Lazard Boston vs Jefferies SF vs MS GCM

If you want to do IB, you should definitely choose between Lazard and Jefferies. Both of the firms are reputable enough that it's not worth sacrificing function for the MS brand name. Lazard Boston is a solid group, I believe the global head of tech sits in the office. Deal flow is solid, but isn't as good as Lazard's SF tech office. I've heard pretty negative things about the culture. The juniors are pretty close together but the seniors are pretty rough and make life much harder than it should be. Exits are solid as well, but definitely aren't on the par with Lazard SF. Analysts there place pretty well in the Boston area (Audax, Advent, Thomas H Lee) as well as out of the area (MDP, FFL). In terms of deal flow, Jefferies SF is much stronger (but keep in mind Jefferies SF is a much larger office in general) and provides more variety with ECM and some LevFin in addition to advisory work (which can be a blessing or a curse depending on what you want). Culture in the SF office is also solid, with the seniors actively working on being more connected to the analysts last I hard. Exits are also pretty solid, lots of UMM and MM (Francisco, Permira, Marlin, Accel-KKR, Onex, GTCR, Clearlake) with the occasional MF (TB, TPG if I'm remembering the right guy).

Overall, I'd go with Jefferies SF if you don't care about the location. While Lazard Boston is solid, it's still a pretty small office and I think Jefferies SF would offer an overall better experience. That being said, both are great offices, and if you care about location/want to be in Boston, Lazard Boston is good enough you should go for it rather than sacrifice personal well-being by going for SF.