These students have already accepted offers to join private equity firms next year

Many students in the class of 2017 are still scrambling to secure a job for after they graduate in May, but this may be too late. Private equity firms have already extended offers to students set to graduate next year.

Private equity is among the toughest areas of financial services to break into. Often aspiring P.E. professionals have to pay their dues as an investment banking analyst for several years, and even then only the very best get offers. The following students bypassed that career phase entirely. Here’s a roundup of incoming private equity analysts and associates in the U.S. who will join their firms once they graduate next year.

Incoming private equity associates

Cameron Kirdzik is on the men’s varsity soccer team at Yale University and is the co-founder of Yale Undergraduate Diversified Investments (YUDI). He was an extern at Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan and did internships at Red Hook Management and Morgan Stanley. He also worked as a capital markets summer analyst at the latter. He will join Copley Equity Partners, which invests in established small and lower-middle-market businesses.

Set to join the same P.E. firm, Liam McClintock will also graduate from Yale next year. He participated in Dartmouth’s Tuck Business Bridge Program, where M.B.A. faculty provide an in-depth introduction to accounting, finance, microeconomics, marketing and strategy. He interned at VC firm Launch Angels and worked in M&A advisory as a summer analyst consultants DCDB Group.

While studying at Columbia University, Ava Zhu participated in Smart Women Securities and the Asia Development Society. She was an extern at Merrill Lynch, focused on TMT private equity as a summer analyst at CITIC Capital and worked in real estate private equity as a summer analyst at the Blackstone Group. She will join Government Investment Corporation (GIC) Private Limited, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund with more than $100bn under management, next year.

Incoming private equity analysts

An actor who is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, Maxwell Whittington-Cooper participates in Harvard University’s Real Estate Club, HUTV television station, Black Students Association (BSA) and Black Men's Forum (BMF). He is the co-founder and division president of Charitable Innovations. His internships have included Ralph Lauren, Buzzfeed and Redstar Ventures, a venture capital firm. After graduation, he will join Insight Venture Partners.

A member of the Interactive Investments society at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, Brad Fiedler worked as a summer analyst at commercial real estate company Meritage Properties and Harvest Volatility Management, which structures and manages option-related investment strategies. He is also set to join Insight Venture Partners.

Simon Hedges is also a member of the Michigan Interactive Investments society. His internships have included the Hudson Companies, Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co., the Rohatyn Group, Morgan Stanley and Bloomberg. He worked as a private equity summer analyst at Audax Group and will be joining Tenex Capital Management after he graduates next year.

Set to join Audax Group post-graduation, Petros Palandjian is a Project Waves staff leader and participates in the Federal Open Markets Committee Club, volleyball and tennis at Duke University, where he studies economics and computer science. His internships have included the Intercontinental Real Estate Corp. and Rho Ventures & Iconica Partners, and he was an incubator and the first employee of social media crowdfunding startup Boost It!

Jesse Pagliuca interned at StubHub participated in Mr. Gad's House of Improv at Amherst College. He also worked as a summer business analyst/intern at Altamont Capital Partners, which he will join as a full-time analyst.

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