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PE firms hire from all undergrad fields.
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<p>do they? I always thought that PE firms were rather reluctant to hire anyone directly out of undergrad, with a few exceptions.</p>
<p>Aren't there hotter fields now? S&T. Asset liability management. Investment strategy consulting? Also more intellectual it seems.</p>
<p>Hedge Funds are also hotter than ever right?</p>
<p>I don't think IB or PE are lone stars anymore. There's other more competitive areas to get into. Think Goldman is tough to get into? DE SHAW is much tougher to get into and work for. It is almost exclusively a quant trading firm. </p>
<p>IB and PE are great; sure but there are areas that are tougher, more selective and have greater rewards that pay off. Not to mention the work / life balance is also better.</p>
<p>Investment banking: 80hrs/week is a commonly heard number. Does that break down into any categories? Do BS i.bankers work 80hrs/week just like MBA i.bankers?</p>
<p>What are the hours like for PE, hedge funds, and other fields mentioned here?
Are the typical hours the max or the average?</p>
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[quote]
do they? I always thought that PE firms were rather reluctant to hire anyone directly out of undergrad, with a few exceptions.
[/quote]
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<p>Be careful about what I said. I said that PE firms hire from ALL undergrad fields. But I never said that they hired a lot of undergrads, or that they hired from many undergrad schools. </p>
<p>As a case in point, whether you study economics at Harvard or art history at Harvard is not going to matter that much if you're shooting for PE. What matters is that you're at Harvard (or one of the handful of other schools that PE's recruit at ). And yes, even the vast majority of Harvard students won't get an offer from PE. But the point is, your major tends not to matter that much. </p>
<p>
[quote]
IB and PE are great; sure but there are areas that are tougher, more selective and have greater rewards that pay off. Not to mention the work / life balance is also better.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>While I agree about IB, as far as PE goes, I'm not that sure there are areas that are really that much tougher and more selective. PE, frankly, is the new sheriff in town. For example, at Harvard Business School, the zeitgest within the student body is that PE is now the most desirable job you can get. IB, investment management, S&T, and the other fields of finance are considered ho-hum, and many students at HBS have expressed the sentiment that those who end up going to those fields simply weren't good enough to get a PE offer.</p>
<p>thanks for clarifying. wow. I had no idea PE was this sought out for. cool.</p>
<p>well if PE is the "cool" thing to do, then maybe there will be less competition for IB....well not a LOT less but slightly less...which is always a good thing for me anyway.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I don't think IB or PE are lone stars anymore. There's other more competitive areas to get into. Think Goldman is tough to get into? DE SHAW is much tougher to get into and work for. It is almost exclusively a quant trading firm.
[/quote]
I made final-rounds at DE Shaw, saw their offices, etc. Those guys are frighteningly intelligent, but get to do some awesome stuff. Spoke with a few guys who were 2 years out of college, and were in charge of finding the right people (and hiring those people) to manage newly acquired companies in need of a turnaround. They may not have known anything about the energy field, but they knew how to find the right guy who did. Now THAT's an awesome job.</p>
<p>I have a family member who's a quant team leader at citigroup. He told me that they apparentely almost exclusively hire math/physics p.h.d's from top schools; the smartest people. I just don't know if an MFE (even from a top program) can get you into a place like DE SHAW or it's equivalent. My main concern is that even with a solid MFE degree, you'll end up working as a low level quant. I'm not too sure how well those progress up. Maybe mahras can comment.</p>
<p>btw denzera, how'd you land the interview at de shaw?</p>
<p>uh, i was an applied math / computer science major at columbia. Mr. David E Shaw himself is/was a professor at the columbia CS dept, so the firm advertises a lot in the campus newspaper. I applied to them for a few positions, got a phone interview for two of them, got invited to 2nd rounds for those two positions, farked up on the subway [showed up 10 mins late], and got Das Boot after about 5 hours of interviews. But they're clearly hot-s**t.</p>
<p>I think it will be interesting to see how private equity fares when we hit a recession. Ibanking will take a hit, but I bet private equity will be flat as a pancake.</p>
<p>Would anyone like to comment on the difference between Leverage buyout firms of the 80s and private equity firms of today?</p>
<p>"but I bet private equity will be flat as a pancake."</p>
<p>Nice :D</p>
<p>So what kind of courses do you need to take in B-School for PE? Same ones as IB, or different ones?</p>
<p>It won't be a recession that bring down private equity but a lack of cheap credit. Many of the deals today are taking place due to cheap credit and general abundance of liquidity in the markets. This has allowed PE firms to make bigger deals using more elaborate financing methods. Once credit dries up, you will see a downturn in PE. </p>
<p>Cheap credit has really financed a lot of different areas of this economy. It won't just be PE firms that take a hit. Everything is interlinked. Drying up of credit (lack of liquidity) will end up hurting firms partaking in the carry trade and those short volatility (such as option writers etc) just to name a few.</p>
<p>As for landing a position at a place like DE Shaw etc> You need to be hands down smart. They have tons of guys who were medalists at the IMO and other really high level science/math competitions. You also have brilliant researchers there. A lot of it depends on your individual skill. No one will be impressed by advanced degrees but they will be impressed by top notch problem solving skills. I suggest you do a search for the Art of Problem Solving-Careers in Mathematics forum. There are a bunch of ex-DE Shaw guys there.</p>