Got offers from both - where do I go and why?
I need to make sure that I make the right decision going forward.
Penultimate year diversity (black) student from a semi-target uni.
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Did you do a spring internship at JPM? Because according to everyone I've spoken to, they haven't even held first-round interviews for IBD yet. Haven't worked at MS myself, but currently in PE with plenty of colleagues who were at MS before. Also have a few friends who are at MS. I am yet to meet anyone who has had a good experience at MS. Obviously the learning curve will be good and you will get good deal experience, but culture is extremely bad from what I've understood.
Yes, did their Spring into Wholesale and got it from that. For MS I got their accelerated AC recently and got an offer yesterday.
Exit options should be fairly comparable and JPM London culture wins hands down. JPM deals are also often staffed with 1 or sometimes 2 more juniors compared to MS which means you are going home at 2am instead of 4am.
Second this. Interned at JP and they cared way more about intern lifestyle especially in the caz franchise within IBD. my MS counterparts were working pretty late even on Fridays compared to JP which has pens down at 6
What’s caz?
I was at MS and unlike most responses, I had a much better time than a friend at JPM. However, the culture at MS is very team dependent and there are certain teams I wouldn't have joined if you doubled my salary.
MS definitely run leaner teams, but the split of teams between UK and EMEA and then again into sectors at JPM seemed too niche for me. What kind of deals are you going to working on if you only cover UK healthcare?
I'm not sure on recent JPM conversion rates but MS have given return offers to a very high proportion of interns over the last couple of years.
MS are also still flexible on WFH (although as an intern I'd advise being in as much as possible). Gorman has said his intention is to keep this flexibility.
Minimal difference in exit opps.
You should have been able to get a decent idea of the people and culture at each bank through the interview process. Which did you like more? Go with them. If still undecided, speak to analysts at each bank to try to get an idea of what they're like.
Best of luck whichever you choose, both are great banks.
Interested to hear which teams have good/bad culture at MS. I've heard Industrials and P&U are not very good when it comes to culture.
Main ones to avoid in my opinion are Media & Comms, FIG, Real Estate, Industrials. I don't know much about P&U. Potentially add Healthcare in here.
I've heard Transpo has a good culture. Sponsors always seemed like decent people and a bit more chill than others. Tech and CRG seemed ok. Regional coverage teams are generally good, UK&I, BNS, Greece are the ones based in London I think.
Anything I haven't mentioned is probably somewhere in the middle.
A lot of this is anecdotal, I might not be fully up to date on everything.
I am currently working at MS and my best friend is at JPM. I can definitely tell you that you should pick JPM considering the brand, less brutal hours, better exit in PE, and last but not least they pay you more. MS is great only if you, like me, are a technical guy who loves crazy hours and working on extremely technical things, but overall JPM is better, especially in terms of summer experience and future opportunities
What does a typical week look like for you at MS and what does it look like for your friend at JPM (in terms of hours)?
This guy is clearly in JPM trying to pretend he works at MS. Brand at MS is better, PE exits are better, WLB will depend on the team you are in.
Go with the one where you feel you enjoyed meeting the ppl more, as that will be the main factor affecting your experience.
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