Prudential vs Midwest Regional IB

Hey guys, have somewhat of a dilemma

I'm currently a rising sophomore at a non-target, but I am completing my transfer to a low target this upcoming winter. And possibly delaying graduation by a semester to push my recruiting class to 2027.

My ultimate goal is to break into IB, preferably in NYC/Chicago at a respectable MM+

This upcoming summer, I have the choice of
a. Capital markets internship at Prudential
b. Midwest regional LMM IB (offer secured)
c. Midwest regional LMM-MM IB (offer likely)

If you were in my shoes, what would you do?

 

When do you have to decide? A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush so I wouldn’t turn down either offers for the “likely” offer. If you need to push them, push them.

Without knowing what the actual banks are, I feel like I’d maybe take prudential because if nothing else it’s a brand name.

HOWEVER, I do realize that recruiting starts insanely early these days. So if taking the LMM IB offer will get you a return offer that turns into a full time analyst role and you’re 100% sure that’s what you want to do, then take that.

If you think there’s ANY (even if it’s only 5% chance) you want something else - corp fin, corp dev, strategy, etc. I would take prudential. Everyone will get the brand.

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" - Will Rogers
 

Hey - really appreciate the insightful response. Here’s some additional context that should help a bit. If you want to skip the lengthy paragraphs below, just tell me and I’ll dm you the firm names directly for you to check out.

1. the LMM firm offer has basically no deadline (within reason) - they don’t have a formal internship program, but they occasionally take interns that connect with enough employees at the firm. So I don’t have any pressure to give them any final decision until around January.

2. The LMM firm is definitely more niche (and smaller) than the MM firm. LMM has one North American office and some very small offices in Shanghai and Frankfurt. They also pretty exclusively deal with home and consumer services companies, doing basically only sell-side advisory and M&A.

The MM firm, in contrast, offers a lot more services - Restructuring, capital markets, M&A, Sell-side and Buy-side advisory, etc., and don’t have any particular industry specialty. They also have a formal internship program and 4 total North American locations - 2 in my state (I’d be at HQ), one in Nashville and one in Chicago. Generally, stronger deal flow, hire more kids out of Umich/Ross/Northwestern, employees seem to be slightly happier as well in my experience.

My fear with the Prudential role is that - although it is more name brand - the actual experience will be lesser. Anyways, if you actually read thru this whole thing - thank you hahaha

 
Most Helpful

I wouldn’t wait until January to sit on an offer, that seriously communicates the wrong message in my opinion - whether you accept it not.

As far as experience goes, I don’t think you’ll be working with every group at the MM - you might get to network with different groups but I would imagine you’ll largely be working with one manager anyway.

There’s no bad options here. This is a good better best decision for sure. It sounds like you know what you want to do, so I would just push them to make a decision sooner or later if they haven’t communicated a timeline.

The other thing I think you should take into account is your experience. Firms sometimes show you how they feel about you when they’re courting you. (As is that’s the nicest they are to you).

I think being at a place that doesn’t take interns but specifically decided to take you, vs. a company that might be dragging its feet because you’re an alternate/they’re busy could be a signal of what your actual experience could be like when you’re actually there.

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" - Will Rogers
 

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"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" - Will Rogers

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