Hours: LevFin v DCM London
Interning in London next year. BB. Choice between LevFin & DCM. Not interested in PE. Equally interested in both. Like getting 7hrs sleep. Is this possible? What are hours like in each? Normal day? Cheers.
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If not interested in PE and want to get some decent sleep then take DCM.
Hours are more predictable, get to do issues for some big well-known companies and you will actually be able to have a bit of a life as DCM guys are market hours based - so in the pub on Fridays by 6pm etc.
Rough hours: DCM 8am-7pm, LevFin 9am-11pm (could occasionally be worse, up to 4am like M&A)
I spent a summer in DCM in at a large balance sheet bank tier 2 city in North America (Chigago / Toronto / LA), the bank was top 3 for investment grade primary market on the league tables. My hours got better with time, first because you get used to the (repetitive) work and do less mistakes and August can be really quiet on primary markets.
If I had to choose i would actually do LevFin to get some more modelling experience and get exposed to more deal complexity/diversity during the internship. Not going to lie, I found DCM very repepetitve and felt like I was doing the same type of market update slides over and over updating databases and there was no modelling involved (even for full time analysts/associates and above). DCM is not bad career wise because: - hours are better than IB; - you get exposed to clients early on in your career, some DCM groups are on/very close the trading floor, which is very fun; - Pay is in line with IBD groups (and bonus structure is generally not bad if you're bank is active enough)
Cheers
DCM for lifer, LevFin for leaving