Help with decision

I have SA 2019 offers from a MM bank ( think Wells, BNP,RBC, Nomura) for IB and offers from 3 top BBs ( think MS, JPM, GS) for S&T. Ultimate goal is possibly banking . Any advice? Any strong pick for S&T? Thanks.

8 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Congrats on the offers. If your ultimate goal is IBD, you should sign with the MM bank. Lateraling internally from S&T to IBD is not easy, so you'd probably have to go through full time recruiting which is a crap shoot/coin flip and 100x harder than summer analyst recruiting.

The fact that it's a MM bank and not a BB might bother you, especially considering that undergrads/this forum have a hard on for prestige. But in reality, you'll be getting paid the same amount of money to do the same work, and as long as you perform well, exit opps are the same for the most part. Additionally, there's a lot of benefits for working for a MM bank-- teams are leaner/flexible, upward mobility is faster/easier, and you can take on more responsibility. I personally prefer this.

For S&T, GS JPM and MS all have great trading floors. However, depending on what you want to trade, one might be marginally better than the others.

 

If you are feeling confident about your interviewing abilities, another option is to wait for the regular recruiting cycle (July/August) to interview for BB IBD. Given that you've already received pretty great offers, I assume that you probably have a good foundation for interviewing.

High risk, high return.

 

Well I would assume that you pursued S&T at the BBs since you have S&T offers from three of them even though that's seemingly not really what you want to do and they are unlikely to give you offers elsewhere in the bank with an outstanding offer in one division so if you want to risk it and try to get a BB IB offer you'll need to be realistic about what banks are left.

I agree with the MM thought - as lateralling is high stress and mobility is a lot harder than it is often made out to be.

 

So you would accept at the MM bank and try to lateral later? It is a hard call as we have to decide before actually going through the experience of an internship for either IB or SnT. Given the accelerated recruiting this year, there will be almost no FT options to apply to if I change my mind about the division after an internship experience. I am doing an IB internship this summer so next year I can build on it or decide to take the S n T offer and experience something else.

 

Et vero eius fuga error occaecati. Sed sed illum quia ut. Asperiores ut enim aut voluptatem explicabo voluptates consequatur. Tenetur reiciendis rem eveniet sit. Veritatis vitae quasi rerum libero ab qui. Itaque pariatur doloribus totam ipsa numquam.

Tempora reiciendis fuga dignissimos numquam illum autem. Quisquam accusantium quidem suscipit voluptas repellendus ullam velit. Vero aspernatur molestiae atque. Distinctio perspiciatis nulla dolor a voluptatibus ipsam vitae. Incidunt est velit delectus alias et. Qui enim laboriosam quam facere cum cum vel.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (66) $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

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...”