PJT London vs Citi London

Contrary to a lot of stuff that gets posted here, PJT in London is no where close to being as good as PJT in the US. If you simply care about higher comp (which isn't a bad thing...) then sure go for PJT but don't kid yourself that you'll work on anywhere near as many deals as you would at any other bulge / Citi. Anyone who tries to convince you otherwise about deal flow is full of sh*t...fairly easy to see what deals get announced in the market are and who the advisors are. Rarely see PJT. Yes, fully appreciate that some deals go announced without advisors necessarily named, but that is not as common and certainly doesn't account for the gap in deal volume. 

Sure. Unless you have a specific, well thought through, super compelling reason for doing restructuring (which in my opinion would be odd to have, particularly for an analyst with likely 2 years of grand total career experience), most people would be better of doing regular way coverage / M&A work. In that case, frankly any bulge in the UK would be better than PJT if looking at deal experience gained. Comp is another discussion.  

Am I retarded? Are SA applications even open for Citi?

bump

Citi.

Rarely see PJT on any large-cap M&A mandates, whereas constantly see Citi pitching/executing.

PJT might be better as a senior to lateral due to better pay, 'eat what you kill' culture at EBs, whereas it's much easier to build out your client base at a US BB given the ability to cross-sell across many products. Citi clearly on the rise too, ranking 4th globally in M&A fees, and 4th in EMEA IB fees in 2025 - clearly a focus area for Fraser/Vis. Much broader exits too in case you'd wanna leave finance.