Boutique IB or Big 4 M&A

Hi all,

I'm in a dillema and I need some help. I'm a final year student in a Balkan country and I will be applying to target MSc in the UK in September. I've done one internship at a shipping company (non-finance related) and one at a non-Big 4 TAS. I'm looking to get some M&A experience this summer and I have two options:

1) Big 4 M&A with relatively strong deal flow under a very strong director and

2) IB boutique with strong deal flow and well respected in my country but uknown outside of it.

The Big 4 internship will be 6 months, while the IB will be 3 and I don't know if it can be extended. Which one should I go for if I want to maximize my chances of admission at a top program? Also, which one will be better for recruiting after i get into  a masters?

Thank you all!

8 Comments
 

If you want to stay in London post-masters, I would say the Big 4 M&A offer.

Unfortunately, recruiters don’t tend to value internships from shops which they have never heard of (especially if not in the geography you are recruiting for).

 

Hey, thanks for the reply! That was my thought too, my concern is that the boutique is sth like the gold standard for university grads here but it has a tough culture from what I hear. I'm leaning towards the Big 4 to be honest but I'm still not 100% sure.

 

Big 4 is like McDonald’s might not be the best meal of your life but you know you will have a good meal regardless of what country you are in.

If a recruiter sees “Big 4 M&A” on your resume she will spend more time looking at it than a no-name boutique.

 

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