Face time sucks

Suck it up kid. If your analyst is a nice guy and you suspect he might have a pedagocical bone in his body ask him if he could walk you through what he's doing whilst he's doing it, in other words, get him to think out loud if there's no one else around.

It's been said before, but an internship is just a couple months of your life. Your analyst should be telling you to go home if he isn't going to need you... but you never know. Maybe your sticking around will really help him out if he gets into a pinch. Ask him if there is anything else you can help him with - if he says no, then just tell him you're going to stick around in case something arises. That gives him another opportunity for him to tell you to go home without directly asking to leave.
Again... suck it up. It's only a couple months.

or see if you can somehow anticipate what the "next steps" might be for your deal team. if you can at least get the groundwork started, they will definitely appreciate your effort and, if the work is any good/useful, mucho bonus points.

i'm not going to say, "you should be lucky, blah blah blah". everyone's been in a similar situation. i'd say just get through the next 5 weeks and try to add as much value as possible. when it comes time to make offers, your efforts will be remembered.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't mind the down time when I get it. Of course, sometimes I'm just busy as hell which is probably why I can appreciate the time even more. You were probably expecting to be learning new stuff all the time on your internship, but if you're not, don't sweat it -- just keep a good attitude and ask people if you can help them, as opposed to asking if there's anything for *you* to do. You want to make them feel like you're helping them on something so that they think you're useful as opposed to self-serving. If there's really nothing for you to work on, there are plenty of other ways you can be enhancing your knowledge by browsing the web. Some suggestions include wallstreetoasis.com, analystforum.com, wsj.com, espn.com, urbandictionary.com, and so forth...

Really, some downtime isn't bad -- you'll probably be wishing you had more of it when you start getting tons of crap piled on your desk

lol...be thankful u have an offer in this economic environment...seriously dog...theres a lot of people who would wish they were in your spot right now..

Thanks for all the advice guys, I appreciate it. I just feel like, compared to others who have done summers at different banks before me, I am not learning as much and being involved enough. I am perfectly willing to pull 2 all nighters in a row if I am doing something, but hate sitting around not doing anything.

And if I'm not doing anything, at least let me go home. The people I work with know perfectly well I'm not doing sh##, but don't tell me I can go home until 5am or so.

And as for Mack, stfu please. I know these are tough times, but u complain about things sometimes, don't you? Its like me telling you to shut up and be thankful ur alive...

I can understand - my first week was a bit like that. Although, depending on your bank, try and reach out to people. If the analysts/associates don't need help, maybe ask a VP or something, or even a director.

I was staffed my first week on a research project with an M&A director. Not the most glorious, but better than doing PIBs I suppose. I really wanted to learn M&A modeling as an SA, so I busted my ass for this guy just enough for him to like me. I mentioned that I was interested in his area of expertise, and he just started showing me merger models, along with some merger arb (he used to work at a HF).

I realize that most senior guys are too busy to care about a SA, but if you're polite about it, I don't think you have too much to lose.

Practice your modeling. Go over completed models and see if you can make them from scratch without looking at the original. While you're at it, memorize your excel shortcuts and learn the many ways you can do things faster with just the keyboard.

Read pitch books and go through presentations. If you are working on deals, make sure you know them inside out.

I guarantee that there are things you can do on your own that will help you expand your knowledge. If you don't understand a certain part of a model, then google it. If google doesn't work, then make a list of questions that you can ask someone later on.

Good luck.

If you truly cannot and are not helping by staying late, they should be telling you to go home. If not, then that's poor management on their behalf. Be certain that you're making it clear to every one of your minders that you're available if they need help, and if they have nothing to give you, they should send you home. If they don't explicitly do that, then try occupying your time studying up on models, etc...though rooting around through true working models is only so educational without somebody to walk you through.

At the end of the day, though, be glad that you went through the internship at this place, not just because it's a nice resume builder, but because now you know what kind of a culture they have--that's the whole point of an internship. I went through the same thing about 6 years ago. I found a different firm, one that valued my time as much as I valued theirs, and never looked back. Your summer experience is not ubiquitous. Best of luck with it while it lasts!

in addition to what's already been said, study your industry (or, if you aren't assigned to an industry group, study AN industry, any industry that interests you).

What are the important metrics?
Who are the players? Who are the suppliers? Who are the customers?
What is the economic condition of the industry?
What are the new developments?
Who could be potential strategic buyers? Who could be for sale soon?

If I had more time, I would devote myself to learning about an industry from top to bottom.

Your still making 1200 a week, right - its a good deal either way then.

Think about the positives, learn a lot of internal knowledge, practice building models, etc. and make the most of it