more prestigious brand - Merrill or Credit Suisse??

Group dependent, but ML overall.

I would say Merrill has maybe a slight edge overall, but CS has some exceptional groups (like Sponsors) that are far more prestigious than anything Merrill has to offer. But CS also has some bad groups...

Jgism is right.. CS Sponsors is phenomenal. Are you deciding on general pool summer offers?

I'd call it a tie - though in the US ML's retail presence in a strip mall near you sort of dilutes the "prestige" if that's what you're talking about

In IB I wouldn't say either firm has a significant edge over the other.

I figured most would say Merrill in a landslide.

however as stated earlier CS sponsors is sick and i would take that as well as CS M&A over some of the crappy ML groups

however, in additoin to CS sponsors, Energy and Industrials are strong ER than ML

ok, in what groups does ML beat CS?

also, if CS beats ML in so many areas, then why is ML generally considered the 3rd most prestigious IB while CS is seen as barely BB??

well, it's difficult for me to choose based on a group since you rotate through 2 groups at CS when you come back full time so there's no way for me to determine where I'd get placed.

as far as ML being 3rd, I'm just going by the general perception at my school where ML, JPM, and Lehman were probably the 3rd most popular banks after MS and GS. CS was often most students' choice of last resort.

I think perception varries by school. Although it's just perception at the undergrad level, not reality.

At my school, JPM is viewed as the next best thing to GS/MS. Why? I have no idea. That's just the view. Is it true? No way. I can't even tell you how many times I've heard people saying that they didn't get MS or GS, but they got the next best thing, JPM. My friend at another school says Lehman is viewed as the third most prestigous bank after GS and MS.

I'm just an undergrad, but from speaking with my older brother (who spent two years as a banking analyst at a bulge bracket bank) and friends in the industry, there doesn't seem to be a huge difference among where analysts go if they're not at GS, MS, and a few select other places like Blackstone, Greenhill, and Lazard. CS Financial Sponsors appears to be the one exception actually, as they're an amazing group and place people at the likes of Blackstone PE regularly. You will have a slight edge if you're at say CS Energy versus a crappy group at Merrill, but not a huge edge.

So what should you do? I'd see if you can get placed in CS Sponsors for the summer. Even though when you enter (I'm assuimg you'd be entering as an associate) you do 2 rotations, summering in Sponsors should at least guarantee you 1 of your 2 rotations in that group. And if you spend a rotation there and do well, I don't see why you wouldn't end up there permanently.

Although, I'm wondering, if you're going to be entering as an associate, why are you concerned about exit opportunities? I thought associates usually built careers at banks...in which case, I'd focus more on which culture you fit best in.

ML has better rep.

Better management and better prospects. Didn't CS have mgmt issues not too long ago?

Without a doubt ML blows CS out of the water. Sure CS is going to have groups that might compare to ML, but from a prestige perspective, ML is way beyond CS.

ML has better leverage, no question

ML

Where do you go to school?

well i'm gathering finl sponsors is awesome group at cs, what are strong groups at ML? thx

healthcare m&a real estate's not bad

yeah i agree that ml's rebuilding - it got deals like hca and was global bank of the year 06.

CS lost a lot of momentum post the dot com era. ML is #3 or #4. CS's prestige in banking fell behind ML, LB, Citi, and JPM.

Someone said that the brokers of ML made it less prestigious - that's non-sense. Just because Citi has a large banking operations doesn't mean its ibanking division is any less prestivious.

People here have made several points, here are the ones I think are valid:

(a) CS Sponsors is amazing, one of the best groups on the street. If you get into this group, take it.
(b) Overall, ML has more prestige than CS (c) ML lost a lot of its prestige, but is coming back (d) SOME bankers do consider shops like Citi and ML to have less prestige because of their brokerage/comm. banking operations versus your pure play banks like Lehman. It doesn't necessarily make sense, but that's how it is.

I don't think ML and CS are that far from one another in terms of overall prestige and exit opps, but they're both great firms that deserve their BB status.