I’ve noticed that RX (restructuring) internships are often considered more prestigious than traditional M&A internships, especially among those targeting distressed investing, credit funds, or even certain PE roles. Curious to hear from others—what exactly makes RX stand out?
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Credit is so much more interesting than equities!
wso freshmen read about rx being prestigious
wso freshmen become wso seniors-make posts about rx being prestigious and ranking pjt rssg "above the heavens" even if not going into rx
new wso freshmen read about rx being prestigious
and the cycle continues
RX work is more interesting to some people than M&A and it has a broader range of exits if at a top shop but God damn the people are boring and insufferable. They have no hobbies and no life outside of finance so it attracts only the most dedicated finance hardo types, who are the exact type of undergrad that frequent this forum. It’s just interns hyping up their job and freshmen and sophomores parroting what they here from upperclassmen
Hey man I have hobbies damn
I don't :(
RX is largely only prestigious due to a few high up individuals who make money rain faster than snow falls in Anchorage.
Many don’t know that the acronym “RX” actually comes from a famous restructuring banker, Randy Xioma. After 32 years in Chapter 11 deals, he moved back to Alaska and “restructured” himself by adding 150lbs through double dinners!
It's really only on these forums. Nobody who has been around for awhile puts RX on any sort of pedestal. It honestly kind of shocking how much interest and attention it gets here. At the senior levels, it's not considered any more prestigious than other disciplines within top-tier IB/finance.
@PatrickBateman out of curiosity, can you remember the point in time where RX first started to get all the interest/attention it now gets? I wonder if it was covid or earlier?
Completely agree with your take btw, just interested in when the glazing started
It happens every time there is a downturn (real or perceived). Same thing happened in 08/09, saw a bit of it during the early days of Covid, seeing it now. The difference now is that job market seems more competitive, students are focusing on jobs earlier and earlier, and there is more info/dialogue out there on sites like this than ever before…it just intensifies the unwarranted hype. RX is fine, but acting like it is some super elite part of the finance world that attracts the top minds at all levels is just ridiculous.
Its because the skillset makes you incredibly attractive to headhunters. For every 100 M&A bankers there is likely 1 Rx guy, its a rare and niche role (low supply). Many MFPE buyout funds prefer Rx as the deep technical work you do as a junior is vastly superior to M&A (in the sense you deal with the capital structure and key drivers of a business). Additionally HF's in the SS space almost only hire Rx folks as Credit etc. is not very adjacent to M&A work vs Rx which is. The interviews at Rx banks is significantly harder than any M&A role as well which weeds out kids who can just memorize the guide and do a few search funds or botiques before applying, so firms feel more comfortable hiring from the Rx talent pool.
This is a lot of glaze and I am in RX lol. You aren't wrong but you are exaggerating. Analyst work and modeling really isn't that difficult, it's just high level the deals are structured differently and you deal with different variables but that's all driven by senior people
I don’t think they’re considered more prestigious no
I did m&a, rx banking and then rx consulting creditor then debtor for awhile. I think it’s mainly debtor side seeing this.
rx was always something you fell into, we were the island of misfit toys. The big firms rarely recruited out of undergrad so there was a ton of industry experience all over the locker room. It’s changing now as firms start to recruit undergrad increasingly. Even starting to see success fees get baked into RX fee statements outside of PEPI.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that PE fired like 200 VPs last year, m&a banks have been in cut mode since late 2023 for deal flow that never came and pods are blowing up all over the place.
RX is just high flow right now amidst record activity at a time when other fields are tough to get into & low flow.
The secret is kind of out now about how lucrative the industry can be, especially on the debtor side. You also get to travel a lot and see America.
EOD, prestige is something younger people tend to obsess over. It’s generally correlated with how big early year bonuses are. Finance, especially “high” finance, is incredibly cyclical and if you look back at the top 5 “most prestigious” firms, you’ll find it flips frequently. Wasn’t that long ago that Citi was the place to be.
Thank you I appreciate it!
Excuse me sir but Shitibank is still the place to be
There are absolutely some hitters and great groups there
RX is not particularly more prestigious than other types of roles. More of a love / hate relationship. I wouldn’t do RX.
Only sophomores and freshmen think Rx is more prestigious than regular M&A IB
I have a bunch of friends who do RX. Other than working heinous hours it makes approximately 0 difference once you’re working full time. “Prestige” is for impressing your friends parents and that’s about it.
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