Investment Banking Analyst - M&A/Tech

Received interview opportunity through directly contacting recruiter. BAML did have OCR resume listing but no one at school received any follow-up or interviews. Overall, the interview seemed to be much more of a fit test versus technicals. As a group with a reputation of being incredibly demanding in terms of hours and culture, the feeling of the interview was mostly about demonstrating whether or not you'd be able to handle it. Focused a great deal on what you would do when conflicts would arise between work/personal life, etc. Technicals were very standard for the most part- accretion/dilution, walk me through depreciation, etc. One thing I remember that stood out was the emphasis placed on the group's culture, and how even though it was BAML, the group still saw themselves as Merrill Lynch and made it clear that the culture was still very prevelant and not what you would find at a B of A group pre-merger. Made a point of talking about how many Merrill people were at the Palo Alto office and how they didn't really associate themselves with the BofA group next to them (think it was a DCM group). Overall, the more senior interviewers were very receptive and positive, however, the associates (which was a 2 on 1 setting) seemed disinterested, probably because they were fried and had other stuff they needed to be doing.