<p>After doing some post-Wharton career research, I have become interested at working for a hedge fund after my schooling is over. Now I understand that this is by no means an easy task, and that the failure rate is high, but hey I want to give it a shot. I think I have a vague idea of what the path looks like, but if any of the current students could provide me with a more detailed or realistic explanation that would be great.</p>
<p>Here is what I currently think faces me before I could achieve this goal, correct me where I am wrong.</p>
<p>Keeping in mind this is all ideal, I figure I have to graduate with somewhere around the 3.5+ range in terms of GPA to get noticed by recruiters. </p>
<p>Then I have to land a job at an Investment bank as an analyst (or could I go straight from here, I doubt it, but is that an option)</p>
<p>2-3 years at the Investment bank and then head for the MBA.</p>
<p>Then at this point I kind of start getting more confused, would I go back to an Investment bank, work a few more years as an associate and then transfer out, or from MBA go right into hunting for a hedge fund position. </p>
<p>Also in terms of the concentrations at Wharton, I know Finance is a must, but what else would help. Thanks for any help, I know this is a stretch of the imagination but I am just curious.</p>
<p>Most people follow the 2-2-2-2 track, which is 2 years as an analyst in a bulge bracket firm, 2 on the buy-side (more commonly PE, less commonly in HF), 2 earning the MBA, and 2 back on the buy-side.</p>
<p>Wharton placed 14 kids to Blackstone last year, they bypassed the first four years of that right out of the gate. To answer your question, you wouldn’t go back to banking after the MBA unless you failed in OCR (on-campus recruiting) with buy-side firms. If you did go back to banking, it’d almost be like the MBA was a waste because you’d be back as an Associate, a position you can get to by staying on as a 3rd-year analyst and then promoting internally to Associate.</p>
<p>Go to Williams or MIT and major in math (or double major in math and economics): successful hedge fund managers are typically math geeks (as opposed to the more jocky M&A types and desk traders).</p>
<p>If you want to go the math route, you could look into Penn’s market and social systems engineering major (combination of math, mathematical econ, and cs), then get a PhD in CS and head to a hedge fund. I know of several people who have done it through this route (obviously not the MKSE major, that is new – but the PhD -> hedge fund step).</p>
<p>okay so ideally you’d go wharton–>blackstone–>hedge fund. I know people who’ve done it but it’s really tough to do. Don’t count on it. More realistically, you could try working IB at a BB for 2 years and then moving to the buyside(like blackstone) and then to a HF. Or go into consulting–>IB–>buyside–>HF.</p>
<p>As long as you get into consulting or IB out of school, you could probably get into HF’s later on. even if you bombed at Wharton and ended up in some corporate job making powerpoints, you could still parlay your experience and Wharton degree into a top MBA, using the MBA to make a career change into finance.</p>
<p>i depart a little from hellodocks in that I don’t see the MBA as being an essential part of a Wharton student’s career track because of the unique skills/prestige conferred by the degree</p>
<p>Franklion: Williams, indeed- wall street recruits more Williams than Penn grads, per capita (check the WSJ). Williams is also higher ranked, per capita, as a feeder school in terms of top professional schools in general (in top five with HYP and Stanford). Not that Penn isn’t a great school (I have at least half a dozen relatives who attended Penn).</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification so far guys, so there are two different viewpoints here, one is going more of the quantitative route with a math major and computer science expertise, and the other is what I feel is the more traditional route that WoodrowWilson described. For me, the math and computer science route is kind of out since I am going to Wharton and my parents won’t hear of me switching majors, and neither do I right now. I do plan on taking some computer science classes at penn, since I have always wanted to learn that stuff, but I won’t be able to go as deep into that as a real CS major. </p>
<p>And as for the MBA out of Wharton, what’s the take on this for getting into a hedge fund, or a mutual fund. My parents are bent upon me getting one, but I am not so sure, is it a “waste of time” only for the title, or would I actually gain something out of it.</p>
<p>For most people, an MBA is a way to pick up business skills. But a wharton undergrad degree is a de facto MBA, and the wharton UG’s work way harder than the wharton MBA’s. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think only about a quarter of Wharton students ever get an MBA. </p>
<p>So for a Wharton student, the MBA is more of a transitional degree to get into a new field(such as going from a corporate management job to a finance job). Or they just need an MBA(some employers need MBA’s to fill certain positions and they don’t care if you already did Wharton UG).</p>
<p>We’re talking WHARTON vs. Williams here, not all of Penn undergrad vs. Williams–MAJOR difference.</p>
<p>And don’t rely too much on those old WSJ reports, especially the professional-school-placement one–it’s deeply flawed statistically, especially when it comes to Penn (e.g., the denominator of Penn’s graduating class size was way too high; it didn’t include Penn Med School, one of the top 5 in the nation and for which Penn undergrad is a big feeder, etc.).</p>
<p>Yeah that is what I am trying to convey to my parents, that a Wharton undergrad degree is pretty close to an MBA degree, but alas their argument is that they want some title following my name when I grow up, haha. Also, what are some of the other buy-side positions available to Wharton graduates, I am not yet totally convinced that I want to go all in on finance, since entrepreneurship is another path I am seriously considering.</p>
<p>i feel like you’re making an unnecessary distinction between the buy side and sell side. if anything, IB(sell side) is a better place because as long as you’re working hard and getting clients to make moves, then you’re making money on commission. the buy side is all about results. you can work 80 hours a week, not get the results your boss is looking for, and then get canned. </p>
<p>other examples of buy side jobs would be working at a big pension fund, a mutual fund, any kind of private equity such as venture capital and growth capital. and obviously hedge funds which are lucrative and more aggressive than mutual funds, but you might be glamorizing them a little bit.</p>
<p>Yeah, but I feel drawn to the whole producing results thing, I guess I am just a fan of pressure, although I am sure I have no idea what that kind of pressure to get results is, at this stage I am drawn to that. Sell-side just seems a little bit more boring, despite the knowledge of a more steady income flow. And thanks for the other buy side options, I will look into those further.</p>