Difficult situation - help

It will look really bad and they will be pissed (rightfully so).

However, we are talking about an internship in an non-finance industry here. If your end goal is IB, you can still renig because it is unlikely that your former employer will be able to hurt you. If you do decide to leave, see if the Boutique is willing to wait two weeks. That way you can at least offer your current employer a full two weeks.

^ "If you do decide to leave, see if the Boutique is willing to wait two weeks. That way you can at least offer your current employer a full two weeks."

This. Trying to be as professional as possible will benefit you in the long run.

Although it is non-finance industry, I got the current job through on campus recruitment where I applied through our school portal. So I'm afraid they'll let my school know and that might fuck up my chances next year for junior year...

Also, I never understood the two week notice thing. If I only went in for one day and said I wanted out, would they even want me for another two weeks? I'm pretty sure I'd just be that kid everyone hated..

If it's OCR, don't do it. The company might get pissed and tell your school about your reneging, in which case you could be banned from OCR for the rest of your undergrad years.

Fake your own death. Fly your private plane into a mountain parachuting seconds before impact and you're home free.

Say your parents died in a car accident and you have to move to France to live with your uncle. I've done this a couple times, it works with a 96.326% success rate.

What is your class status?

Stay where you are, tell the boutique that you would have loved to join them but you recently accepted an offer. Ask them if you could apply next summer.

Reneging on your current paid position because you think that the boutique will expose you to "high finance" is a bad gambling game. What tells you that you won't just be a glorified photocopy maker?

Agree with Flakie. An unpaid IB internship is something you take only if you have no other options - a bank will be able to pay interns they are planning to have do actual work.

Depends on what kind of boutique it is. If it's a MM firm like Lazard, then definitely go for it - after all, it's unlikely the non-finance firm is going to hurt you. However, if it's a random start-up boutique that doesn't do sh*t, then reneging can be a really bad idea.

Really dont quit. It is not worth it. If it were your junior year AND it were a paid internship at a known firm then it might be worth considering. Right now you are better off at your paid internship.

Where is the boutique and where do you go to school?

Personally, what I would do is continue with the paid non-finance job during the summer, and then ask the boutique if you can work with them during the school year, part-time. You'd get the best of both worlds without having to renege.

If that's not an option... then it's really your call. Sometimes unpaid boutique internships can be pretty bad where it's just paperwork and cold-calling, or they can turn out pretty well (I've done two myself), so it's kind of a crapshoot.

Definitely stay since you are only a rising junior. Tell the boutique thanks but that you accepted another offer and you'd love to do anything you can for them part time during the year or return next summer. If you reneg you will most likely be banned from OCR next year which puts you in a WAY worse position than not having finance experience as a junior.

Thanks for the help guys. I've decided to take the paid position where I'm at and just do the best job I can this summer. Hopefully I'll be able to work part-time during the school year in an ib analyst role somewhere.