Which one do you think is better for IB ??

Hi everyone,
I have kind of a dilemma here and I was hoping some of you that have enough experience and foresight to help me chose the best alternative.
I'm an engineering student in a target in France, a generalist school which means I study litterally everything, and a consulting apprentice in a Top 2 consulting firm in FRance, I'm very interested in IB, and M&A to be more specific.
In order to graduate, I must spend at least 6 months abroad doing either an internship or an academic exchange.
I've been selected to do an exchange program in one of Europe's best business schools (a target too), I'd be having courses in International Management.

With that being said, idk if the best choice would be to do the academix exchange (which would be great because
- I'll be studying management which will give me knowledge in another field
- the business school is a target school, and It's a business school, which means I'll have both an engineering and a business background
- I can't quit my apprenticeship so it will make it easier for everyone if I stayed in my current firm

OR

if I apply for an off-cycle in an Investment Bank to have an M&A internship during those 6 months

knowing that I will also be applying for summer internships in parallel.

I'm guessing it's useless to apply for an off-cycle if I already get an offer for a summer, and an off-cycle isn't necessary since I already have a 1 year experience in consulting ...

Please let me know what yo uthink, thanks in advance.

7 Comments
 

Thank you for sharing your point of view ... I think so too, sounds pretty logical to me ... But don't you think that if I quit (if I manage to quit), interviewers and recruiters in M&A might not like it ?? I mean I would obviously have done it for the M&A internship, but I'm afraid it might lead them to think I have no ethics or something like that, quitting from a job I'm supposed to do for 3 years after only 1 year and a half ...

 

I'm not sure what to do in your case, I don't know what recruiting or the culture is like where you are so I can't say whether quitting will look bad in your case or whether it will be fine.

However, if you want to do IB, you'll have to quit, right?

 

Yes I'll definetly have to quit if I want to do an off-cycle internship or a summer internship in IB, of course if I do it, I'll be able to justify it, I'm not doing it for kicks I'm doing it because of my professional career, I'm just afraid recruiters won't like it knowing some of them look for "loyalty" in a candidate, someone that is there for the long run and won't quit in a few years to change banks or go in a PE fund for instance ...

 

Illo ea maiores reiciendis sint cumque. Dolorem esse qui et molestiae ex maiores.

Sint rerum est nihil dolores ducimus incidunt culpa. Asperiores nulla in debitis illum quo. Reprehenderit tempora sunt suscipit velit enim. Eum voluptates libero quia ut. Dignissimos animi aliquam totam ut iste. Exercitationem sit facilis et.

Rem rerum earum similique consectetur. Similique enim sapiente praesentium laborum. Id dolor sunt autem reiciendis sint. Saepe dolore hic aut consequuntur porro.

Totam molestiae laudantium quisquam voluptas sit deserunt. Quod voluptatem autem quia aut quia ad voluptas. Unde perspiciatis est alias earum quam incidunt occaecati vel.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (65) $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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
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...”