Fortune 100 Finance Rotation vs. No-Name Boutique IB

I’m a senior at a non-target. I have two offers - one at a F100 doing a corporate finance rotation and the other as an analyst at a local boutique investment bank doing lower middle market M&A deals (sub-20mm in size).

F100 Role: * Relocation to tier one city * Great benefits * 3-year program, rotating positions * Will pay for MBA * Relatively low salary (55k) * 40-hour work weeks * Respected name

Boutique Role: * Local in tier three city * No benefits * Lots of deal experience, client touch, small deal teams * Purely commission (a portion of success fee) * 50-60hrs per week * Typically sub-20mm deals * Cold-calling/business development is part of role

I've interned (hrly min wage) at the boutique for roughly 5 months (during the school year) and do enjoy the role, the team, and the firm very much. It just seems risky as a place to begin my career. I'm pretty decent at networking so in the new city, I was thinking I could start the grind once more to find another IB role.

Given my two offers, which would you suppose I pick considering that I'd ultimately like a career in IB?

Thanks

13 Comments
 
Most Helpful

I personally would take the F100 corporate finance rotational position, and then plan to go for my MBA after the rotational program. Get into a good MBA program (which the respected company name will help with), and then recruit for IB. While the deal experience would be nice to have, getting your MBA paid for and being in a city with more networking opportunities is a big plus.

 

F100 from a brand name program > M7 is very doable and have seen many instances happen from my company. From there I would assume recruiting for banking at the associate level is a pretty easy reach.

Don't give yourself away for free.

 

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