Should I start in Investment Banking if my long-term goal is Private Equity?

Agree with what Anonymous B says. You need to differentiate between i) what is possible / good for the PEs vs. ii) what is good for you / what do you want.

Truth 1 - PEs pretty much already start recruting stratight out of college; sometimes you start straight up as Analyst (and skip classic IB Analyst program) or they still make you go through the Analyst program first

Truth 2 - Having worked in Client Service / as an advisor is VERY different (mindset, skills, experience) than PE. Do not underestimate the power of having working in client service. It is not a coincidence that MBB and IB are the 2 biggest sourcing channels for PE - in one (IB) you get to learn macro views on markets, companies, understand to "speak" corporate finance, will be able to look at business from a finance point of view. In MBB you will learn how companies actually work, what business models are and how they work / get a feeling for what makes good / bad models, will develop a gut feeling for odd things you see, have a practical sense what all the macro, high-level strategy talk actually means. If you want to become a well-versed investor, there are clear upsides having done some of that. Strictly speaking, you do not need it (in the sense that no one expects it or forces you to do it), you will for sure find some Analyst role somewhere, however, question is how good will you be down the road / how will you compete against people with more experience on that front. Food for thought.

I’m not sure why you’d only go for IB first ifs PE is already your clear goal. I’d probably just apply to both and see what opportunities you get.

IB is obviously still a common route into PE, but I wouldn’t see it as a must if you can get into PE directly. just my personal take though