Cowen in SF v. BNP Paribas in London

id go with bnp paribas

if it's for the same job this is a no brainer and you shouldn't even ask. BNP...

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Remember, you will always be a salesman, no matter how fancy your title is.
- My ex girlfriend

Cowen hands down for me

- the weather is nicer in SF
- BNP Paribas are not exactly well thought of in London
- Cowen (not that I know very much about them to be honest) are considered to be a pretty good boutique from the little I have read about them on WSO and in the press

Out of interest, why would you pick BNP Disjoint?

I know nothing about BNP/London, but know a decent amount about Cowen.

The SF office is pretty laid back in terms of hours, and they see a decent amount of dealflow, although, like any small middle market bank, there's a lot of pitching as well.

The SF office is pretty small though, whereas I assume working at a place like BNP would have a much large corporate culture. Cowen has made some recent MD hires, primarily in alternative capital financing areas. As they are traditionally an equity shop, they have begun to do a lot more M&A as well.

See if you can talk with previous interns/analysts to see which place might give you the best experience. Assuming you want to leverage this into a FT offer elsewhere, your experience and ability to talk about your time there will be more valuable than the name.

International experience is always a bonus on the resume, and given the economic situation you'd be wise to consider London.

Joefish - since when are BNP "not well thought of" in London? In which area? I've had clients trade away with BNP on a not infrequent basis so I wonder where you get that from.

Cowen don't do trading....as far as I know anyway?

Therefore, I'm not comparing BNP & Cowen from a trading perspective, more from corporate finance/M&A etc., where BNP are not exactly regarded as stellar.

I'm not trying to slag them off, I'm simply opining that they are not regarded as a Tier 1 bank in London, feel free to counter.

I didn't think of the 'international experience' thing at first, but fp175 is completely correct, getting London on your resume would look great, so maybe you should erase my posts from your mind and go London :)

Cowen does sales/trading, but it is a pretty small part of the company.

Just curious - in London, how is Cowen's dealflow? I think Healthcare is their strong part out there, but not really sure.

Agree on the London part - seeing it from another part of the world would be awesome, and I assume would help when coming back to the U.S.

I think you would want to have the option of working in London sometime in the future...and most people on this board are of the opinion that experience in London e.g. as an SA will be of great assistance if you want a FT job in future, i.e. if you have worked in London, it should be easier to get a job in London

Oops had no idea Cowen did trading..

THey are just a really good bank in Europe, their presence is not as strong in the US, but they are kick ass in Europe.
I accepted a job at another bank, for the only reason that BNP is not very flexible regarding internal mobility (as I was told).
THe bank I currently work at allows you to switch roles whenever you feel like it, and pays much better.

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Remember, you will always be a salesman, no matter how fancy your title is.
- My ex girlfriend

I would go with BNP in a heartbeat. Better name overall, and the London experience will be great for the resume. Think about it this way – which one will make it easier for you to get to a BB in NYC (not necessarily what you are aiming for, but the general gold standard)? Even if it was a lesser name, I would go with London for the sheer experience of working overseas.

In this environment I'd go with whichever has the smallest balance sheet

Or you can look at who wheathered the crisis really well in the big banks, and you will see that BNP is at the top there in kicking ass during the subprime.

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Remember, you will always be a salesman, no matter how fancy your title is.
- My ex girlfriend

I think the firm opportunities are pretty similar, but you can meet a lot more people by interning in London. Better contacts out there, plus, it looks better on your resume to get some international experience.