Morgan Stanley - Finance Summer Analyst interview!

Hey everyone,

I'm interviewing for the finance summer analyst internship at MS and would like some advice. I've read that they ask mostly behavioral questions first round, but if anyone has any insights, please provide them!

Also, from the following groups, which do you think would be the best to join in terms of experience and exit opps. which is closest to front office where its possible to get into I banking.
Institutional Securities Group Finance, Investment Management Finance, Global Wealth Management Finance, Corporate Reporting and Analysis, Corporate Treasury, Global Accounting Standards and Control, Global Regulatory, Global Valuation Review, Investor Relations and Tax.

There were previous threads about this, but they didn't have much information.

Thanks.

 

In all honesty I don't know how the interviews are like, but as far as which groups to join, what is your end goal for "exit opps"? Is it banking? If so, I feel like Institutional Securities Group Finance may be a good gateway to expose you to the Capital Markets desks.

 

I don't know if he knows you, but when you use your first initial and last name as your handle, it only takes Google to find your info.

P.S. - Congrats on winning first place on your essay in 2007 at the Science and Spiritual Quest Conference.

 
Chim Chim:
I don't know if he knows you, but when you use your first initial and last name as your handle, it only takes Google to find your info.

P.S. - Congrats on winning first place on your essay in 2007 at the Science and Spiritual Quest Conference.

lol.

maybe ill show up at your weekly meeting, 7-9 on wednesday's right?

sorry i just had to join in, no harm meant.

 
Chim Chim:
I don't know if he knows you, but when you use your first initial and last name as your handle, it only takes Google to find your info.

P.S. - Congrats on winning first place on your essay in 2007 at the Science and Spiritual Quest Conference.

Chim chim --> Jason Szeto, University of Toronto: Scarborough

 
Kaba Modern:
Wow you guys are just a bunch of assholes. Kind of ruins the point of an anonymous forum. Most people probably would not have googled his name and background. Seriously that's messed up to post up all this info.

They're just demonstrating they're capable of performing due diligence. I don't think Vivek had anything to hide, and if he did he should have done a better job of it. Besides, no one turned up embarrassing photos of him grinning like a moron.

Oh, and Vivek? I'm pretty sure the random walk theory of investing has been discredited. At the very least, bad form posting it on a blog without citing any counterarguments.

 

You also might want to leave this out of the interview...

28° 35' N 77° 12' E Delhi is my birth place and time of birth is 17:55 on 14th March 1981. My sani dosha according to the astrologer is running from 1999 to 2018. So is there any hope for me now as I am tense about being in financial misery.

 

One of your questions should be "Why should I work for you if I'm only going to be paid 250k?"

In all seriousness: 1) Read the WSJ 2) Know the firm's recent news 3) Read up on all current numbers as of yesterday's close for all the indexes 4) Know some basic trading techniques, and how the market functions 5) You're going to get brainteasers (ie what is 7^3....)

But in reality, this industry now sucks go work for IBM or INTEL.

 

There's definitely a certain cachet associated with name Morgan Stanley. I think their summer analyst (including both sophomores and juniors) class is usually around 90 kids for North America.

 

expect to be asked:

What is the firm's overall IBD strategy vs. competitors?

What are the firm's colors?

Difference between MS and Goldman Sachs?

now is your goodwill the tangible kind or what.

========================================= We are excited to formally extend to you an offer to join Bank of Ameria
 
Best Response

My experience was with FT but I assume the process won't be much different for you.

I studied for technicals almost solely from M&I and that was good preparation. Be ready to talk about a recent M&A deal in relative detail--if you've been reading the WSJ or following the financial news this shouldn't be a problem. I would expect to get a lot of technicals--worst case scenario you're well-prepared and don't get any but at least your more confident going in.

Best way to answer "why X bank" is to talk about the culture. Yeah, M&A and recent deals are good things to mention as well but anyone can look that up on the internet/WSJ/etc. If you can reference specific people within the firm you have spoken with when giving your spiel about teamwork/high performance rather than general platitudes that will go a long way in showing you have more than just a superficial interest and have taken the initiative to reach out on your own.

I'm not sure what you meant by "healthy competition" but MS likes to stress their collaborative/team-minded culture so if you were referring to in-firm competition I would definitely NOT mention that.

 

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