what does FIG look like as an MBA associate

FIG is like taking the fat girl in the friend group to prom: you're still playing the game, you'll get action, but you'll always be "that guy" and you'll always wonder what it's like to date the skinny girl. FIG is very specialized. If you get to do insurance or fintech, that's one thing (although insurance is in its own world of complexity and financials and not transferable to a high level to standard EBITDA businesses), but if you do banks it's another. Banks mergers aren't that common except for when shit goes sour like this year (pacwest / bank of cali). Most bank consolidation is at the state or regional level. Unless your bank plays in that sandbox, you will be doing more BS rearrangements and nuanced paper trades than M&A. Any reputable FIG shops does M&A in house. I was in FIG before getting out to tech, and i can tell you shit is not fun. FIG is the coverage group you somehow wind up in and most people would leave if they could. It gets boring fast, you'll be learning about financials / ratios that are quite literally only applicable to FIG, and you'll be known as a FIG banker. Most FIG shops have a unique culture that is fairly nerdy, and I wouldn't recommend it if you are sociable. That being said, there are opportunities to shine because FIG is so shitty and turnover is relatively high in a good swinging market. Would avoid FIG bottom line, but if it's your only avenue to coverage, prepare yourself for a nerdy experience.  

Your experience will vary greatly depending on whether you're at a larger BB / balance sheet MM covering financial institutions (e.g., large insurance carriers, banks, etc.). At that kind of role, you will likely to pumping out a million debt transactions a year and your hours (and comp) will tie more to DCM than M&A. Modeling and company type will be quite different from a typical services company (e.g., no DCFs to value a big bank) and you'll be somewhat silo'd into the industry.

At the smaller boutiques / MMs or within the specialized subverticals within the BB groups (e.g., JPM has a dedicated fintech group within FIG or Raymond James / Silver Lane) it'll be closer to a traditional M&A experience working with a variety of financial services companies like claims TPAs, RIAs / wealth managers, claims adjusters, insurance software, wealthtech, etc. A lot of companies that those groups cover are pretty traditional services / SaaS / consumer companies, just with a financials endmarket (whether it's consumers or the large financial institutions). Financials just happens to be niche enough that something like an insurance software company will likely end up being run by the FIG group vs. TMT because the endmarkets, buyers, and products are distinct from typical SaaS (e.g., a lot of insurance software companies bill on a percent of premium that is run through their software, vs. a flat rate or other more typical SaaS contract structures). 

I think healthcare is another group that is distinct enough that it really subverticalizes quite hard - hence why a lot of HC groups will do work across retail / brick & mortar healthcare to HCIT / software. TMT groups rarely see HC tech deals come their way, while they will see a lot of consumer tech deals. 

if you’re a virgin then i wouldn’t expect that to change