Sophomore Internship Advice

I have 2 offers for a summer internship after my sophomore year, and I can't decide which would be best for me if I'm trying to into consulting. For background, I'm current sophomore econ/math major at a non-target school. My first option is in business/data analytics at a regional financial services firm/consumer bank. This is through a very structured, paid internship program, but due to living expenses. My other option is to work at a very new startup PE firm, which is run by recent MBA graduate, but with a topnotch background(think GS/MS/JPM and HSW). This option would be unpaid an very unstructured, as I would be doing the majority of my work from home. Is it better to do a "real" internship in a less "prestigious" field but with a more established company(albeit with little name recognition) or do the PE internship that would offer me more connections(boss said she could help recommend me to many people to help me get internships in consulting) and more intriguing work, but little-to-no experience in a real work environment?

3 Comments
 

how recognizable is the name of the business/data analytics firm?

being completely honest, you'd probably do better in recruiting with the firm that has the more noticeable name- and while the connections would be fantastic, it's not a known quantity- so not sure how much value you can put into that.

this isn't to say that the more structured option is better for career growth, but purely for recruiting.

final note: unpaid + working from home seems like it won't result in you doing too much, but this might not be true

 

It's somewhat recognizable in the region that I'm in as it has locations across 10 states and has been in operation for ~150 years, but it's definitely nowhere near a household name. My biggest fear with the unpaid option is that I won't get much out of it, due to the lack of structure and the potential of very little deal flow.

 

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