Advice for Incoming Intern @ SM HF?

Hey Everyone,

I'll be starting at a SM HF this summer and I want to know what advice you all may have for me in terms of what I can be doing now to better prepare myself and stand out (in a positive way). Would love to hear from analysts all the way to HF veterans in the space. 

Thank you for your time! 

3 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Congrats on the internship, great opportunity that is ultimately what you make of it. Worked at large SM last summer and had an amazing experience. Couple of things I would recommend:


- ask a lot of (intelligent) questions. Ppl are generally willing to talk if they’re not getting crushed so would encourage you to be curious, just never ask anything you could find online.
- try to be competent in modeling/your coverage before you start. Assuming you aren’t nepo you prob have some experience from clubs/prior internships, but try to prep as much as possible. My experience was ppl assume you know very little until you prove them wrong, then you incrementally gain responsibility. Double/triple check your work, small mistakes matter

-having a good mentor is extremely important, and will probably make or break your experience. Not a ton you can do here but try to coffee chat ppl in the firm or if you have a formal mentor try to build a good relationship

-try to read memos and get familiar with the firm’s portfolio beyond what you are working on (interns usually have one narrowly defined project for the summer. 

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

Autem qui enim voluptatem voluptate ut qui qui. Vitae debitis aut dolores. Rerum est consequatur iusto dicta aut consectetur. Vero voluptatum deserunt consequatur qui error et ea.

Non esse voluptatem soluta excepturi sapiente possimus. Dolores enim animi excepturi non ex. Qui sapiente qui laborum repellendus illo commodi sit odio.

Animi nemo nostrum non modi provident. Est et explicabo doloribus quod quo perspiciatis. Atque magnam porro doloribus expedita porro unde. In dignissimos minus aut ipsam numquam aut.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.1%
  • AQR Capital Management 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Millennium Partners 95.0%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.2%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $423
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (86) $288
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (77) $191
  • Analysts (242) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (282) $96
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”