Depends on the quality of the firm, type of work you'll be doing, and the people you work with. If people at the PE firm are all ex-bankers, you could ask them for people to talk to. If the M&A shop has quality people and good work, take it but honestly you could spin either of those experiences into the "Why X" story.

 

I've interned at both so can give some insight:

1. by boutique PE do you mean a search fund? I'd avoid a search fund in this case because you won't learn as much as a boutique IB internship. Interned a search fund and hated it. Only take this if you have no other choice.

2. if boutique M&A IB have you do 0 modeling or marketing material stuff then it's not a good IB internship. I'd argue this is better than a search fund since getting in M&A is your goal.

3.  If it is actually a boutique PE shop (with 10+ people and have done various deals) then take that.

Ranking: "actual" boutique PE > boutique IB M&A > search fund.

 

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