Summer Internship Offers

It's been made pretty clear on these boards that UBS LA is one of the VERY top groups in banking, and is specifically good for placing into PE, but the hours are terrible. So it basically comes down to the fact that UBA LA would be significantly better for exit opps and Citigroup/CS would be better for lifestyle...you just have to decide which is more important.

If you could get into the FSG at CS, that would be great, but promises from people you interviewed with/talked with don't mean anything unless you get it in writing. With UBS LA, you wouldn't have that problem.

Where do you want to live for the next 2 years (and possibly more)? Since UBS LA is a small group, I wouldn't count on going there and then trying to leverage your summer there into a GS etc. offer in NYC..I'd imagine they put temendous pressure on their summers to return.

I think you should be taking where you want to live into consideration. NYC and LA are very different places. Coming from an East Coast school and having pretty much all of my friends going to NYC, I'd prefer to go to NYC. But LA could be a really neat experience as well (better weather at least).

Are UBS LA's EAST coast exit opportunities significantly better than that of a general group at Citigroup or Credit Suisse (if the poster doesn't get into CS Sponsors)? I'm certainly no expert, but I've heard that West Coast exit opps for UBS LA are better than East Coast exit opps (although obviously both are still good).

had 3 guys go to GS after, 1 to MS, 1 to Blackstone, 1 to McKinsey after their summers.

You can leverage it, it's just been the trend recently that the majority of summers are coming back. This past years class had a couple guys leave; one to UBS Chicago, the other to Evercore.

You take your UBS LA offer. I have a buddy who did UBS LA then went to Bain Cap and another one at Warburg Pincus both in NY.

Regardless, if you want to be back in NY it's fine. That '04 class is no joke. The only risk is you might have to handle the pressure or allow the offer to explode. It shouldn't be a problem finding someone to take you on, my group has 2 ex UBS LA summers in it (top tier BB) and neither of their offers exploded.

The thing I'd be more worried about at UBS LA is it's not the best place to be a lowly ranked analyst in. You will still get good exit opps, but the Ken Moelis / Jeff Raich phone calls to KKR aren't going to happen for you and you won't get great deals - its the old fashioned Morgan/DLJ star culture at its best. If you have the stomach for that environment go back full time and you'll excel. IF not jump ship to Lehman or GS full time, it won't be hard.. guaranteed.

You could probably leverage it, it's just that I'd bet the group would put a ton of pressure on you early to sign. If they've got like 10 total analysts, they want to know soon who's coming back or not since they recruit at so few schools and filling each spot is crucial given the small analyst class size.

I wouldn't necessarily count on getting into Goldman afer your internship though. You'll absolutely get a first round interview, but it'll still matter a lot how you do in the interview. Of my friends, two tried to go to Goldman from Morgan Stanley and neither got offers, one tried to go from MS to Greenhill and didn't get an offer, and another tried to go from Goldman to Lazard and didn't get an offer. So, interning at a top group doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to trade to another group...you may again end up with UBS LA as your best choice next fall (not to be too pessimistic since this is in enviable position to be in nonetheless).

I'd just make sure your school has a policy about exploding offers given after internships (I'm betting yours does since if you have an offer from UBS LA you're probably at a top school and pretty much all top schools from what I've seen have such policies).

One big advantage of LA is that you can actually own a car and drive it to work. No nasty subway...

My buddies at UBS LA got Bimmers as analysts and had 1200 square foot appartments. That's sick.

Mind you I'm much more of a NY guy, the city is so unique and I have no intention of leaving soon.

Thanks for all the replies, I think this will definitely help in my decision.

just out of curiousity, which are you choosing?

UBS LA...

Did they make an exploding offer?