PE, especially in T2/T3 cities which I assume is what you are talking about, there's no telling how much you'll be learning as a fresh Analyst.

Maybe you'll be learning a ton working directly with some very smart and experienced senior guys. Maybe you'll be learning nothing because they are investing in one or two random industrial services companies a year, in which case you could benefit more from the structured approach and guaranteed experience of a BB/EB Analyst program.

 

LMM in a T1, successful in a couple of niches. This would be a junior year internship, would that keep me competitive if I did end up having a poor experience and wanting to recruit for FT BB/EB? Thanks for your perspective.

 

Incoming intern so take this with a grain of salt, but this is what I've been told:
It will be difficult for banks to justify hiring you if you've already been on the "FT PE track", unless you have a damn good reason for wanting to do IB. I'm not talking about PE analyst -> IB associate or above, just the junior internships -> FT. If you've expressed enough interest in PE to pursue a junior internship, banks will likely assume you just want their brand name to recruit on cycle up market (LMM -> MM/UMM/MF), because it's easier to pivot up market from IB than move up market all within PE.

That said, if you have strong enough connections to get this internship, you will be able to find a job in IB, regardless of if they think you'll be 2 and out.

 

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