Should everyone be worried?

Your guess is as good as ours. Keep in mind the sheer size of banks like Citi, ML, and MS. I doubt they'll end up like BSC. Lehman's not nearly as big, nor nearly as diversified so they're clearly more at risk. We'll see.

One thing to keep in mind - it's not an issue of being too big to fail, but rather one of being too interconnected to be allowed to fail suddenly.

I don't think they would revoke offers but I am sure they would hire a much smaller proportion to the full time analyst positions. After all, some one has to take in all the surplus of investment banking labor that Bear Stearns will create soon enough.

"After all, some one has to take in all the surplus of investment banking labor that Bear Stearns will create soon enough."

Says who?

I don't think...then again, no way I'd imagine this to have happened to Bear, so I suppose anything is possible.

But surely someone would have to take those people from Bear. I mean not the unemployment office but logically it doesnt make sense. Why would a bank hire a person right out of college if they can hire an experience worker for possibly the same compensation

Lateral hires can be more difficult to integrate, especially coming from a culture like Bear's. Not to mention, they want new freshly-moldable analysts who aren't bitter about they're job. Why would an IB fire its own employees to go hire Bear employees? Most banks are cutting workforce, not adding.

You could also look at it the other way:

Would you rather hire a fresh graduate out of Princeton who's young, smart, and has infinite potential or a burnt-out analyst who had to "settle" for Bear Stearns and wasn't even good enough to be retained during turbulent times? The latter has already been tried and tested, and ultimately failed.

if ur a Bear Stearns SA, then yes. If not- probably not. I would say though- work your ass off during the summer b/c full time recruitment is going to be cut a lot.

aside from sheer luck, what would help senior Bear bankers avoid the axe? do you think it'll depend more on their respective business relationships and contacts, their experience, or the industry that they work in?

so how worried to I need to be having a BB summer internship? Should I be on the lookout for another summer job just in case?