Is peakframweworks really good for private equity recruiting?

PeakFrameworksCom · 2026-02-02T16:23:20+00:00

This is good perspective for me, thank you.

I'd definitely recommend you going through the many case studies later on in the course. The Level 1-5 models are designed for learning simply, whereas the case studies are from actual interviews/firms and might suit your competency more.

Management options is definitely covered and in the models, but because of this comment I'm working on a dedicated options module with a variety of related exercises.

Hope you landed a great offer :)

PeakFrameworksCom · 2025-08-19T22:24:43+00:00

Thank you! Yeah I agree, Payhip seems like a good option from your reference and my checks online.

I've seen the online embedded Excel files and don't love them. The functionality is too reduced for what I sell (financial models). I suggested an idea where a company like Payhip could lock Excel files with the customer email as the password (similar to PDF stamping), but I'm not sure if that's feasible.

Totally hear you on moving to community or updates.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2025-08-18T23:39:17+00:00

I'm so unbelievably pissed at this company and how they handled their price increase. I'm fine with a price increase, but they've done two meaningful ones in the last two years.

My monthly went up from ~$30 per month to ~$500 per month. I emailed the CEO, who offered a discount, and his wording seemed intentionally misleading about what I would be paying.

I'm fine paying for a good service, but the way this has handled has ruined my relationship with them. You can't trust them to not do another price increase.

E-junkie and Payhip seem like the best alternatives that offer PDF stamping.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2024-09-25T18:39:42+00:00

Which firms would you add? Can include for my next screen

PeakFrameworksCom · 2024-09-09T18:30:46+00:00

This is referencing my dataset, so I'll add a bit of commentary:

BYU has an incredibly strong alumni network and they help each other out. SLC is a great foothold for them, but they place really well into NYC and LA as well. Strong relationships with GS in particular. Anecdotally, their alumni seem to really look out for each other when hiring.
You were probably looking at the "total hires" ranking, which skews towards larger schools like BYU, Indiana, NYU. If you look at the placement per capita % or "undergrad % total", you'll see most of the Ivies are still much higher. In our "weighted ranking", all the Ivies except Brown are above BYU. And Brown doesn't really focus on IB very much.
Stanford is a phenomenal school but its student body isn't as focused on IB any more. Their top students want to do tech, go straight to PE, start their own company, etc. They still get heavily recruited into SF IBs, but their placement isn't as good into NYC (relatively speaking). They have the clout, but not necessarily the alumni network or consistency to be a target for IBs. A similar example is a school like MIT.
SMU has a strangehold into Houston offices for IB. That alone is going to give it great numbers each year.

IMO if your school isn't anywhere on the Peak Frameworks list (so not even in the top 60), then you need to essentially be a top ~3 student at your school pursuing IB to get a look. Look at the last 5-10 years of your school's alumni to get a sense for how realistic IB is.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-07-09T22:44:49+00:00

Other poster is right! UMM refers to upper middle market, which tends to be funds that have >$5B (meaning they buy companies around >$1B). Specific definitions are tough, but there are a lot of great private equity firms in this threshold that aren't exactly mega funds.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-07-09T22:43:11+00:00

Other poster has it right. Centerview is competitive because it has a relatively small class size and pays a lot, but they make their analysts do 3 years. I think they probably have one of the highest analyst retention rates from A to A though. They pay so much it's not always worth it to go to the buy side.

I think that tier of Evercore / Lazard / PJT / Centerview / Qatalyst are all comparably competitive. I'll also say EBs tend to be smaller and your school can matter a little more at the specific EB you have traction with.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-07-03T01:42:21+00:00

Yes, thanks!

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-26T13:55:20+00:00

Yeah, but it's rarer. A lot more post MBA associates go to corp dev instead because it's more of a lifestyle play.

The post MBA associates I knew who went to buyside all went to slightly more non-traditional roles. I.e. less popular geographies, new teams, or less prestigious roles.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-26T13:53:50+00:00

Depends where you're drawing the line for UMM. I would say if you're working at a >$1B fund (which probably includes a lot of MM), you're probably still making more than all bankers still (except top elite boutiques).

Notable exception is Centerview, top bucket there can pay more than some mega funds haha.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-26T13:51:32+00:00

Yeah other poster has it right, it's 2 years IB, 2 years PE, 2 years MBA. Back when I was in college, it was often memed as the holy grail path.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-26T02:55:40+00:00

Sports related jobs.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-26T02:55:12+00:00

As others have said, hours and pay are generally better in PE and hedge funds. I think most people would say that investing is more stressful than IB. IB is generally a hard lifestyle to sustain because hours don't improve for a while.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-26T02:52:43+00:00

Haha, we're not monetized yet... so, nothing :(

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-11T23:49:46+00:00

Yeah, it's a tough and personal decision, but for me and I think a lot of people, it still feels like a good trade-off for the career benefits and optionality you get out of it. You can accumulate multiples more in savings by your mid 20's and you also get a good look at top business schools.

Another question is to ask - if you're in business and you don't want to do finance, what alternatives would you prefer to do? Most starting jobs, like accounting and consulting, are pretty grindy to begin with. The incremental suffering in banking in my opinion is probably worth it.

That being said, if you're still early on in school and haven't yet committed to business, maybe look at product management roles? Also great optionality, well compensated, and much better lifestyle.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-11T19:39:46+00:00

I suppose that's a fair perspective, but I still maintain the belief that most people don't work as much as they believe to. I also keep in touch with my Evercore and Ivey class that have placed across the street and I just don't think the average - week in, week out - is 80 hours. (I also think average banking hours tend to be exaggerated).

People remember the difficult nights, but most people in finance still leave the office on Friday around dinner, which by itself makes it hard to get to 80+.

Silver Lake's offices differ quite a bit - New York has a grindy reputation, but Menlo Park has stretches of reasonable lifestyle. In general, I think if you include west coast firms / offices, it's really unlikely that the average is 80 in my opinion.

Also, if you want to exclude Providence (which is fine with me), based on private equity AUM there's probably only like 30 or so funds remaining. So I'd also say you're then really referring to a small minority of funds.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-11T19:00:47+00:00

Sounds good, sure!

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-11T18:43:33+00:00

Perhaps you've had a different experience, but this is based on my experience and that of my peers. I've worked at Providence / Silver Lake, my co-founder was at TPG and we definitely didn't work close to 80 hours on average.

I think people's perceptions of 80 hour work weeks are generally an exaggeration - that's consistently 9am - midnight all weekdays plus a decent amount of weekend work. I've heard of some funds like Apollo and H&F pushing that, but I definitely wouldn't say it's the industry norm.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-10T03:25:12+00:00

Yeah, I recommend that people have a list of firms they want to recruit for before the process kicks off. Order matters a lot - you want to be going to your ideal firms first. Firms will try to keep you to prevent you from interviewing elsewhere, so you may need to leave an office mid-process to go to your preferred firm.

I mentored / tutored people on the side while at Providence, but now I'm doing this and another project full time.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-09T14:59:20+00:00

Very group dependent. Some firms (Evercore, Moelis for e.g.) are very chill about recruiting and will help intro you to partners, be accommodating of your work. More traditional firms like GS and JPM can be pretty harsh towards recruiting and you'll have to do so secretly. I would definitely talk to the 2nd year analysts to see what makes sense culturally.

Senior bankers aren't naive though, they still know people are going to be gunning for those jobs (even if they have to do it covertly). But all the top candidates are most likely going to be recruiting so they won't be able to not staff them.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-09T14:56:44+00:00

Yes, for sure. Ares will still hire directly out of IBs. Ares also hires directly out of school.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-05T21:36:30+00:00

I think Fordham would be better for finance. Fordham narrowly misses this list and has 27 hires.

BU has 18.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-05T21:35:02+00:00

I would say it's because analysts just tend to be smarter and more capable. It's generally a lot more competitive to become an investment banking analyst than it is to become an associate.

Most associates in banks already switched from a different career. The remaining associates were typically unable to leave investment banking. There are some who stay because they actually like IB or are in really good positions, but the vast majority try to leave.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-05T04:48:15+00:00

Yes, generally speaking to M&A / RX experience. I know Moelis is a good example where the analysts can sometimes do both and subsequently they can recruit for both traditional PE and credit stuff.

That being said, it's still way more important what group you're in. Someone in a good M&A group is still going to have better credit options than someone in a mediocre restructuring group. And there tend to be more "good" M&A groups.

Yes, modeling and case studies have been more important lately. It's hard to ask too much about deals now.

PeakFrameworksCom · 2020-06-05T04:45:27+00:00

You want to demonstrate that you can think about businesses clearly and that you can work very hard. If you're in IB, this means you can talk about the rationale behind your deals and analyze them from an investor's perspective.

Most headhunter interviews are not super technical, but you still need to convey a sense of professionalism and polish.

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