Investment Banking Summer Analyst

Two weeks before the OCR Resume Drop deadline, BAML held an on campus recruiting session with bankers from their Oil and Gas group out of Houston, as well as campus alumni who work for BAML in other offices (NY, Chicago, etc.). Afterwards they held a networking reception at a local Hotel. The group was very social, and everyone from the Houston group was drinking. They promoted a very fraternal atmosphere and it felt exactly like fraternity rush. I followed up with two analysts and drove out to Houston from Austin to have coffee with them. Very friendly people, still felt like I was "rushing" them over other banks. Mid December they emailed me about scheduling an accelerated interview for their Oil and Gas group. Interview was with an analyst and VP. Started out normally (tell me about yourself, why ib, why BAML, etc.) then turned into a rapid fire of technicals from DCF to Valuation. Asked for a recent energy deal and then grilled me on why the deal was important to the acquirer. Then got lectured on the current state of oil prices. Overall it was very uncomfortable. The analyst would start asking a question and then grab his blackberry and stop talking. The VP looked like he was bored out of his mind. Left the interview very frustrated because it felt like they had wrote me off prior to me walking in. Later found out they had a "big board" ranking all 20 interviewers and were only going to focus on getting the "top 8" to the superday. In the end if you hadn't gotten enough facetime you weren't going to make it past the first round and it was just a formality (they knew who they wanted by that point). Cool guys - very "fraternal/collegiate." My advice: start early and try to go out to the Houston office and meet with as many people as you can. If you go to the University of Texas and aren't in a fraternity/sorority do not waste your time.