UBS vs. Chattanooga TN-based Boutique?
Alright just wrapped up summer internship recruitment season. It was a brutal year but I’m very fortunate to say I have two interesting opportunities in hand.
The first is a standard summer analyst offer at UBS. Not in a top group either, think Healthcare/M&A/FIG. I’ll probably coast because my dad’s best friend from Deerfield is the group head. The upside is definitely brand recognition but I’m seeing a lot on the forums about UBS’ fall from grace. Apparently they weren’t even top 20 in Americas IB fees league table last year? And people are saying they are going to be acquired by a commercial U.S. bank in the near-term? Not sure if this star is rising or all burned up.
The other is a bit of a a rare and unconventional position I happened to luck upon. Would be an IB SA (Investment Banking Summer Apprentice) working directly with a top shelf Senior MD (Master-Designee). He began his career at Accenture but then completed an IB apprenticeship style training program before eventually working his way to IB master in the IT M&A space.
I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging or flexing. But if you see an article online about a LMM tech-enabled staffing company M&A deal in the Southwest Tennessee area, there’s a 50% chance he was involved on either the sellside or buyside. In this role I would earn a salary and a bonus and the MD would train me to be a “Himself 2.0”.
Which of these offers should I take if I view IB as more than just a job, but more as a vocation? Is UBS higher on the league tables compared to the Chattanooga boutique? Or should I just elect to be unemployed next summer? I appreciate any help, I really don’t want to make a wrong call.
I moved to Chattanooga a few years back and couldn't have made a better choice.
For context I had been working as an assistant branch manager at the wells fargo - anchorage branch. I had grown tired of the lack of hustle and grit of my employees in anchorage. The only thing they didn't lack was body fat. Some of them would eat 2 lunches each day!
On top of that, the polar bear attack of '16 had reduced deal flow by scaring away bankers.
I saved up enough to book a one way ticket to Chattanooga, where I have been ever since, hitting 15 below par on the muni.
Are you actually hitting 15 under?
Counting is unfortunately a grad level course at UAA so he couldn't take it
Imagine this: You’ve just closed a $25M EV sell-side deal for an eastern Tennessee waste management company. Your neurotic Chattanooga-based MD finally decides to throw you a bone after your 100 hour weeks toiling, and takes you to a bar called Pickle Barrel in downtown Chattanooga. He buys you fried pickle spears and an ice cold PBR to celebrate. “Good boy” he says. This is the first time he’s ever said anything nice to you. You beam ear to ear. Chattanooga is paradise.
You would never get this experience at UBS, since they don’t close deals and group heads don’t buy analysts drinks.
Current UBS analyst - how can I lateral to Chattanooga?
Same here. Can you refer me?
I have some goods news. I floated the idea by the MD who runs the shop, and said he’s very open to the idea of bringing on a couple current UBS analysts that are looking for an A2A (Analyst-to-Apprentice) promotion, if they’re from a top group and more importantly if they have the right attitude. Seems like all those posts about UBS not having exit opps were bogus after all!
I’ll message you the application package. You’re gonna have to answer a few questions, provide some prior work including CIMs and models, and write up some reflection on how long term career compounding under heavy hour sustained weeks has changed your life. For UBS analysts that don’t have live deal experience he’s willing to consider “live pitch” and “live internal memo” work product (redacted).
Chattanooga is paradise
Anything is better than UbS
I love this website
I once had this same choice during the Anchorage Banking Winter when the office coffee froze solid and our top MD was out for six weeks after trying to expense a snowmobile as “client entertainment.” Back in Anchorage we tried to IPO a snow plow leasing company under ticker BRRR. The S1 was just pictures of snow. The SEC had questions.
Here is the reality:
At UBS you will spend nights resizing logos while your MD asks you to “tighten language.” Your dad’s friend will say nice work once every four months and this will count as mentorship. You will tell people you worked on strategic transactions and quietly pray no one asks which ones.
In Chattanooga you become the apprentice. The MD teaches you how to add back personal boat fuel to EBITDA and call it operational improvement. After 100 hours you close a 24 million dollar plumbing distributor deal and he rewards you with fried pickles and a warm PBR. You feel emotions you have never felt before.
At UBS you are another analyst.
In Chattanooga you are The Guy Who Built The Model.
Choose prestige or choose pickles. The market is efficient. Your happiness is not.
Update: thank you ALL for your invaluable thoughts, insights, stories, and experiences. You made me realize that all the prestige in the world wouldn’t make up for a lack of pickles. I’m proud to say that I have formally accepted the Investment Banking Summer Apprentice role in Chattanooga for Summer 2027!
The IB master was elated and offered for me to fly myself down to TN for some Pickle Barrel to celebrate. We had so many fried pickles and PBRs I lost count. Unfortunately his old Accenture corporate card kept getting declined so I ended up picking up the tab at the end of the night. But he promised me he’d make me whole under my 1099 agreement when I hit the desk in 15 months.
My dad’s best friend was bewildered and impressed when I called him to deliver the news and formally decline the UBS offer. For the first time in a long time, I can say I’m really excited for what the future holds.
Goodness gracious
Congrats on UBS
Never thought I’d see Chattanooga, TN mentioned on here. My old banking MD who was obsessed with The Smurfs was originally from there. He showed me a picture of his childhood home, and it was an all-blue Victorian on an otherwise nondescript street with two blue cars in the driveway. That city and home shaped the rest of that man’s entire eccentric life.
Small world! I pass that house on my way back from the chattanooga municipal golf course, where I regularly hit below par
As a former UBS analyst I can't really tell whether this is sarcastic or not.
As someone interning in the nyc office next summer, I also can't tell if this is sarcastic :/
It’s not honestly as someone at UBS, try to land somewhere else for your own good
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