Target High Schooler Looking to place into MFPE

Hi,

I'm currently a junior attending Chaminade High School on Long Island NY. My parents both work in finance; my dad is an MD at a BB and my mom works corporate finance at a cosmetics company. I am currently toward the top of my class and am looking to go into a top target school next year (both parents went to Brown so not much help there). I was wondering what the best path forward is to place into a MF PE role such as Blackstone? I have been really interested in going into the buy-side over a sell-side banking role. Is there anything I can do to help my chances at breaking into the industry?

11 Comments
 

first get into a good college. would ed brown given your parents connection, but lots of other schools that place well across buy-side and sell-side.

 

Step 1: start reading the WSJ every day. Step 2: Get the fuck off this website until you graduate. 

 
Most Helpful

silverwave72

What is wrong with starting early? Seems that the timeline moves earlier and earlier every year from what I hear. I already read the WSJ every day.

You should start early — this website just won’t help you do it. Most advice you get will be poor. College students replying to other students is just the blind leading the blind. 

As someone who did get the chance to start on the buyside, here’s what you do

  1. ED Brown, try your best to land a target. Even a semi is prolly fine in your shoes.
  2. Freshman Summer, work CorpFin through Mom’s contacts
  3. Sophomore summer, work BB through Dad’s contacts
  4. Crush techs and land buyside junior summer. Have your soph summer as “incoming” on your resume way before you start. 

    You can also def do it without nepo, but will be a much harder road that’s less certain. Biggest thing imo is getting internships early … some people will tell you it doesn’t matter, but in my experience it makes a world of difference. 

    If you land something good freshman and sophomore summer, recruiting becomes easy and interviews, esp behavioral parts, become enjoyable bc you have something to talk about. 
 

Ignore title, currently a VP at Blackstone who went to Chaminade in the mid 2010s. If you aren't already in CBC, you NEED to get in. That club breeds some absolute animals. Off the top of my head, they got 2 EVR, 7 GS, and 5 MS over the past two years. To be completely honest, most of the placement above was from connections those kids made in 9th grade, so you're already a bit late to the game as a junior. Best of luck, kid.

 

Target high school is an absurd term. You don't go to a target high school, your parents are just rich and send you to private high school. A target school is one that firms go to to recruit, and no HR rep is saying let's figure out which college the highest proportion of Chaminade go to relative to other schools, and that's where we will recruit from. Yes your high school/community gives you connections/nepo opportunities from a very young age but that does not make it a target in any sense of the word. It honestly seems like you don't want to acknowledge your parents wealth and so instead of saying 'private school' you gauge it behind a term that implies merit 'target school'.

 

Quia impedit adipisci non sequi accusamus. Dolore iure aspernatur sit fugiat. Ipsum quia rerum et enim. Earum voluptatem ut dolorem libero ea ut eos.

Eius culpa quisquam et molestiae. Explicabo et quo explicabo error veritatis. Aut rerum quo fuga neque autem veritatis.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 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

July 2026 Private Equity

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

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Private Equity

  • Bain Capital 99.6%
  • The Riverside Company 99.3%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 98.5%
  • Vista Equity Partners 98.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (24) $547
  • Vice President (99) $363
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (104) $281
  • 2nd Year Associate (235) $272
  • 1st Year Associate (411) $229
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (33) $157
  • 2nd Year Analyst (97) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (272) $124
  • 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
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
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...”