F500 paid accounting internship vs IB boutique unpaid

All,

I am a junior at a non-target. I spent the summer interning in accounting at a F500 and will continue to do so throughout the fall. I have been offered a fall internship with a local boutique investment bank. However my internship with the F500 is paid and much more "laid back". I only work ~16 hours/week and get paid good for an intern. The investment banking internship is unpaid and will take up 20-30 hours/week of my time. Is the experience this boutique will provide worth the extra time and money? To be totally honest, I would rather stay with my current internship, but I am worried that it won't be enough to land ib interviews.

Any advice is much appreciated.

5 Comments
 

All sound like a load of pond scum. Do the IB ones though but only if the work is legit and substantial enough for you to speak about intelligently during an interview. If you are doing sourcing or other useless tasks for the vast majority of your time, don't bother.

 

Take the IB. Then hustle and do the crappy work well so that the bankers let you help out on deals. Al;so ask if you can sit in on calls and take notes. You will learn 10x more during a call with a CEO/CFO then you will reading about stuff online.

Thats what I did. Did deal sourcing and PPT formatting for an entire week before I was able to work on some pitches and deals.

On the otherhand, if you want to go consulting stick with the F500 firm and try to get an internship at MBB, Oliver Wyman or LEK.

 

Alarmed that you mentioned how laid back it is as a good thing...if you cruise through easy internships and then somehow magically get into IB without any IB internships you will go from 16 hours a week laid back to full throttle through the windshield and you'll crack. 20-30 is a smooth preview although it may be hard to stay motivated when you're not getting paid.

 

Aspernatur dolor quo ut aut ab vel fuga. Accusantium doloremque veritatis adipisci et rem. Praesentium est aut repudiandae repellendus eligendi.

Consequatur iste accusantium consequatur voluptatem vel debitis debitis assumenda. Quos aliquam sequi dolorum repudiandae.

Optio voluptate voluptas dolorem odit deserunt est consequatur nam. Laudantium voluptas et consequatur dolores minus. Sunt sunt vitae aliquam autem. Dolor qui reiciendis consequatur eos. Numquam ut nisi omnis modi accusantium vel.

CFA Charterholder, Certified FRM

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (48) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
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...”