Hedge Fund (NYC) v Boutique IB (SF)

Have an offer from a top-ranked hedge fund in NYC and a boutique IB in SF for summer analyst 2019 (junior year internship). My dilemma mostly surrounds

  • exit opportunities - Not sure whether I want to close that off immediately. May want to exit to a corporate in healthcare or tech in the future (5-10y down the road). SF has strong groups in both MM healthcare and tech, but unsure what the exit opportunities from an HF looks like to corporate roles. Could anyone enlighten me on this front?

  • learning/responsibility assumption - boutique IB is famous for high deal flow and high responsibility accorded to analysts (many speak directly with executives and management from day 1) with meritocratic culture. From interviews however it felt like the HF generally had sharper, smarter people who were more passionate about their work and willingness to collaborate and learn. I come from a non-finance background (life sciences) and would appreciate a supportive work environment as I learn the reins for the markets - not sure which environment is better for that.

Both firms have nearly 100% return offer acceptance rates and take the overwhelming majority of their intern class into analyst roles. Comparative compensation and work-life balance. Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks!

11 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Why the monkey shit?

At a place like point72 the analysts and PMs are basically experts in the fields they invest in (in theory), go into extreme detail to justify investments during their research, learn to think critically about what makes a company profitable, etc.

Yes, you would do the same at Blair, but not to the same level of analysis. You may or may not see more companies, but unless you want a broader exposure vs a deeper exposure, choose the hedge fund.

It’s up to you to make your exit oops happen, but why risk a good chance at a full time hedge fund position for something now if you think you may want it later. More often than this website would indicate, people can go from a hf to the sell-side, other buyside roles, IR or corp strat/dev for corporate provided they know how to market themselves. It’s just slightly less conventional but still very doable.

 

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