are mega funds worth it for early career?

recently got an internship offer for next summer with a mega fund (thinkBX, Starwood, etc.). as an undergraduate student, is it worth it to start your career at a firm like this and sacrificing work life balance? any insights are greatly appreciated

6 Comments
 

If you want to work in finance, absolutely.

My view is “sacrifice” first ~3 years of your professional life to get ahead. While many of my friends with normal jobs have had more free time and hobbies, I am light years ahead in terms of career advancement and can pursue pretty much anything I want. Meanwhile, my friends all generally hate or dislike their jobs but don’t have flexibility to pursue other careers.

 

I’d definitely take the opportunity. You’re trading off wlb but you’re only 20/21. Your 20s should be the time to grind out and set up a good base so you can enjoy the rest of your life and never work as hard again.

 
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I don’t mean to be dismissive here, but come the fuck on, dsrecruiting lmao. You’re a college student, man. Your work/life balance is somewhere between 5% work/95% life or 10% work/90% life depending on your major. You can work out whenever you want, chill with friends whenever you want, hook up with boys/girls whenever you want, get shitfaced at noon for no reason at all, etc. Your life will literally never be this weighted toward “life” again. 

You can handle 3-4 months that will absolutely make your resume, and shit, hopefully it’ll lead to 3-4 years of work that will mint your resume even more. Then, when you’re tired of the grind and making $300k-$400k a year or whatever at 26 years old, you can find somewhere that prioritizes your work life balance. You would almost literally be able to have your pick of places. 

Trust me, you want the grind when you’re young. When you’re my age, and you’d rather be with your wife, or your kids, or drinking wine overlooking the Mediterranean, you aren’t going to have any interest in it. 

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