career advice

I'm currently a second year at a boutique, left after one year stint at another bank's group- think structured finance/cdo/levfin (basically old group is now down to 30-40%) Things have been going well at the new firm, not hurting like all the BB and is a bit hedged due to some restructuring work.

The firm's culture is pretty tough and over the past half a year since i've been there they've let go about 3-4 people from all levels- basically it's very fit based and demanding. Knowing this i've put my head down and worked pretty hard and thought things were okay since it's been couple of months now.

I am a sophomore at a semi target, 3.5+ gpa, did last summer in PWM, the summer before that at a Real Estate development company.

If I take an ER, Asset Management, or DCM internship this summer, how will that effect future prospects of IBD for the summer of my junior year and a 1st year full time offer.

Will I be type casted as the "Middle Office Guy"

1. What is typically the distinction between an Analyst and an Associate? Is it years of experience, a change in responsibility, or both? How many years? What responsibilities?
2. How does compensation general work along the Analyst to Associate path?
3. Does firm size matter?
4. How does your firm communicate the path from Analyst to Associate? Do you have written guidelines? If so how is it set out?
5. Do Associates get hired who didn’t take a normal path from an analyst? What experience/Degree(s)/Majors/GPA is required to be hired in at the Associate level?

Thanks.

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Okay, so the feds threw us all a curve ball yesterday. I'm going to stick by my prediction that the measure will still pass by the end of the week, though I have more doubts now. I found it interesting that there were an almost equal number of Democrats and Republicans voting against the plan. For the nay votes on the Republican side, the plan was too socialist. For the nay votes on the Dem side, the plan wasn't socialist enough. And I imagine there were a few scattered nay votes thrown in just to piss off that idiot Pelosi after she decided to run her mouth.

Congressional drama notwithstanding, let's get back to the topic at hand. Namely, how to not only survive but to thrive in this chaotic market environment.