Unpaid PE MBA Senior Associate Internship

About to start my last year of the mba and have locked up a return at a BB IB for FT after graduation in 2022. Been looking into private equity internships for the school year, and found a few LMM shops with postings through our school. After a couple interview rounds, it’s been clear that these firms don’t want to pay at all and the experience is the comp. These shops also want 3 full days of work ramping up to a full week as needed and runs the entire school year.

I just got an offer at one (without any pay) and have two questions -

1) are unpaid mba level internships par for the course in LMM shops?

2) given this is an unknown LMM shop (equity checks under $10mm, $40mm of dry powder left) is there any value to doing this to try to break into private equity down the road?

5 Comments
 

acardboardmonkey

Lmfao is this just a search fund? Idk man if you have the profile to get a FT at a BB, I think they are fleecing you. Is their target area one you'd want to work in? That honestly sounds like a lot of work when you have the rare chance in your career to take some time to chill and travel before you go to your job

No it’s not a search fund. The target area is locationally where I’d like to be but would rather be at a more established fund in the MM space vs LMM.

And yes it’s a substantial amount of work they are looking for, for free, which is why I am uncertain about the cost/benefit for me.

 

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