how often did you analysts get to go out?

at least once a weekend, often twice. Not very often during the week, though.

I go out twice a week but yeah also, rarely on weekdays.

Wow, I'm surprised you guys said twice a week. I was honestly thinking like the OP, 1-2 a month, maybe 3. How are you able to have a long, late night out and still be as productive the next day (assuming you're working the next morning on a weekend)?

It all depends on the type of person (your view towards always being at work vs trying to go out and have some fun)and most importantly the people you are working under. I've seen some people go out all the time at least twice a week or others never go out. In my opinion, there are many people that would just assume be in the office than go out.

Depends on the person too. Some people can party till 5 or 6 in the AM and be ready to go in the morning. Some people will feel like shit. Personally, if I go out twice in a weekend and get completely shit faced, I feel like the entire weekend flew by. I prefer to go out on a fri or saturday night, and typically, and this is especially the case in the summer when deal flow is down a bit and the weather is nice, party all day Sunday... if you're in NYC, there's plenty of rooftop bars/parties going on, you can shoot out to the beach, or trek out to the Hamptons.

Really? Interesting..........When you have to work Saturdays/Sundays, are you usually called in in the afternoon, or does it vary bank to bank, group to group?

Varies immensely by group. Some groups have it a lot worse than others. Depends on A) how many deals can your MDs bring in and B) are the senior guys cool in your group, whether they give you a project on Friday at 5 instead of like Wednesday or just giving you BS work, or don't do any of that.

Just finished up internship at NYC MM in M&A group. Analysts across the bank went out quite often (1-2x a weekend, occasionally 1x during the week). Senior guys rarely came in on weekends so it was common to roll in around noon or later on Saturday / Sunday. I was told a lot of this had to do with weak deal flow over the summer months and that the rest of the year does not have as much partying involved.

I'm at an M&A shop in NYC - I would say we have a slightly better lifestyle than BBs, but in general, I think you're free time really depends on the bank's staffing model.

I've been able to go out 2x a week (usually on wknds), and could probably make it out during the week if I really tried, but sometimes sleep is really all I want...

Most of the senior people here are not looking to destroy your weekends unless necessary, so we are generally able to maintain a good work/lifestyle balance.

waltersobchek: Sounds like a good place to be. I dont mind working on the weekend, but I hate the attitude of some staffers considering it rather unusual for analyst to not work on the weekend.

Personally, I know few places where going out during the week is possible. On the weekend work starts later so people can go out.

Was everyone's deal flow really down this summer? I was under the impression many groups had experienced more deal flow than usual, but could be due to big cuts in the number of juniors.

I dont think it was anything other than seasonality associated with people going on vacations. Restructuring obviously isn't decreasing in deal flow, but the summers been slow. Even the deals I've been on have slowed down in pace a bit because of people generally being less efficient as they are leaving for/getting back from vacation.