Interesting Choices...help me make this big decision

To begin, I think I'm definitely a little less traditional in what I'm looking for than most others on this forum, so here are my 2 main choices and my thoughts behind them:

Houlihan Lokey: Aerospace, Defense & Government Group, Washington, D.C.

Prudential Financial: Buy-Side Investment Analyst (fixed income investments)

With Houlihan I'll get a lot of solid deal experience and it's almost solely M&A (mostly sell-side, some buy-side), and it's in my industry of interest. I like the option to work in the defense industry (corp. development) at a firm like Lockheed or in a related type of company (think Halliburton) or go to a HF or PE shop.

With Prudential, I will get the CFA and I think have a good shot at a solid hedge fund and maybe the chance at something else.

Please be honest with me (and hopefully someone on the street can give me a view from the street) and tell me if my expectations are realistic and then which you feel I should choose given what I've said and your own input.

Thanks in advance.

9 Comments
 

Most of us will agree on Houlihan because this is a banking website. But at the end of the day it depends on what you're more interested in. Obviously if you don't have an interest in banking, you'll be crushed as Houlihan is known as a sweat shop.

 

Yeah I've heard thta DC is definitely a sweatshop, but the deal flow is really solid, and at the end of the day (and by day I mean 2-3 years), I want my resume to have execution experience on it.

To dive deeper, what kinds of exit opportunities would I have coming out of either Houlihan or Prudential?

"To Know Me Is To Love Me"-Jebus Price

 

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