Sophomore Summer Internship (F500 vs Boutique)

I'm currently a rising sophomore at an Ivy, and I'm working as an FP&A (Corp Fin) intern at a F500 company for my Freshman summer internship.

I've started looking into plans for my sophomore summer internship. I am virtually guaranteed a return offer for a sophomore 2019 internship at my current firm. It has made several major acquisitions over the past few years, and I do think I'm getting fairly good experience for a Freshman summer internship. Would returning to this internship for next summer be adequate to best set myself up for SA 2020 investment banking recruiting (my junior summer)? Or would it be more beneficial to try to seek out a different internship at a different F500 (to show some more varied experience) or try for a regional boutique internship at an investment bank?

I'm sure that the regional boutique would be better because it directly aligns with later plans. However, if I were unable to find a regional boutique internship would staying at my current company hurt me when recruiting comes along?

Any thoughts or comments are appreciated

8 Comments
 
Most Helpful

If you think you’d like to work in IB, then it would be smart to try to secure an internship at an investment bank, regardless of its size or prestige. An F500 FP&A internship in the summer after your freshman year isn’t going to hurt you at all; on the contrary - it’s impressive that you were able to secure that position at a large company in your freshman year, and it’ll look great on your resume.

Given your current status (e.g., Ivy, internship already under your belt), I’d be very surprised if you weren’t able to land an SA role at a bank. In the strange case that you don’t, returning to the F500 is obviously better than nothing (WAY better than nothing, I might add).

An extra word of advice: Don’t get sucked into the retarded idea that you’ll never be able to work in IB if you have a few FP&A internships. It’s something that is unfortunately perpetuated on this board by children who know fuck-all and have no idea what they’re talking about.

Keep working hard, pat yourself on the back for what you’ve accomplished, don’t obsess over “muh prestige”, and best of luck to you!

 

I’m in a similar situation. At a target but not ivy. I’ve been applying to all the sophomore 2019 summer programs I could find (only BBs I could find so far) though I feel like I’m wasting my time being non-diversity and that things are already moving to fast so I need to start working to secure a boutique or something for sophomore summer

 

Tempora est vel quas quasi. Sint non asperiores officiis nemo dolorem. Quasi voluptate consectetur libero velit cumque. Expedita aut blanditiis eaque. Mollitia ipsam voluptatem quibusdam molestiae. Velit aspernatur rem ex facere quis cum esse.

In ipsa veniam quasi velit sequi aperiam et. Sapiente ipsum quidem velit et ea est. Maiores reiciendis facere eveniet explicabo voluptates. Rerum fugit quam consectetur modi. Voluptas ipsum accusantium id recusandae. Vel quaerat error aut quia.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan No 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (45) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”