Why pick MM over BB?

Absolutely! Honestly, the only reason that BBs get so much hype is the prestige and the size of deals that they get to work on. Most other aspects of the analyst experience are better at MMs. Some examples:

Less cut-throat culture. They don’t over hire interns so everyone gets along a lot better and there is less competition amongst each other. In general, they tend to embrace the culture aspect a lot more.

More deal exposure. There are a lot more potential MM deals out there than there are potential mega cap deals. This allows analysts to actually close more deals than a BB analyst during their stint. Also, at MMs, analysts get a lot more responsibility due to leaner deal teams. They are often a point-of-contact for the clients. Also, juniors often get to travel to client sites at MMs, something that rarely, if ever, happens at BBs. You also get to work with a lot more founder-owned businesses, which tends to be pretty rewarding because you get to see someone get a big paycheck for a company they built from the ground up.

Also, exit opps wise, you get to work with a lot more MMPE firms so you might get the chance to impress them during a deal and get a job at one of them after your analyst gig. Also, if you want to stay in IB, MM firms really encourage A2A promotions a lot more than BBs do.

Hope this helps! Just don’t get caught up in the hype of prestige and pursue the path that will help you achieve your goals while at the same time not harming yourself mentally (if that matters to you).