How to deal with insecurity of interning at a low-tier firm?

Unfortunately I did not get a good internship gig for my junior summer, and so will be forced to intern at an MM.

Obviously I will do everything I can to get a job at a prestigious firm for full time, but in the meantime I can't even look my friends and classmates who are going to BB's and EB's in the eyes. How do any monkeys in a similar position deal with this and keep their chins up through the humiliation?

60 Comments
 

If this is a serious post, no better time than now to learn to tune out the noise and to focus on yourself. Once everyone graduates, the people you end up staying in touch with will mean more to you than just their status/job, and the feeling will likely be mutual. Another thing to consider is why you're going into banking in the first place, because once you leave school no one is going to give a shit about where you work except for grandma who thinks you're the bank teller for Citi.

 

Are you telling me that people in risk or compliance or even ordinary non-finance jobs don't look at investment bankers at Goldman or JPM and think "wow, he has an elite job and probably makes a lot more money than me"? That's why I'm going into banking anyway.

 

Does receiving the admiration of people you don't know help you sleep at night? Investment banking is prestigious in the finance circle-jerk community in school, but hopefully the comped dinners and the "prestige" makes up for being on-call 24/7, endless nights aligning text boxes in ppt and asshole VPs who could care less about your work-life balance. There is nothing wrong with using IB as a short-term stepping stone, but if prestige is the number one thing on your mind you're in for a reality check.

 
Controversial

Please. Part of what gets me about this site is the hypocrisy. Everyone's all self-righteous when I come out and say something honest, but deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you know you're driven by the same principles as I: envy, greed, and a thirst to prove yourselves.

I'm just putting it all out in the open, and if that makes you uncomfortable, go ahead and throw MS, but you're hanging the messenger. If you want to know what's wrong with me, look inside yourselves.

P.S. There are two movie references in this post, SB to anyone who can find them.

 

Don't be such a fucking baby. There are tons of kids who would kill to be in your position today. Stop being a bitch, sack up, and realize you're fortunate to have an IB SA gig at all since you sound like an ungrateful twerp.

Is somebody holding a gun to your head and making it so you're actually being "forced" to work for the MM? My guess is no. The entitlement is unreal on this site.

 

I don't know. I'm nice and personable in real life, I networked a ton. Bankers would directly tell me after our chats that they'd push to get me an interview (and then I'd hear nothing and couldn't get in touch with them again). That story happened at least a few BB's and EB's.

If I had to guess, my background really isn't "fantastic" anymore. 3.9 Ivy with finance experience are a dime a dozen. There were hundreds of kids just like me at corporate briefs. And before everyone here says it's my toxic personality, I know a bunch of kids with similar background as me who never broke in, couldn't get a single offer. I hear through the grapevine that even Wharton kids are having trouble now, not sure how true that is. Shit's fucked though.

 
"city_of_dis" If I had to guess, my background really isn't "fantastic" anymore. 3.9 Ivy with finance experience are a dime a dozen. There were hundreds of kids just like me at corporate briefs. And before everyone here says it's my toxic personality, I know a bunch of kids with similar background as me who never broke in, couldn't get a single offer. I hear through the grapevine that even Wharton kids are having trouble now, not sure how true that is. Shit's fucked though.

Anymore? You think it's hard now? You should have tried breaking in during '02/'03 and '09/'10...kids were getting their offers rescinded, and banks were going bankrupt.

You come off as incredibly entitled and short sighted. You might not think it shows through to interviewers, but it inevitably does.

I really hope this is an attempt at trolling. If it's not, why would you be embarrassed about landing a solid finance role as an intern? It makes no sense. Other people, even within finance, don't really judge you based on the bank where you work.

 

You probably didn't get the job you wanted because you say "Princeton" 25 times during your interviews and don't wipe after you poop because you love the smell of your own shit

 

Lol @ everyone giving this guy shit. Smh. The funny thing is 90% of you are 19 years old.

Honestly, all you really have to say is:

  1. You really connected with the people at your MM
  2. You landed in one of the better groups/had a few senior guys express their interest in you which is very important in this field
  3. You want exposure to xyz vertical, and working at a leaner/smaller shop will give you that

It's really not THAT hard to move up a tier during FT recruiting or lateral recruiting. If you're a guy that really belongs at a good BB/EB, but for some reason there just weren't enough spots (and assuming that's the case instead of you being a fuckhead), you will end up being fine.

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