Summer Internships being cancelled? Is it possible?

Hello Monkeys,

Given the current coronavirus situation and what is happening in the markets (especially today's oil prices and equities reaction to it) I started to ask myself, if it is possible that the Summer Internship programmes will be cancelled?

Have you ever heard about something like this occurring in the "bad times" like 2008?

Scared monkey with tons of student debt at a European target school and no FT offer.

131 Comments
 

The BB I'm set to intern at this summer recently sent out an email saying for now they don't expect to change anything and if needed they'll move remote -- but they assured as they won't outright axe us. If they ever do go back on that I'm guessing things will be bad enough that a summer internship will be the last thing on my mind. I did hear though that a friend of an acquaintance (so take this with a grain of salt) with a summer offer at a large prop trading firm was canceled, although they're getting full pay + guaranteed FT offers.

Array
 

So if/when all internships and FT offers get cancelled, what do we do? Any tips from those who went through '08? (Especially if networked way in and have no previous IB experience on CV)

 

and I imagine when things really go bad, applicants will flood toward the remaining available options, meaning competition will skyrocket... doesn't bode well.

 

This is highly dependent on the bank btw. Some banks (the BB's) are mandated by the US government to hold certain capital ratios and have excellent liquidity right now, plus some have extra stringent lending standards (JPM for example which saved them in 08)- this prevented the BBs from getting in on killer deals that Jefferies and some of the MM banks sucked up, those guys might see some issues.

 

Just got word from my BB that they’re not changing the start date and are still looking forward to welcoming us to the firm so I wouldn’t worry too much. Hopefully this whole situation dies down in the coming months...

 

I live & study in Italy and will be interning (hopefully) at a MBB in continental europe this summer, so I can relate. Here's my two cents for those interested:

My take on this is that there is indeed reason to be worried about summer internships this year. As far as Europe is concerned, we can expect rigid social distancing measures and travel bans to occur for the next 30 to 60 days. Anything beyond that will be unsustainable if applied at national levels, so I wouldn't be concerned about that specifically, although it wouldn't surprise me if some countries will keep the 14-days isolation period for people coming from abroad for longer.

The issue is that the mitigation efforts in place today have the objective of easing the burden on health services by flatting the curve of the epidemic, which means that the peak for COVID-19 will be delayed. We could end up in a situation where the peak will occur in May (in Europe), after mitigation measures are lifted. This could push firms to cancel/reschedule/change internships for safety concerns independently from government actions. There is no solid evidence for the seasonality of the virus, it's too early to say.

I can tell you that today, as far as Milan is concerned, interns who can work from home do just that. For those who can't (mainly it's due to inadequate tech if you can believe it), it's all over the place. I know people in AM who work regularly. I also know people interning for a major italian bank that are having their internship postponed or suspended, i.e. they can't come in to the office and can't work from home.

I think we ought to accept that this virus is here to stay for the next 12-24 months until a vaccine is produced or herd immunity is reached. This is no time to go into details, but the gist of it is that containment is too difficult and too late. This is also true for the US.

I would recommend following The Lancet for nuanced updates and working papers. Also, Joe Rogan did a podcast with an epidemiologist that is worth checking out.

In any case, there's little we can do right now for the internship issue. It's too early to say, even here in Italy, so firms don't know what they will do either. I will contact my MBB about, say, 30-45 days from now when we will know more.

But hey, think about what it's like to look for a job/internship in this environment.

 

Final year here. Would like people's perspective on whether I should push for off-cycle/winter internship (Sept onwards start date) instead of summer. Given the uncertainty of the SA internships, which I hope won't be affected. Would headcount for off-cycles/winter increase to compensate for the lowered productivity during the summer given, 1) everything stabilises by then, and 2) in the event that there is an unfortunate material impact on the summer programmes?

 

Not banking, AM here. But I was advised the firm is “closely monitoring the situation” yet “strongly pursuing” an onboarding process with no changes. At this point in time, it is pointless to listen to HR as nobody truly understands where we will be in a little over a months time.

 
Most Helpful

Why are you so insecure that you keep going around to these forums and telling kids their internships are getting cancelled despite that fact that many banks have assured kids they will not be and that they will be doing online? I don't get how you can speak with such certainly given that no one knows what is going to happen. Go deal with your problems some other way.

 

Officiis minus maiores quae placeat ut inventore. Dolorem blanditiis libero a vero mollitia voluptates libero molestias. Aspernatur aut possimus consequatur. Id qui voluptatem non perspiciatis voluptas possimus. Reiciendis voluptatem accusamus dolores voluptas.

Modi nihil quo maiores corporis corporis ab ab voluptatem. Ad omnis quas aperiam aut quas officia ipsa similique. Provident molestiae magnam consequatur est. Sint assumenda sed quia libero amet at omnis.

 

Excepturi blanditiis aperiam corporis quia sed. Vel possimus sit consequatur possimus sunt commodi voluptas. Ut saepe dignissimos voluptates labore molestiae. Error ea odit facilis excepturi molestiae. Numquam ratione est ipsam at necessitatibus qui occaecati. Aut eaque quasi possimus occaecati voluptatem temporibus rem libero.

Deleniti est id quas tenetur deserunt. Nulla consequatur repudiandae amet illum et blanditiis. Placeat laudantium repellat autem et delectus repellat dolores.

Iure aspernatur minus in et in. Incidunt autem rerum optio autem vel ipsam.

 

Exercitationem laborum suscipit deserunt exercitationem magni rerum. Sint consequatur quisquam corrupti dolores itaque minus voluptas est. Quis possimus non sed quam sunt. Modi veritatis vel molestiae minima sapiente.

Harum earum iure explicabo asperiores. Qui ratione nostrum cumque harum quia amet natus.

Et nam unde laboriosam repudiandae veniam ut. Voluptatem natus voluptate hic ad voluptas praesentium ullam. Dolores deleniti ullam occaecati soluta iusto. Eum reiciendis modi voluptatem consequatur aperiam iure.

 

Sequi recusandae ipsum error accusantium eos voluptatem ut et. Et voluptas sunt laudantium vero aut. Non quos et qui rem dolorem. Quidem dolor molestias vero omnis possimus quaerat. Distinctio voluptatem autem blanditiis recusandae numquam nulla possimus. Id ut porro eveniet magni quis molestiae. Et quasi aut quod eius.

Ea ut maxime saepe laboriosam. Unde quis et sequi et ut. Dolor voluptas ipsa sed libero cupiditate et.

Molestiae nobis debitis eum reiciendis dolores consequatur dignissimos. Et vero est quo optio aliquam in vel.

Career Advancement Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 03 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

September 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (51) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (26) $182
  • Intern/Summer Associate (15) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $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
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
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...”