Pivoting to PE from CS/Biology?

I’m a student at a HYPSM majoring in Computational Biology, which is basically the combination of computer science and biology classes, and I’m interested in getting some feedback on pivoting from a career in academia to biotech PE.

After a long stint in thinking I wanted to do academia, I became interested in PE after I realized that the career seemed to fit better with my personal values (btw - feel free to critique me on my reasoning if I’m wrong). My reasons were mostly (1.) I realized I don’t actually enjoy wet lab biology, but I absolutely love the ideas and concepts of biology and get very excited by learning about new developments, (2.) I want to be at the forefront of new technologies in computational biology, (3.) I want to make an impact in my work, and I feel that PE (as long as I work on companies I believe in) helps companies with good ideas be successful, whereas I think academia is too theoretical and not that impactful, (4.) I’ve always had a love for efficiency and management, and I’ve always been a great project manager, (5.) I like surface-level finance quite a bit - I’ve never deeply studied economics, so I can’t say for certain, but I’ve always enjoyed keeping up with the stock market, managing my finances, and investing in stocks. I plan on minoring in Economics. (6.) And of course, the more superficial side, which is that the pay and job market in academia is terrible and finance pays more, and I would like to move back to London while getting to travel in my career.

My current background is most extensively in research, as I’ve spent most of my time working in labs - although many of my labs ended up having companies founded. However, I have had experience with startups and VC, founding a couple startups myself and leading many business-related ventures. While I’ve worked in VC, I don’t want to do VC because I think there’s too much bullshit and subjectiveness that goes on that just frustrates me.

Because of this, my main question is, what should my path be for pivoting into biotech PE? Do I need to go into IB first then PE? How should I prepare for a career in biotech PE? Is my background in computational biology a positive or negative for biotech PE, as I believe it gives me pretty good quantitative and logical reasoning skills as well as the background knowledge of good science to understand biotech companies? I don’t plan on switching my major because I do enjoy computational biology, but just not in the direction I originally intended. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

1 Comments
 

Totam ut atque et est reiciendis ea sed et. Iste reprehenderit vel officiis repellat vel dolorem nemo. Culpa et tenetur natus ut id similique ut. Et quam perferendis exercitationem eum nihil sapiente numquam.

Quaerat illum rem dolorem accusantium voluptates modi. Est maiores dicta non fugiat ipsum ut. Fugit in aut laborum officiis. Unde molestiae numquam ipsum eum nihil. Dolorum aperiam repudiandae voluptatibus suscipit nesciunt optio. Ipsum beatae officiis voluptates et rerum.

Voluptate dolores et cupiditate aliquam. Dolorum blanditiis quaerat fugit totam ratione. Eius expedita qui qui iure accusamus voluptatibus. Repellat sapiente sint molestiae quaerat sint. Quaerat cum exercitationem facilis hic id ad. Saepe occaecati sit aliquam rerum consequatur vitae est suscipit.

Expedita excepturi sint omnis ipsum cumque nobis. Quo quia aut assumenda totam quis. Quia et rem sunt mollitia ab. Occaecati facilis perferendis optio aut non exercitationem deserunt. Excepturi libero dicta accusamus reiciendis et qui similique.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.6%
  • Blackstone Group 99.2%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.9%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.5%
  • Vista Equity Partners 98.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Private Equity

  • Blackstone Group 99.6%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 99.2%
  • The Riverside Company 98.9%
  • Ardian 98.5%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Private Equity

  • Bain Capital 99.6%
  • The Riverside Company 99.2%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 98.5%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.1%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (24) $547
  • Vice President (99) $363
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (105) $280
  • 2nd Year Associate (235) $272
  • 1st Year Associate (413) $231
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (33) $157
  • 2nd Year Analyst (97) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (272) $124
  • Intern/Summer Associate (38) $81
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (355) $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
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
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...”