Positioning for PE Internships as a Junior

I am a sophomore majoring in Applied Math and Econ at a target school. Recently I was offered a rotational role with JPM through their Markets Internship program, and I am trying to understand how accepting it might fit into my hopes of going into PE out of undergrad.

Would this internship help set me up for PE recruiting next year? I may also have an offer from a very (VERY) small long/short equities fund. If that pans out, would it be better to accept JPM S&T or the offer with the small HF? Are there any other opportunities which I should be on the lookout for?

Any other suggestions about becoming more marketable for PE would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

2 Comments
 
Best Response

PEs usually don't hire markets people because they don't have the relevant skillset and working hours. I haven't seen anyone making the direct move from sales & trading to PE. My advice is take JPM markets, do well and network internally to be transferred to IBD for FT. It happens more frequently than the aforementioned route. This is the 2+2 path.

Your desire to move directly into PE out of undergrad, which very few firms hold btw (Blackstone, KKR, Silver Lake, to name a few) either convert their summer interns or hire top IBD summer kids from GS, MS and the likes. I would say it's very difficult if you don't know someone in the firm.

 

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